Why do I need Small Business Server 2008 for my business?

Because it is an awesome product!

SBS 2008 takes the great feature set we have in SBS 2003 and augments and improves on them to provide a small business owner a great server solution!

Some small business specific reasons:

• A single Web site to access my e-mail, my internal Companyweb site, and my office computer with the Remote Web Workplace remote access portal.
• My Windows Mobile Phone was easy to set up with SBS to synchronize my calendar, contacts, tasks, and e-mail.
• I can get access to my office e-mail quickly with the Web based Outlook Web Access.
• Access to my office computer from any place that I can open an Internet Explorer browser.
• Excellent server spam and virus protection out of the box saves me time and money.
• Centralized backup and recovery assures me that my data is safe … and the backups are encrypted!
• We can simply manage who gets access to what data on our office network.

In a previous post that was an addition to some other lists on the topic, we talked about some of the key features in SBS 2008 that we think rock: SBS 2008 - Top 10 Wow and Top 10 Learning.

One of my other passions is cars. I have had oil in the veins since a very young age working on high horsepower Mopar, Chevy, and Ford projects! :)

Specifically, one of the finest North American produced performance sedans is the Ford Taurus SHO (pronounced show). I currently own a 1997 Taurus SHO. It is not because I own one that I say that is one of the best. It is because of what the product is and how that product has performed for me the user that I can say the SHO is one of the best with confidence.

Recently, Ford unveiled the new 2010 Taurus SHO boasting a 360bhp twin turbo charged V6 and significant performance and handling enhancements at the Chicago Auto SHO.

A video of the unveiling is on You Tube: 2010 Taurus SHO introduction.

Two very important elements are in that video:

1. Mr. Jim Farley gave full recognition to the source of the drive behind releasing the new SHO: The SHO Enthusiast Community (1:38 minutes into the video).
2. Various enthusiasts were interviewed as part of the introduction! (5:32+ minutes)

Ford has made a point of letting the enthusiast community know that they were significant in the new SHO’s creation. In fact, they were invited to be a part of focus groups as well as have front row seats for the unveiling.

Now, let’s have a look at Microsoft and the new Small Business Server 2008:

• Live Search: SBS 2008 Marketing.
• Google Search: SBS 2008 Marketing.

And:

• Live Search: I need a server for my business.
• Google Search: I need a server for my business.

Add a “Do” in front of the “I” for the searches and Microsoft’s Australian SBS page is about 15 links down on Live. The Australian link is number 2 on Google.ca. Note that Google.ca is the Locale specific engine for our searches.

Kudos to Microsoft Australia for being up there in the results! :) Australia also has one of the best high performance automobile markets in the world too!

So, okay … there is virtually nothing in the above searches on the why Small Business Server 2008 is good for a small business owner.

Top that off with hardly any marketing of SBS 2008 in the traditional media forms that we have seen here.

The SBS question has been asked before: Where is our oomph?

Augment that by asking, “Where is the drive to make SBS 2008 the most popular and talked about small business server product ever?”

Marketing a product can be a difficult thing. Ford, IMNSHO, is getting it right with the new SHO and GM was definitely getting it right with the new high performance Cadillac models as well as others ... at least they were until they cancelled the high performance program (Google News Search) until further notice.

The missed opportunity here, when it comes to marketing Small Business Server 2008, is the ability to tap into the SBS Enthusiast community. That community includes I.T. folks like us and small business owners who use the product and know how it can improve small business operations significantly.

Small business owners need to see and hear other small business owners express their views passionately on how SBS 2008 has made a truly remarkable difference in their business operations. They need to see the features in action to get the creative “what if” business juices flowing in their brains.

Tie that passion into the SBS brand and we will have a real winner here … just like the SHO!

Further reading:

• Dana Epp: Top 10 WOW Features on SBS 2008 which will make me switch from SBS 2003.
• Susan Bradley: The top ten wow's of SBS 2008.
• MPECS Inc. Blog: Hey Microsoft - SBS Marketing Ideas for us Canucks and others.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts will not be written on a Mac until we replace our now missing iMac!

Windows Live Writer

Hey Microsoft - SBS Marketing Ideas for us Canucks and others

Most of us small business I.T. shops have a pretty established way of marketing our business:

1. Reputation: A solution based on our client's industry and redundancy requirements.
2. Word of Mouth: Our reputation does indeed precede us.
3. The occasional ad in the local phone books or newspapers.
4. Online.

For us, the first two and the last are the big ones. Our clients have grown to know us as a resource for the I.T. solution needs. We are not a hardware or software vendor to them. We are an organization that can assess their given business circumstances with an understanding of how their particular industry impacts their I.T. needs.

For us Canucks, the SMB market represents about 97% of all businesses. Yes, 97% of all registered businesses in Canada are SMB! Other countries probably have their economies driven in the same manner.

Okay, so the Cloud will help to some degree with the under 3-5 seat crowd, but there are a lot of perceptions small business owners have about the Cloud and their data that need to be addressed first.

So, that begs the question: Where is Microsoft's marketing strategy for this market segment?

We have seen the ads for Windows with Mr. Gates and Seinfeld which I personally liked. Now, we are beginning to see the "I am PC" ads which may or may not turn people's cranks.

The reality is actually quite simple to us here: Market the SBS product's abilities! For us, it wins the sale virtually every time when we demonstrate SBS' Remote Web Workplace among other SBS features.

