In any small business sales are king, and any way that you can increase and drive profitable sales growth leads to increased market share and a healthy company. B2P marketing if applicable to your small business customers (if they are members of a social network) could be a new, sustainable and effective means of gaining new customers and competitive adavantage in your market segment.

Business 2 Person marketing can be a sustainable business process that many small businesses can leverage into their marketing and sales activities every day. B2P markeitng in a social network environment requires only computer or mobile device access to the Internet and is a paperless business process. For example, one of my childhood friends owns a suntanning business and is currently leveraging Facebook into his business by marketing directly to his customers on this platform. B2P marketing might be new and bleeding edge; however, there are no rules other than what limits social networks apply to marketers on their platforms. Smart and savvy small business owners that understand these dynamics as they apply to their customer base will gain competitive advantage, more customers and more sales.

B2P marketing is understanding your customer's world and marketing to them as a person, not a demographic group and/or target audience. With the execution of B2B, B2S and B2C ecommerce over the last ten years, the Internet has allowed companies to build rich and vibrant ecosystems of suppliers and partners. Now it is time for small business to harness the power of social networks in the B2P paradigm that has been enabled by Web 2.0 technologies. Social networks are exploding world wide and they present a great opportunity for small business to know and understand their customers, that is of course if they are a member of a social network. 

The social network world has been exploding for several years along several fronts: professional networking, professional innovation, friends, and social networks around topics, age groups and communities of interest such as books, (Gather.com). A year ago I presented at WOMMA in Las Vegas and I heard the CEO of Gather talk about the sensitivity of one of their sub communities, "the lost spouse group." Apparently, this group had become upset by a marketing initiative in which a company offerred free coffee makers to the group. The group pushed back against this initiative and killed the ad because they were still grieving over a lost spouse or significant other. Net/Net know the environment that you are marketing into and the potential liabilities and sensitivities of the community. If you are interested, please check out what my friend Glen has done with Facebook and his business, Sunbanque Tanning Salon.

The Personality Of Fish

Last week I described a sustainable oceangraphic environment, the Georges Bank and how it "was" for hundreds of years one of the largest fishing banks in the world. This week we go 100 miles north to the Grand Banks off of Newfoundland and the subject is Squalus or sharks. 

Winter in the northwest Atlantic ocean is a fierce, turbulent and unforgiving experience that challenges you in every way. Just staying on deck in the open sea is a major effort for the strongest of men and women, but below the surface is a powerful, rich and sustainable ecosystem of sharks and lobster. As we all know the Grand Banks have been damaged by overfishing and were closed several years ago, resulting in the demise of the Canadian fishing industry of that region. 

In 1985 I was watch chief on a bottom trawl cruise surveying fisheries in the region when we pulled up 20,000 lbs of Squalus or what are called dogfish. Squalus are an abundant and literally under-utilized species of shark that are not good eating. One of the issues with Sharks, is that they have no urinary track and expell nearly all of their urine through pores in their skin called neprhidia. That is why shark meat often smells of ammonia, a by product of urine deompostion. For a scientist processing 20,000 lbs of shark is a daunting task on a rolling ship at 4am on the open sea. Processing means sub-sampling, weighing, sexing, and doing parasitology and stomach content analysis on the age groups represented. 

I am sure you get the picture now, but the good news of this story was as I walked out on the deck I noticed large red and green antenna sticking out between the shark bodies. The antenna belonged to 14 bushels of large lobsters, some more than twenty pounds, and by the time the sun came up that day there were 30 very happy shipmates looking forward to boiled, baked, fried, steamed lobster and lobster salad for the next week. What we learned that morning, and over and over again during our cruises, was that Squalus and Homarus gather in places where the ocean is 7 degrees C at that time of year. Until next time happy B2P marketing in the ocean of social networks that are not all sharks!