Yesterday the Wall Street Journal ran a story about small businesses are trying to survive this economic environment by renegotiating every vendor contract they have. Interesting technique, although I personally see this quote as the real downside of this whole scenario:

“Most of us grew up knowing that once you agree to something, you don’t back out of it”, says small business consultant Bill Bartmann of Bill Bartmann Enterprises in Tulsa, OK. “That rule doesn’t apply anymore.”

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I talk to SMB (small and medium business) owners and marketers all the time about the basics of internet marketing. I tell them what is out there for them to take advantage of including search and social media. These are smart people but the vast majority of the time they are ignorant of (or maybe afraid of?) the internet and its many opportunities.

Once these concepts have been presented in a way that removes the mystery and mysticism that we internet marketers like to portray (note to internet marketers: Stop doing that! It’s ridiculous) they almost always have the same response: “A-HA!”

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