MarcyPhelps.com

Sources for private-company information

Privately-held companies - companies that do not offer shares to the public - don't need to disclose much beyond their names, addresses and officers, so researching them can be quite a challenge. Generally, any available information needs to be pieced together from a variety of sources, so this month's issue of ResearchNOTES focuses on some starting points for finding private-company information...

B2B Marketers: How Social Are We?

This article originally appeared in the "Marketing Mirror," a publication of the Colorado Chapter of the Business Marketing Association:

How Social Are We - by Marcy Phelps, Phelps Research

It's becoming clear that B2B marketers are using and getting results from social media.

In November, we read in BtoB Online that "…some kind of social media is being used by 86% of b2b companies, compared to 82% of b-to-c businesses." In another study reported in BtoB Online, "…nine in 10 b2b marketers surveyed…said their companies are on Twitter, although LinkedIn and blogs are more successful at lead generation."

And now there's the 2012 Social Media Marketing Industry Report from SocialMedia Examiner, which tells us that "Of the B2B marketers who took this year’s survey, over 93% use social media to market their businesses."

As a long-time member of BMA Colorado, I wondered how our chapter compares to the B2B companies in these studies. As a group, just how social are we? Social media is about making connections, and exactly where are our members socializing with customers and prospects? To find out, I visited the websites of 80 client-side BMA Colorado member companies and analyzed the number and types of social links at each company's "virtual front door" – their home page.

Forty-one out of the 80 companies offer at least one social media element – those icons that invite visitors to connect or share content through social networking sites. The tally revealed nine different social elements, with most BMA Colorado member companies opting for three or four.

For the companies with just one social element, three offer a bookmark/share link, and two utilize LinkedIn. Among the "Big Three" social networking sites, Twitter is the favorite for BMA Colorado member companies. Consistent with trends in video content, 20 companies provide YouTube links.

After reviewing 80 home pages, I learned that – while most companies place these social networking icons front and center – several do not. With their pale colors and below-the-fold placement, unless you are looking for these social elements, they're hard to spot.

I also discovered that two companies go a step further and make it even easier to connect or share their content. One company includes their Twitter feed on their home page, and the other provides a link to a social media page on their site – with a list of key people and their social networking profiles.

So how do we measure up? It's hard to compare, because each of these studies counted different elements of the social media mix. But, with more than half of BMA Colorado member companies enabling conversations with their site visitors, it looks like we're a pretty social group.

Adobe Acrobat Pro for Private Company Research

In my book, some of the most talented researchers in the business contributed their Tips from the Pros. This tip by Amelia Kassel, is a great timesaver when researching the websites of privately-held companies.

Tips from the Pros: Adobe Acrobat Pro for Private Company Research
by Amelia Kassel, MarketingBase

A key method for beginning private company research is to fully investigate the company’s website. You want to learn as much about what the company says about itself as you can, and then verify information from other sources when applicable. Commonly, exploring a site entails using the site indexes and tabs. When a company includes a site map, it’s often faster to look there first to pick and choose the links of most interest. However, moving from link to link at a company site can be slow. To enhance productivity, you can download the site for faster scanning of web pages. Adobe Acrobat Pro facilitates this process in six short steps that take a matter of seconds:

1. Launch Adobe Acrobat Pro
2. Click on Create PDF from Web Site
3. Type or paste the URL for the site in a box
4. Click on Capture Multiple Levels
5. Click on Get Entire Site
6. Click on Create

Once downloaded into a PDF file, the site is available for quick scanning. Links to each page are hot linked within the file, should you want to click through to the site to double check anything.

Private company websites are generally small compared to those of large corporations, associations, or organizations, but they sometimes can take from one hour to many hours to download. Large or graphics-intensive sites require more time. The speed of your internet connection or computer processing capability may affect how fast a site downloads. The good news is that Adobe Acrobat Pro works in the background, and you can continue using your computer. When the download is complete, save the file and open it. Skim through the pages by paging down or use the Find or Search capabilities in the file for locating key words important for your research.