Most small business owners have never seen the Remote Web Workplace in action! In fact, many SMB focused I.T. "consultants" do not even know it exists!

Getting a business owner's brain juices flowing will follow a 15 or 30 second spot that shows, repeatedly, a user accessing their various network resources via RWW. Each resource: RDP, SharePoint, Outlook Web Access, and others could be featured in a spot. That would provide an awesome foundation to build out from for further campaigns.

One direction: Windows Mobile 6 integration ... and for us I.T. shops: who needs the headaches of installing the other fruit's Exchange integrated server!

Something to keep in mind when it comes to small business owners: They, like us, wear many hats. ROI may be somewhere up there in the grey matter, but the nuts and bolts of their daily business needs tend to be right before their eyes.

Seen a video of the new Cadillac CTS-V yet? The car is amazing and there are a lot of people just itching to get their hands on one. Why? Because the product just sells itself ... it is unbridled American ingenuity and muscle incorporating elegance all in one package ... and it just hauls! :D

The linked site has a couple of really good CTS-V related videos.

SBS 2008 has the ability to be marketed in the same manner ... the product has so many absolutely kewl features that just rock for the small business owner. Those features, the muscle and ingenuity of the SBS product, would absolutely kill in the marketplace ... if people knew about them!

Secure remote access is one of the killer apps for both the SBS and EBS product line. Prior to EBS, how many of us in small consultancies, or SMB focused I.T. service companies, can remember the, "Holy *insert expletive here*" when demonstrating RWW to our Enterprise employed friends, industry peers, or other I.T. acquaintances?

And finally: Where is the Microsoft Small Business Specialist logo in all of this? Why did we not see a link to finding one in the new SBS Console under the Community Links section? We get the logo if we click through to the Microsoft Small Business Center in the US. But, how many small business owners actually know what the logo means?

An opportunity to tie in MSBS with SBS 2008 is ripe for the picking. Again, marketing MSBS to the masses to make sure they understand that those companies that hold the certification have demonstrated a dedication to SMB I.T. solutions, their clients, and the industry by getting certified.

As far as we can tell, MSBS has been marketed to us Microsoft Partners, but not necessarily to the business folks out there. The MSBS logo near the top right of the MS Small Business Center (US) just does not cut it. Heh ... go to the Canadian SBC and the logo is nowhere to be found. :(

Folks, we are sitting on the CTS-V of server products in SBS/EBS ... and the engine is MSBS ... how about we market them as such?

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Business Principles: Advertising where?!?

Susan's post on advertising is rather relevant today for us: Do we need advertisements everywhere?

We just unpacked a new HP LaserJet 1022 printer for a client and guess what we found in the box besides the expected printer related collateral?

We found a post card sized advertisement for a well known VOIP home phone replacement service in the printer box.

Finding the advertising in a product purchased by a client is really disappointing.

What message does that send about the product and/or the product's manufacturer? Is the product we just purchased now a vehicle to sell advertising?

And, more importantly, what message does it say about the purchaser of the manufacturer's product? What does that say about the manufacturer's perspective on who or what the product's purchaser is to them?

These questions are rhetorical in nature. Yet, the answers, if we dig deep enough, may surprise us.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Adobe Design Center - Video Tutorials

We build all of our client publications, Technical Assessment books, as well as our own in-house publication needs on the Adobe Creative Suite Premium. We are currently on version CS2 and are looking to upgrade to CS3 shortly.

In the process of investigating the differences between the CS versions, we stumbled on a great Adobe tutorial resource for their products: Adobe Create Suite 3 Video Workshop.

Not only is this a great marketing ploy, it truly provides good product feature information to those who are investigating the products, and it helps those who already use the products to augment their skills.

An important spin-off to providing these tutorials is to generate a genuine interest in those viewing them to look into in-person classroom or in-house training.

Excellent! :D

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

One of the greatest marketing strategies ever...

The following is somewhat satirical, but describes my thought on what is, in my opinion, one of the most brilliant marketing strategies ever.

A certain Company has a product that is quite popular. It can be seen around the world on people.

The company has great cash flow. They want to diversify, spread into other market types.

They have had a few bumps in the road too, and want to get people's minds off of them.

The first step in their strategy is to hire some guy who hits balls for living. But what a guy! He is the best of the best, the most amazing ball hitter this side of the century.

People like this guy, thus they will like their product even more!

Then the clincher: Get him to wear their Logo on his head and elsewhere they say, and the rest will follow!

And sure enough, people ask, "Where can I get that Logo Melon Protector?" "Where can I get that Logo Trunk Warmer?"

The Company, seeing that their strategy is working, starts introducing new products with their now quite famous Logo on it.

A Logo Melon Protector in several styles and colours that costs ten times over any other melon protector! And guess what!?! The people are buying them. The same is true for the Logo Trunk Warmer and any other product the Company people decide to put the Logo on!

The grins in the Head Office are huge by now.

"We did it", the Head Office people say, "we not only branched out into other markets, but, we got the people to pay for our marketing and product expansion!"

"We see our Logo everywhere. Market saturation is huge!"

***

A company that manages to win the support of the consumer to the point of having that consumer buy their branded products at a huge premium is brilliant.

That huge premium on their branded products did and is paying off for the company.

It is also the reason why we are very careful about the clothing we wear in business and personally.

The branding and symbols we wear says a lot about our company, as well as the individual that we are.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists