BP Gets Closer To Stopping Leak but Most Small Businesses Still Battle Their Own Leaking Pipelines

While some positive news finally came out of the Gulf today that BP was able to cut the leaking riser on the Gulf floor bringing them one step closer to putting a “Top Hat” on the leaking pipe, there are gaping holes in the Pipelines of far too many businesses across the U.S. according to Frank Donohue of the New Jersey based Marketing Firm “Business Building Now.”

When asked how he is able to correlate the situation in the Gulf to small businesses in the U.S. he replied, “It’s easy. When I think of the oil being released from the pipeline in the gulf, I think of the prospective customers being lost from the pipelines of small businesses. In sales, customers of a business and prospects of a business are referred to as being in the pipeline. In other words, these are people you want to continue to market to because they have either bought from you in the past, or have shown an interest in your product or service. Unfortunately for a lot of businesses who aren’t taking advantage of some of the technology we have available via the internet, they are losing prospective sales from the pipeline, and business profits continue to suffer.

When I asked Frank what specific internet technology could be used to prevent businesses from losing prospects from the pipeline he said, “Businesses could start with a simple ‘Opt in Form’ on a website. The business could offer something of value in exchange for a name and email address of the prospect. An example of something of value would be, possibly a free report educating the prospect on a topic related to your business. Once the business has the name and address of the prospect, they then have the ability to continue to market to the prospect by email. That’s one way to increase sales in the new economy.”

Business Building Now is offering free marketing services to small and medium size U.S. businesses this summer to help jump start the economy. To learn more, visit www.businessbuildingnow.com or call (609) 694-1280.