New York SBDC Research Network

These are resolutions to improve one's e-mail marketing campaign in 2009: 1. Clean your email list. Can be used for your personal use as well.

From our friends a J.J. Hill Library: Twitter, Pownce, Facebook, Plurk - online communities are as plentiful as they are nonsensically named. And they're coming into the mainstream. Might your business benefit by joining the conversation? A white paper from Rubicon Consulting called Online Communities and Their Impact on Business can help you decide. The study identifies how information about businesses is spread online and how businesses can best interact in that conversation. Access the full report in PDF here . No so incidentally, the title of this post is the subtitle of the white paper.

Once again, I have found a list of business books that I would like to share. The books in BNET's Best Business Books of 2008 were voted on by BNET readers and the article includes synopses, reviews, and more. The topics range from microfinance explained in terms for four to eight year old children to a book titled "The Back of a Napkin", the theme of which is how to solve business problems through illustrating. If anyone who reads this post has business book recommendations, we at the Research Network would love to read your comments. Happy Holidays!

2009 Directory of Department Stores Chain Store Guide Includes: Department Stores Shoe Stores Resident Buyers Jewelry Retailers Optical Retailers Product Lines Apparel Price Lines They offer some statistical analysis as well as profiles of companies. The profile includes address, contact details, total sales, breakdown by product, number of units, buyers by department, parent company. Although available online, we have the print version of the 2007 Traffic Data Report for New York State from the NYS Department of Transportation. The data is available on the Highway Data Services Bureau's web page: https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/divisions/engineering/technical-services/highway-data-services

Do you like data? If the answer is “yes,” you’ll certainly enjoy the Census’s Bureau’s 2009 Statistical Abstract of the United States . Just released today, the almanac includes “more than 1,400 tables of social, political and economic facts about our nation and the world. Among topics covered in the 49 new tables in this edition are the religious composition of our nation’s population, osteopathic physicians, online news consumption, expenditures for wildlife-related recreation and women in parliaments around the globe. Although the emphasis is on national-level statistics, some tables present state- and even city- and metropolitan-level data as well.” Check it out (along with previous years back to 2006) in PDF form here: http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/statab2006_2009.html

I found an interesting article about using a secret shopper. I've actually been a secret shopper for friends in business; I think it's fun. The writer's wife's friend is the manager of a store. "Getting someone to participate as a secret shopper could give you the insight you need for evaluating employee performance. There are programs out there that will connect businesses with secret shoppers, or you can just get someone you know to do it if they are willing." Here's the downside: "the possibility of losing the respect of your employees. If you do engage in a secret shopper situation, it is probably best that the employees never find out about it. They will not appreciate being spied on, and no longer trust you. If your employees can't trust you and/or respect you, they're not going to be happy working for you, and will quite possibly begin looking for another job." Bottom line: "If you do use a secret shopper and all of your empl

We get lots of requests that try & show the growth, or decline, of certain industries (or of small business in general) over a given time period, or in a given place. Our responses have always required getting a bit of data here, and a bit of data there, and involving way too much formatting of spreadsheets. I've just learned of the Census Bureau's new "Business Dynamics Statistics" website. (A lot of people just learned of the site - it just rolled out on December 1st.) However, after reading what it's all about , I'm tempted to say that we'll now be able to answer these questions a whole lot more easily. Here's a press release from Census, telling us just what to expect: "The U.S. Census Bureau announces the release of the Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS), a data series that allows users to track annual changes in employment for growing and shrinking businesses at the establishment level. There are more than 6 million establishments with p

A few weeks ago, I received an email from BNet titled "BNET's Recession Survival Guide: 12 tactics for surviving the economic storm -- and even coming out ahead." Below are links to the 12 tactics listed. 1. Refiance Your Debt 2. Prioritize Your Debt 3. Land a Private Placement to Fund Critical Investments 4. Exploit Revolving Credit 5. Raise Cash Through “Factoring” 6. Sell Off Non-Critical Assets to Raise Cash 7. Take Advantage of Training Programs 8. Cherry Pick Top Talent Away from Rivals 9. Rebalance Compensation From Top to Bottom 10. Price Optimize for Your Best Customers 11. Double Down on Strategic Advertising 12. Capitalize on Affordable Luxuries

On December 9, 2008, the Census Bureau will release the first set of three-year American Community Survey data for all geographies with populations greater than 20,000. The release will provide the first look at detailed socioeconomic and housing characteristics for geographies between 20,000 and 64,999 since Census 2000. The type of data released and geographies covered can be found here . Different from a point-in-time estimate Before I talk about multiyear estimates, it’s important to understand the concept of a period estimate because all ACS estimates are period estimates. The ACS produces period estimates of socioeconomic and housing characteristics. It is designed to provide estimates that describe the average characteristics of an area over a specific time period. In the case of ACS one-year estimates, the period is the calendar year. For example, the 2007 ACS data describe the population and housing characteristics of an area from January 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007, not

