Small businesses have fewer resources, can tolerate less risk and often rely heavily on vendor partnerships to save them time and money. With this understanding, how can organizations best meet and capture the interest of the Small Market Business (SMB) segment? What marketing strategies should they deploy? What tactics don’t work? On April 19, 2011, the Minnesota chapter of the Business Marketing Association (BMA-Minnesota) is hosting a panel discussion on how to effectively target and market to small businesses.

The panel discussion will feature Amy Nyquist, director of marketing and business development for
Best Buy for Business; Daniel Boone, executive director, integrated programs for Deluxe Corporation;
and Jason Elles, global brand manager for Imation. Chris Schermer, president of SCHERMER, will
moderate the discussion. Together the panelists will:

• Address marketing best practices used at Best Buy, Deluxe, Imation and a variety of other organizations
• Discuss market segmentation, and the value of specific methods in the marketing mix, such as e-mail marketing, portals and webinars
• Help marketing professionals evaluate whether they are effectively reaching out to the small businesses that are important to their success.

The event will be held on April 19, 2011, at the Metropolitan Ballroom in Golden Valley, Minn.
Registration and breakfast will begin at 7:30 a.m., followed by the presentation from 8 to 9 a.m.
The cost of the event is $30 for Business Marketing Association members and $45 for non-members. Attendees can register online at www.bmaminnesota.org. A limited number of walk-up registrations will be available.