{"id":1201,"date":"2008-10-16T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2008-10-16T15:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/?p=1201"},"modified":"2008-10-16T14:31:53","modified_gmt":"2008-10-16T18:31:53","slug":"merchant-circle-causes-revolution-amongst-smbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blumenthals.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/16\/merchant-circle-causes-revolution-amongst-smbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Merchant Circle causes revolution amongst SMB’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

MarketWatch noted that\u00a0MerchantCircle Revolutionizes ‘Feet on the Street’ Sales Force by Tapping Current Business Members<\/a>. \u00a0The subhead read:\u00a0Local Business Owners Rewarded for Signing Up Business Neighbors to Network.\u00a0I also read with interest Greg Sterling\u2019s related announcement: MerchantCircle Turns SMBs into Sellers<\/a>\u00a0where he noted:<\/p>\n

In a clever twist, MerchantCircle is seeking to turn its thousands of SMB \u201cmembers\u201d (it now claims 630K) into a sales channel that will sell its services to other small businesses.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0I could imagine a headline that said instead:\u00a0Merchant Circle implements new plan to turn neighbor against neighbor<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I can already see Matt McGee,\u00a0moaning loudly<\/a>, when he receives his first automated phone call from his local Plumber (Joe?) who mentions in the prerecorded call, that his daughter saw a bad review about Matt\u2019s SEM services, and that Matt better scurry on line to MC for some reputation management and to verify his business.<\/p>\n

While I think that the plan is brilliant, the \u201cdevil\u201d as they say is in the details and I am sure that Merchant Circle will bring their very\u00a0special view of marketing<\/a>\u00a0to the equation. Any local merchant would be well advised to not be the first one on the block to take up the offer until the details of their marketing strategy become clearer.<\/p>\n

You wouldn\u2019t want to be the first merchant to project Merchant Circle\u2019s brand of marketing into your local neighborhood. It may be too clever by half as neighbors have long memories and the revolution of which MarketWatch speaks may not be the one that they envisioned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MarketWatch noted that\u00a0MerchantCircle Revolutionizes ‘Feet on the Street’ Sales Force by Tapping Current Business Members. \u00a0The subhead read:\u00a0Local Business Owners Rewarded for Signing Up Business Neighbors to Network.\u00a0I also read with interest Greg Sterling\u2019s related announcement: MerchantCircle Turns SMBs into Sellers\u00a0where he noted: In a clever twist, MerchantCircle is seeking to turn its thousands of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t