Kinesis marketing and design blog

Do you ever wonder (I sound like Andy Rooney!) why so many small businesses fail? Well, there are a multiplicity of reasons. However, I believe one of these reasons is because small business owners are too slow to move on trends. They think they can keep getting better and better results by doing the same things they’ve always done. (I believe Einstein said that was the definition of insanity).

Recently, a study was released by Bredin Business Information titled “Small/Medium Businesses Don’t Yet See the Value of Web 2.0.” The study asked more than 300 U.S. based small and medium businesses (SMBs) to assess the importance of various Web 2.0 formats. Respondents were evenly split among very small businesses (1-19 employees), small businesses (20-99 employees) and medium businesses (100-500 employees).

Here are some of the results:

“Only 14% expect that blogs will be very or extremely important, with similar ratings coming in for wikis (21%), social networking sites (22%) and webcasts (31%).

At the same time, more traditional methods of delivering resource information ranked high, with 49% rating email newsletters as very or extremely valuable over the next five years, and 46% giving that ranking to interactive tools such as quizzes or calculators.”

WHAT!????

Well, at least some SMBs are catching on to the power of ezines.

And just so we are all on the same {web} page, here is a definition of Web 2.0 from another recent article in the Wall Street Journal called The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World:

What is Web 2.0, anyway? Essentially, it encompasses the set of tools that allow people to build social and business connections, share information and collaborate on projects online. That includes blogs, wikis, social-networking sites and other online communities, and virtual worlds.

SMBs are slow to embrace the new stuff. The same stuff that marketing professionals are shouting at them to use. Why? Because these marketing techniques are effective and people are increasingly using them as primary sources of information.

Brent Levy of Seeds of Growth makes an excellent point regarding SMBs taking their marketing cues from the big companies. He writes:

“So they look to see if the big guys are using social media, social networks, blogging and other things. And they look for how they are using it. So it really shouldn’t come as a huge surprise why SMBs are perched comfortably atop the fence. Until recently many big time tech companies really didn’t get Web 2.0. Some have been slow to use it themselves while others misused these tools to deliver traditional marketing messages.”

Yeah, well as most of us who ARE using Web 2.0 technologies, the Internet isn’t about delivering the same old boring marketing messages. It’s about building solid relationships and exploring topics together and engaging people. Web 2.0 is really about building community. It’s about starting a dialogue with your target audience in a way that is much faster than polls or focus groups…and much, much cheaper. Web 2.0 is a way to get your customers involved with your company.

For the companies that are using Web 2.0 tools, they look for opportunities to get instant feedback on a new product launch or advertising campaign. They look to sites like Facebook and Digg and to bloggers to see what people are saying. These companies know that if popular bloggers like what they offer, the company and product gets tons of free publicity, which in turn boosts sales.

You can also get immediate feedback if people hate your new campaign. Be careful, because you’ll get feedback even if you are not looking for it). For instance, a recent advertisement from McNeil Consumer Healthcare promoted their pain-relieving drug Motrin (see ad below). It featured a snarky-sounding woman talking about how baby-wearing mothers suffered from back pain, and she makes comments about how she will “…put up with the pain because it’s a good kind of pain…Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom.” Offended moms posted on parenting forums, created response videos on YouTube, wrote about it on their blogs, and “tweeted” all over Twitter. Within just a few days, McNeil had sent an apology to bloggers and on Monday posted a separate apology on Motrin.com stating “We are parents ourselves and take feedback from moms very seriously. We are in the process of removing this ad from all media.”

Still think Web 2.0 isn’t powerful?

For the SMBs that are not beginning to look at the new technologies to build relationships with your target audiences, I’m afraid for you. You must get with the program to thrive, or your company will wither away and die. If I sound dire, it’s because I think that it is a serious issue.

Why do I say this? Well, let’s take a look at what is actually happening on the Internet. Let’s see what your prospects and customers are doing right now online.

Keep in mind, individuals who are under 30 have grown up with these technologies. They use the Web 2.0 formats to research and find out information about purchases they are considering. According to a recent Pew Internet study, 87% of this age group (18-29) use the Internet and the 30-49 year-old folks are right behind them at 83%.

Surprise – now are you ready to harness the power of the Internet?!

Not yet? Ok, let’s look at some more key Pew Internet findings. Owners and marketers of SMBs, pay attention!

Fifty-seven percent of online adults have used the internet to watch or download video. More than half of online video viewers (57%) share links to the video they find with others, and three in four (75%) say they receive links to watch video that others have sent to them.

More than a third of American adult internet users (36%) consult the citizen-generated online encyclopedia Wikipedia. And 50% of Americans with a college degree consult Wikipedia.

More than a quarter (28%) of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts on sites such as Del.icio.us, Flickr, YouTube.com, and Technorati.com.

Just over half of American adult internet users (51%) have taken virtual tours of another location online. That translates to about 72 million people who have taken advantage of the internet to explore other areas.

More than a third (39%) of Internet users read someone else’s online journal, web log or blog.

From Audio/Video News: Seventy-two percent of online adults in the U.S. are using their home computers to listen to audio content, according to a new study by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).

By 2012, more than 145 million people, 67% of the US Internet population, will be reading blogs at least once a month. (eMarketer)

Pretty telling numbers. A huge opportunity for some businesses who get on the Web 2.0 bus. And a serious hurdle to those that don’t.

So, what do you think about the disparity between SMBs and Web 2.0? Let us know how you feel in the comment section below.