But there’s a saying to keep in mind even as the big dog stereotype makes some sense: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight in the dog.” And I think that’s a phrase of caution worth remembering.

Taken in a business context, the big dog-little dog metaphor could be a way of looking at national brands in comparison with local brands. Of automated franchises and chains with operationalized models compared to mom-and-pops more vulnerable to market and economic flux. And even while there’s no denying that national brands, by definition, enjoy larger share, recall, and revenue, there’s something to be said for the local business with the flexibility to be responsive and more customer-centered than its scaled brethren.

For example, payment gateway Dwolla (based in Des Moines, IA) has, in my opinion, taken a bite out of PayPal’s hind quarters. When I started my business, I knew about PayPal from my occasional consumer purchases. As a potential way to pay contractors and receive payment from remote-based clients, I took a look to see how it might fare for work purposes. The user interface, regulations, and set-up were completely off-putting for me. The pronounced delay between receiving funds (and subsequently transferring my money to a connected bank account) is highly annoying. One could get lost trying to figure out item history. I had 5% of my revenue shaved off when an international client failed to process payment in such a way that their company incurred the currency exchange fees. But Dwolla is different. First, it uses plain language and simple videos to explain information to customers. The fees are uber reasonable. Over time they’ve revealed a model that not only facilitates money transfer, but simplifies personal finance. It’s a company that communicates it’s values straight away, and in my experience demonstrates them through the product and external communications like email. I regularly evangelize Dwolla to new contractors and clients in good faith.

Another example is I&I client, Jodi K’s Boutique. Yes, we’re partial (let’s get THAT over with). But the truth is self-evident: Jodi K’s brings fashion-forward womens styles to Cedar Rapids in a store that doesn’t make your skin itch, staffed by clerks who more closely resemble personal stylists than the gun-snapping stick-of-a-girl working at the big chain who snickers at the size 8 pant you’re buying. Writing Jodi K’s marketing plan eight months ago, I discovered owner Jodi Cobb’s passion for smart, current fashion that makes women feel good about themselves. Jodi’s clothes are not cookie-cutter designs found at any Younkers; instead they’re recognizable, quality labels that help women master their day – work, board meetings, and play – with confidence. The store offers special programs for preferred customers and regularly phones customers when merchandise they pined for comes available. They send thank-you notes to customers they spend significant time helping build a wardrobe. When was the last time you felt like you had a friend at your favorite clothing store?

Remember: little dogs can mean big business. So give the toy poodle nipping at your heels a second look before he eats your lunch in your own back yard.

I just finished watching my 8-year old son play his first games of the travel season. We visited a neighboring city and played two intense games of mite level hockey. As a mom I love watching my son (who is also a good student) play competitive sports. Along with building friendships and advancing game skills, he is learning about teamwork, the value of commitment, personal conduct, respect for the contributions of others, and how to respond to the heartbrake of failure as well as the thrill of the win. Today his team won one game (4 to 3) and lost one (2 to 1); he scored one goal and an assist.

Our opponants were good skaters who, in the second game, had a yen for redemption. They were scrappy and hustled down loose pucks. Their single-mindedness resulted with a good number of their players copping a squat in the penalty box for tricks like hooking, icing, and even slashing. They won that game, and in the process opened up our kids eyes to new tactics and game mentality. The kids may not wholly register that feeling of dawning surprise and ire as one of life’s cold lessons:

• Not everyone plays fair.
• Sometimes bad behavior is rewarded…for the moment.
• The path you take to achieve your goals may not be traveled by others.

Our kids were thrilled with the early season win and the Halloween suckers distribted at the end. They’re not mired in the disappointing loss or holding on to a righteous sense of indignation for the dirty little tricks and tacky showmanship. Its just fun game, and cool to play like the big guys with a gravel-throated announcer and rock music blaring between plays and periods. Take a high level view of things, though, and you may be surprised at what you learn.

