iPhones: Good News for Newspapers + Printers + Designers and Local Economic Development

SMBs (Small Medium Business) have become the growth engines of the economy. As the global corporations get lean to stay competitive, jobs are being created much closer to the ground.

Every small business wants more business. They all want marketing they can afford. If the marketing works, they buy more marketing. If the price is based on a flat fee + a price per new prospect, it's a nice sustainable business based on aligned incentives. If someone can figure out how to measure price for marketing based on new sales, the game is over.

Meanwhile, a minimum of bullshit is required. It's much easier to sell results than "what's gonna happen" or "ROI in the sky when you . . ."

When a commercial print sales force networks/partners with a newspaper ad sales force and has some smart designers/marketers in the mix, it becomes possible to deliver to SMB's want they want - marketing campaigns that are better, faster and cheaper.

The contact person could be the Print sales person, or the Newspaper Ad sales person, or the Designer/Marketer. Face the fact that nobody needs a "brochure" or an "ad" or a "design". But, everybody needs more business.

So, with one human contact, the SMB can do an integrated buy. Newspaper Print ad, newspaper web ad, follow up Print collateral, follow up SMB website and in another year or so content that will flow to iPhones.

The cost of sales is amortized over three or more product lines. When experts do what they are good at the overall cost is much lower. Meanwhile, the customer gets to buy what they want, when they want and how they want it.

The hard part is getting the collaboration, newspapers + commercial printers + trained professional designers. Doesn't cost money. But it does require a culture shift and some focus.

"People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along?"
- Rodney King, May 1, 1992, Los Angeles

But somebody has to ask somebody to dance. Maybe it will turn out to be the Yellow Pages sales force? Or maybe a school or a foundation will host a meeting of newspaper sales people, Print salespeople and the designers/marketers. No big deal. Just get them all in the same room so they can meet. They will probably all show up as they are all looking for new business.

Or maybe someone with the right access can get this in the upcoming economic stimulus plan. Now that's "pork barrel" that could produce change I can believe in. Plus it would probably work. It could be implemented in a couple of days, instead of in a year.

The Local Mobile Opportunity … “Yes We Should.” @SearchEngineLand

. . . With estimates as high as 10 million iPhones sold in 2008 and “smartphones” being the fastest growing segment in the market, Internet-enabled mobile devices are a very attractive opportunity. Why? Because mobile search, at its core, is local search. And the opportunity for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), as well as national advertisers to connect to consumers via mobile applications and phones, is more real than ever before.

. . . I was recently playing with an example, an iPhone application called, “iWant.” Say I’m walking down the street, remember a friend’s birthday and need a gift. I pull up the app on my iPhone or Internet enabled phone. As it has GPS, it knows where I am, completes the look-up providing three relevant results within walking distance. I select one and with a tap on the screen, I give them a call to see if they carry the item I’m interested in. They do and with another tap, I can get directions.