Intellectual property, as defined by Wikipedia, is "a legal field that refers to creations of the mind such as musical, literary, and artistic works; inventions; and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce, including copyrights, trademarks, patents, and related rights." Often times our clients who have created an original product or idea become confused when they want to protect their creation over whether they need to apply for a copyright, trademark, or patent. Below are explanations on the three types of protection and what is protected by each. Copyright is for original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible form of expression. Copyrights are registered with the United States Copyright Office and have an expiration date. The length of the copyright depends on when the work was first created. Trademark covers words, names, symbols, and devices used to identify goods or services in commerce. Federal regulations are available through the United Stat

I spotted Ira Davidson quoted in the December issue of Entrepreneur Magazine in an article entitled Smart Moves in a Bad Economy . Good on you, Ira. This is a hot topic and one we are all interested in hearing more about. Increasingly we asked how small business owners should handle their marketing during lean times. This article encourages owners to think carefully about where they cut and warn against cutting valuable people or marketing dollars so severely they spite themselves. Please remember to let us know when you are interviewed in print or broadcast. We want to know!

"We continue to discuss how to best use a single Twitter channel for a 17,000-person agency covering many complex, interdisciplinary issues." This was the first post I read on the EPA's Twitter feed . So apparently we're not alone in trying to figure out this Twitter thing! At least there are less than 200 of us... Want to see how more government agencies are using Twitter? Use the GovTwit directory to find Twitter accounts for state, local and federal, as well as contractors, reporters, academics.

Here's a Census website I did not know about until recently: the International Programs Center (IPC) "conducts demographic and socioeconomic studies and strengthens statistical development around the world through technical assistance, training, and software products." I knew Census had a world population clock , but didn't notice that IPC was the source the information. IPC assists "in the collection, processing, analysis, dissemination, and use of statistics with counterpart governments throughout the world." Also note these handy links to international statistical agencies .

Here's an article that appears in today's Los Angeles Times : http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-smallbiz1-2008dec01,0,5978675.story According to it, accountants in this part of the country are talking to their small business clients about: deferring deductions and accelerating income; increasing the deduction for expenses; taking a bonus depreciation deduction; and taking a deduction for losses.

Researching the validity of a company is easy to do when you know where to look. Below are links to resources to use. While the links are New York State specific, when researching a company, use the resources for the state that the company is based out of. And as a note of caution, remember that it is always easier to find a negative review of a company than a positive review. Federal Trade Commission: Bureau of Consumer Protection New York State Attorney General's Office: The Bureau of Consumer Frauds and Protection New York State Better Business Bureau Ripoff Report : For Consumers, By Consumers Consumer Reports, Complaints, and Company Reviews at Pissed Consumer Also check the local county or city licensing bureau for company licensing information.

Guess what? Technology can be frustrating. No matter what your technological savvy, sometimes things just don't work the way we want or expect them to. So what do people do when technology fails? And how do they feel about it? Those issues are explored in a new study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Get the data here.

I came across this presentation about using Web 2.0 to increase effectiveness of staff training and communication , which may be of use to some of you. I was more intrigued, however, by the whole concept of the web page it was on, something called SlideShare . "SlideShare is the best way to share your presentations with the world. Let your ideas reach a broad audience. Share publicly or privately. Add audio to create a webinar." It's free, with a maximnum size of 100 MB; supported formats include ppt, pps & pot (PowerPoint), pdf, odp (OpenOffice); doc, rtf, xls (MSOffice), odt & ods (OpenOffice) & pdf. I haven't tried to post to it yet, but just as one accessing extant info, I think it does offer a wide variety of resources.

The SBDC meets with hundreds of people every year who are interested in starting an e-commerce venture. Many of these people are offering products that take the form of a file to be downloaded - be it articles, books, music, or what have you. Here's an article, then, that should be of interest: "Amazon ‘CloudFront’ Promises Cheaper, Faster Downloads" Basically, Amazon is enabling owners of small websites to pay a fee to lease space on a certain type of server that promises faster file delivery to their e-customers. This fee would be but a fraction of what it would cost a company to buy a Content Delivery Network (CDN) of its own. CloudFront is starting off small, but is looking to expand if the level of interest is there among small business content delivery websites. Keep it in mind for clients who might fit the bill.

There are only a few things that a company can do that will upset me. For example, I become agitated when a company is over-charging for products or services that I know should be priced more reasonably. That's annoying. But I have to say that there is nothing more annoying or troublesome than bad customer service. Earlier today I was working on a rather complex demographic question that included six variables, more variables than our resources at the Research Network could compare. I spoke to an industry publisher who redirected me to two companies that might be able to help. I called each company with the reasonable expectation that I would be able to determine if they could help or not. Company number one, which will remain nameless, had an automated system answer. After eight minutes of being on the phone (with a disconnect from their end at one point), I was unable to determine if the company offered what I was looking for. After eight minutes, I was never offered the option o

At least some people are trying to be creative in coming up with alteratives to the worst case scenario. These articles explain how laying off trained staff may be a false economy in the long run. Here are a couple of articles that look at ways to cut costs or better yet, increase income to avoid losing your most valauble asset. Alternatives to Layoffs Layoffs, a short term fix, detrimental to the company, should be the last resort By F. John Reh About.com Small Business Alternatives to Layoffs Suzanna De Baca Expert Business Source 8/19/2008 Put Down That Ax: Alternatives to Layoffs By Pearl Smith/Updated by Mark Murphy AFSCME February 2008