For business owners, the $1.6 trillion “Mommy Market” is well worth pursuing. In the book Trillion Dollar Moms, Maria Bailey and Bonnie Ulman teach you how to take advantage of this lucrative market. They describe three generations of moms: baby boomer moms, Gen X moms and Millennial new moms. If your company is still marketing to soccer moms, you’re missing two-thirds of the mom market.

Their book examines how recent generational shifts have impacted the buying behaviors of today’s mothers and moms-to-be.

1. Focus on networks
2. Embrace technology
3. Offer education
4. Save them time
5. Get to the point
6. Market to the individual

Want more information on marketing to moms? There’s a Marketing2Moms course offered by Moms in Business. It’s a 16-week e-mail course that’ll help you understand and market to today’s mom.

Entrepreneur

If you want to be an entrepreneur, you’re in good company. An average of 464,000 adults a month create new businesses, according to the most recent statistics available from the Kauffman Foundation, which tracks and promotes entrepreneurship. Technorati Profile

But starting a business is a complicated, risky, all-consuming effort. Indeed, just two-thirds of new small businesses survive at least two years, and only 44 percent survive at least four years, according to a study by the U.S. Small Business Association.

1. Determine if you’re an entrepreneur or just a wannabe.
2. Pinpoint an opportunity.
3. Make sure there’s a market for your idea.
4. Write a business plan.
5. Determine your business structure.
6. Look for funding.

Fortune

What happens to businesses when people expect to get things free? Especially small businesses? Surprisingly, an increasing part of our economy is based on the concept that customers get something for nothing.

The Internet is the prime example. Sure, you may (or may not) have to pay to access the Internet, but once you’re there, you expect to get information, entertainment, advice all free. Good for you. Good for companies that sell technology to Internet companies. But is it good for companies that create the information, entertainment, provide the advice?

Chris Anderson, editor in chief of Wired magazine and author of The Long Tail, explained the economics of giving stuff away in his keynote address. Anderson’s a proponent of the concept of giving things away free, and his next book, “Free: The Economics of Abundance and the Price of Zero,” is likely to further spread the gospel of that business model.

Moreover, people don’t value what they get free. Even Anderson recognizes this, “When the price of something falls to zero, you get waste.” People value what they pay for. A person who pays $100 for a ticket to an event is likely to show up; when they get it free, they’re just as likely to be a no-show. That’s why I advise entrepreneurs that even when you give your products or services away, especially to a prospect or current customer, you should always indicate the price, then waive it. It shows the true value.

Small companies are not in the same position to give stuff away free — whether it’s a physical product, intellectual property (content, music, art, consulting), or time. Their resources, both of money and time, are far more limited.

But the reality is that the “free” movement will continue, and small companies are going to have to grapple with this challenge. New business models are going to have to emerge for small entrepreneurial companies to survive.

By RHONDA ABRAMS @ Gannett News Service

Beverly Sills, America’s best known opera soprano, died yesterday and I was struck by a quote she made during a past New York Times interview.

“I always had a theory that people became a superstar because they could do one thing better than anybody else in the world,” she said. “I think there was an aria in Julius Caesar called ‘Se Pieta,’ and I used to think I sung that aria better than anybody.”

I love that notion - now think about your business. What one thing can you claim to do better than your competition, better than anyone else in the world. You’ve probably got to shed trying to be all things and strip your business down to doing just one thing better than anyone else.

Maybe you already do one thing, maybe you need to figure your one thing out - either way, narrow the focus of your communication to something you can claim to own and own it.

Duct Tape Marketing

Top five expressions people use when they are talking about networking that can make you cringe:

1. Schmoozing — this word makes networking seem so slimy and insincere. Networking is about teaching your contacts to believe in your character and competence so they want to work with you, send business your way or hire you
2. 30 Second Commercial — while you want to “sell yourself” you don’t want to appear as too much of a hard sell
3. Pick Your Brains — this expression makes the authors think of vultures coming in for the kill; and wish that people would instead say “I’d like to get your thoughts about something.”
4. Work a Room — this phrase sounds as if you intend to work people over and take all you can. Instead, focus on listening and showing others what they can count on you for and what kinds of opportunities to send your way.
5. Information Interview — You can make networking a way of life — at professional meetings, backyard barbeques and all kinds of professional and social venues.

All 10 expressions by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon.

powerhomebiz.com

Here’s a checklist to make sure that your MySpace page is optimized to generate leads for you.

They all center around one huge rule: You must bring the business conversation away from MySpace. As long as you are on MySpace, you have to play by its members’ rules.

1. The first thing you must have is a form to get your visitors email addresses. You will increase your sign-up five-fold if you give them some sort of incentive to give their email address. Promote this by posting bulletins.
2. Syndication code. MySpace users are Web savvy. They know how to edit basic html and add it to their MySpace page. You want to have a pre-made banner ad with a link to your Web site and supply the html code so that if one of your MySpace friends wants to post your ad on his/her page, doing so is very easy.
3. There must be an obvious link to your Web site.
4. A reason to come back. Have fun on that one.

Here’s a little wisdom so you don’t have to learn the hard way. The most important advice I can give you is to never send unsolicited messages to other MySpace users.

marketingprofs.com

Successful selling at trade shows depends upon two things. One is your products and personnel: How good are your products and services, and how well do your people represent them. The second has nothing to do with you at all. It has everything to do with secrets.

Not all attendees are the same, and not every buyer on the floor shares these secrets. But most do, whether they’d like to admit it or not. These secrets are strong unifying factors that influence their buying decisions. If you, as a smart and savvy trade show exhibitor, know what these secrets are and tailor your exhibit appropriately, you’ll come away with higher sales numbers every time.

If you could hear your attendee’s deepest, most secret thoughts, they might go something like this:

• We’re impatient
• We’re lazy
• We’re Egotistical
• We hate math
• We liked to be pushed

businessknowhow.com