Amelia Kassel is President of MarketingBase, specializing in industry, company and competitive and market intelligence research since 1982. Amelia holds a Master's Degree in Library Science (1971, UCLA) and combines expertise in Internet research and fee-based databases with knowledge of business and marketing strategies. As a recognized author and international speaker, she conducts seminars for associations and conferences. Her successful email-based Mentor Program is tailored for independent information professionals. Amelia has written many articles for Searcher Magazine and other information industry publications.

Tips for searching LinkedIn

I recently had the opportunity to attend one of Mary Ellen Bates' webinars  - "Top 10 Tips for Searching LinkedIn." Like all of Mary Ellen's presentations, this was chock-full of useful content and well worth the time. It's fascinating to see the kind of information that can be mined from social networks, if you just get a little creative.

Part of her new MEB's 123s series of short webinars, this webinar cleary shows that less is often more. At 30 minutes, it's the perfect amount of time to learn a few quick tips - then go back to work. It represents a trend I've seen toward a preference for more focused, bite-sized learning opportunities that won't cut into your day.

The webinar series is also a great example of the "give it away for free" trend in marketing. The value of this webinar is greater than anything Mary Ellen could have charged. And she demonstrated to 150 attendees just how creative a researcher she is. Not a bad day of marketing, in my opinion.

I was also thrilled to learn a new tip for doing research about places. For example, if you need to know what industries are hiring in Indianapolis, do a Job search on LinkedIn. Enter a postal code into the search form and limit your search to just recent postings. On the results page, you'll see a list of industries - with the number of job postings for each industry in that locale.

In case you missed this webinar, it's posted to the Extras page on Mary Ellen's website - along with several other valuable resources. It will definitely be worth your time.

A few quick cures for writer's blog

Blogs, articles, whitepapers, and other content are great tools for branding and marketing. Unfortunately, writer's block often gets in the way of creativity, and your monthly newsletter can turn into a quarterly publication. To help you come up with new ideas for creating relevant and useful content, this month's ResearchNOTES focuses on three quick cures for writer's block:

Writer, editor, and fellow Business Marketing Association member Rita Braun has compiled an excellent list of blog post ideas. I keep this list handy to review when I've been staring at a blank document for much too long. I especially like Rita's advice on lightening it up every now and then.

Over at Copyblogger, they've created an infographic, 22 Ways to Create Compelling Content. It includes my favorite method for finding my muse: Take a walk. I always come up with good ideas while on a walk, and the dogs love it!

For inspiration try Mind Mapping, a visual representation of ideas and concepts. What is Mind Mapping? (and How to Get Started Immediately), from Litemind.com, offers a nice explanation of this simple technique - and some great tips for creating your first mind map.

5 reasons why I love FRED

The Federal Reserve Economic Data site - also known as FRED - has recently earned its place as one of my all-time favorite sites for business statistics. Yes, FRED really knows how to make a data geek swoon.

From the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, this resource offers 45,000 data sets from nearly 40 sources on topics such as Money, Banking, & Finance; Population, Employment, & Labor Markets; Prices; and Production & Business Activity. Why the love for FRED, you ask, when much of this data can be found through other sources? Let me count the ways...

1. FRED shows trends over time - This time-series economic data is measured in regular and uniform intervals, so it provides a way to gain new insights into the information. For example, you might want to look at employment rates during past recessions in order to add context to today's numbers.

2. FRED is visual - You can use the various data tools to generate and save customizable charts and graphs. Select date ranges, time intervals, and other preferences - or dowload the data in Excel to put into your own templates. You can even add data series to help make comparisons, such as in this example of how national unemployment rates are trending vs. unemployment rates among women:

3. FRED goes local - FRED includes hard-to-find economic data for counties, MSAs, and other small geographic areas. Just click the U.S. Regional Data link to drill to the local level.

4. FRED turns data into maps - GeoFRED, found in the Data Tools section, offers an easy way to map data at state, MSA, and county levels - and you can customize, save, print, and PDF your maps.

5. FRED covers the world - Need Consumer Price Index data for China? Trying to compare unemployment trends in the U.S., U.K., and Germany? Just follow the International Data link to find global economic indicators and other statistics.

Give it a try - I think you, too, will quickly learn to love FRED.

Quick tip #12 - Map it

This is installment #12 in my series of Quick Tips - low-cost options for adding value to the information you find.

Much in the same way I use charts and graphs for turning information into insights, I like to display place-related data on maps.

Spreadsheets are great for crunching, sorting, and analyzing data. But, as hard as it is for the math geeks among us to comprehend (myself included), columns and rows of numbers mean absolutely nothing to most people. Convert the data into a pretty picture, tough, and it all starts to make sense.

Here's an example from a recent project. My client was trying to make the most efficient use of her sales team's resources and wanted to know how many companies within several metropolitan areas met met their specific requirements (ownership type, revenue, industry, and location), and she wanted the information broken down by county. After running my search in Hoover's to find how many companies met their criteria, I created this spreadsheet for the Denver metro area:

Then, with the help of some relatively-inexpensive mapping software, I turned the numbers into this visual that my client included in her presentation at the next department meeting:

 

I use Microsoft's MapPoint for creating maps and have found the $300 well worth the investment (it took me about two minutes to complete this example). There are cheaper options out there, though, including Mapland, an Excel add-in. You can also download many U.S. government data sets into maps for free through American FactFinder, BearFacts, and other sites.

From demographics to business and industry statistics, a picture is definitely worth a thousand words - or numbers.

Quick tip #11 - Include a matrix

Clients often want insights into how their products and services compare with those of their competitors. That's when a matrix comes in handy. Here's a template I put together that can be easily adapted for different types of projects. Note that I create hyperlinks that lead to more in-depth information about each of the competitor companies.

This visual representation makes it easy for clients to discover their key differentiators and identify gaps in the marketplace.

Let me know if you'd like a copy of an editable version of this matrix. I'll be happy to share.

More is not better

This month marks 12 years since I started Phelps Research. A lot has changed since the days when Google was a startup and Boolean ruled the world of search. I love my job, and over the years I've had the pleasure of working with all types of clients, from serial entrepreneurs to CEOs of global companies. I've also learned some important lessons about the kind of information they value.

I quickly learned - at least when it comes to information - that more is definitely not better. No, the way to impress clients wasn't with those 80-page reports of which I was so proud in those early days. It didn't take long to determine that my clients weren't interested in having me gather more information than they could when they tried the latest and greatest all-purpose search engine. They wanted information that was better than what they were finding. I eventually also learned that 'better' has many facets.

Better information means that it comes from trusted sources. More definitely does not translate into authoritative, and my clients – with critical business decisions at stake – aren't comfortable with the ease with which one can publish on the web.

It also means that the information is focused, yet comprehensive.  These busy executives don't have time to go to multiple sources or scan pages of search results for those relevant nuggets. They need specialized tools for quickly targeting the right amount of information in their topic of interest – the business of running a business.

For my clients, better information is packaged to facilitate decision-making. They want quick profiles for insights into industries and competitors. Executive summaries, tables, charts, and other formats make it easy to spot key issues and trends. My analysis of the findings and what they mean to my clients' goals and objectives add the kind of value that has kept them coming back for more.

Finally, better doesn't necessarily mean free, and free isn't always cost-effective. My clients are savvy enough to recognize that you get what you pay for, and the business information they crave is no different than any other product or service. When you use the best sources, collect only the relevant information, and deliver it in a useful format, it's worth paying for – as long as it doesn't break the budget.

All Information consumers - not just my clients - crave better, rather than more. Gone are the days when a content provider's or search engine's value lies solely in the number of sources they aggregate. One-stop-shopping is nice when you're trying to be comprehensive, but in an age of information overload, size really isn't a big selling point. Today's information environment requires tools that help us sort through the clutter and add meaning to what we find.

Nowadays, we don't have any shortage of information or options for delivery - but we've learned that there's more than just 'more.'

I can't wait to see what the next 12 years will bring for Phelps Research!

Great new blog - MEB Adds Value

I'm thrilled to announce a new blog from Mary Ellen Bates, MEB Adds Value. Most of what I know about value-added deliverables and urning information into insights I've learned from Mary Ellen's presentations and writings - so I highly recommend this great new resource. You'll find lots of simple, practical tips that you can put to use right away. Enjoy!