• In social media, not eveyone plays fair. I’ve seen some use bait tactics or resort to antagonization to stir the pot and get reactions and mentions. I’m not talking about taking a direct position on a topic and supporting it with citations, then encouraging open discourse; I’m talking about clever seeding, ambiguous questions and contrarian maneuvering.  Humor, when used to mock or belittle others while insinuating your own superiority, isn’t funny. It’s a passive-aggressive ploy.
• As with the game (those little turkeys threw elbows!), sometimes the short-term win goes to the self-promoter. The loud one making the claims, whooping it up and assuming priviledge. I believe that in the long term, though, the ones with the biggest hearts and strongest passion for the people and the movement of offering solutions will institutionalize social media for business.  Those are the people who will normalize the use of social media in customer service, direct marketing channels, retention strategies, lead development, and a host of other ways we haven’t conceived yet.
• Self-serving tactics and pomp aside, there are indeed many ways to succeed with social media. From small business to big business, their next-stage goals, resources, readiness, and operations capacities all vary, thereby all but ensuring social media is no one-size-fits-all solution. Like our team of mites, we need to celebrate our wins and stick to our chosen path while staying mindful of the environment changing around us.

In what ways do you think social media has gone the way of the tricky opposing team described above?

Small biz at its best

For small businesses, it can be a challenge to look uber-polished and sophisticated with every communication and customer relationship tactic. If you’re also repositioning and rebranding the company as we are at Ovation, in many way’s it’s on par with a brand new start-up.  There’s the Web site, collateral, product sheets, trade show materials to develop. On another level is logowear, corporate gifts of various values, advertising for awareness and image building. There’s also the requisite trade associations, Chambers of Commerce, and more for networking.

The reality is that small business budgets are, well, smaller than that of their mid or large sized counterparts. With an eye on growth – that one “tipping point” win – small business marketers know they can’t afford to be overlooked.

Beautifully Simple

One area I’ve given a lot of thought to is email.  Done right, email can be a professional, relatively unobtrusive way to reach a variety of prospects, influentials, and existing customers. Many elements can be placed in a library and re-purposed for multiple “drops,” and of course there’s the power of the visual to draw a reader in (along with well-written content) and lead them to key landing pages.

But which provider was right for us? I had a few essential requirements when I started my search.

My Basic Criteria

1. Low monthly cost (or free!)
2. Flexible design and layout formats
3. Low-level coding requirements
4. Tracking and reports for insights
5. Flexible list management (we use Highrise for CRM)

The Little Red-Haired Girl

After a lot of evaluation (I confess, I didn’t understand the significance of some of the items listed on

Mad Mimi: email with moxie

various feature sets) I narrowed my choices down to two. Running neck and neck (sharing many of my requirements, and each offering a few “something extra’s”), I chose MadMimi.

In just minutes late the other night, I pulled together a simple email sample and sent it to a few people. Using a few branded graphics I had easy access to, my new email had a masthead, intro paragraph, two stories (each with their own visual), and a footer. There’s no charge for a good long while (we’re still developing a list). It was easy to tell which of my recipients opened theirs (and which didn’t!), and also who forwarded it.  I can create separate campaigns for different purposes (say, a drip marketing program for customer development, routine emails for ongoing relationship management, etc.), maintain separate lists, and generate insightful reports that tie into site conversion funnels.

All of this may be all in a day’s work for many – email consultants, direct marketers specializing in digital, developers, and the like. But this was my very first hand’s on creation experience (it’s one thing to receive a slew of them, another to plan and create them for specific use cases!), and I have to say I’m jazzed at the potential. I’m only limited by the time and energy I have to focus on learning all the ins and outs. Not to mention watching the trends…

Other Options and Resources

During my research and with help from others during my Twitter crowdsourcing, I made note of a number of other email providers.  Now that we’re in the last leg of planning our first few email campaigns, I’m also paying more attention to articles and posts on the topic. I’ve listed a few of those as well, in case you can use them.

1. Exact Target
2. Act-On
3. SendLoop
4. iContact
5. Constant Contact
6. StreamSend
7. Mail Chimp (my runner-up preference)
8. Silverpop
9. Campaign Monitor
10. SendLoop
11. Mailer Mailer
12. Jason Bayer of Convince & Convert is a leader in email marketing and its possibilities with social
13. MarketingProfs continually focuses on great email content, email strategies and email tips
14. ChiefMarketer instructs on how to build an email list
15. Google even helps for campaign-specific insights, tying email to your Web site
16. iMedia Connection has new-school thoughts on email
17. Website Magazine offers info on subject lines

Your Turn

Is your small business using email for customer retention or lead development? If so, do you have any good stories to tell? Experiences with a particular provider you’d like to share? Resources to add to the list? Let me know!