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Eighth Annual Women's Entrepreneurship Conference

Essay Competition Winner

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 “Embracing Web 2.0: Smart Business Strategy for Female Entrepreneurs”
  Jacqueline Paquet
  Fox School of Business
  Professional MBA Candidate – Marketing
  Class of 2010

Brief Bio
Jacqueline Paquet is a Professional MBA student (Class of 2010) focusing on Marketing at Temple’s Fox School of Business. In addition to her studies, Jacqueline works full-time as Marketing/Public Relations Associate at Thomas Jefferson University. Jacqueline’s passion for entrepreneurship and public relations extends into her professional affiliations. She is a member of the Philadelphia chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, Philadelphia Public Relations Association, and the Penn State Professional Women’s Network of Philadelphia. Jacqueline is a proud 2006 graduate of Penn State University, holding bachelor’s degrees in Public Relations and Communications Arts & Sciences. While at Penn State, Jacqueline was actively involved on campus, serving on the PRSSA executive board, the Homecoming overall committee and as a dancer in Penn State Dance Marathon (THON). After completing her Master’s at Temple, Jacqueline aspires to start her own full-service marketing and public relations agency.

"In this age of the iPod, iPhone and MySpace, it's all about the individual consumer and the new technologies that support his or her rapidly changing tastes and preferences."
Philadelphians especially are educated, tech-savvy consumers who expect local entrepreneurs to be at the cutting edge of business technologies. With Philadelphia at the forefront of a technological renaissance, poised to become America’s first completely wireless major city, it is only fitting that Philadelphia’s female business owners should be leading another revolution: Web 2.0.
Female entrepreneurs have much to gain from embracing and incorporating Web 2.0 into their business strategy. Smart entrepreneurs have already adopted collaborative technologies such as optimized websites, blogs, podcasts, and social media to find niche markets in the global marketplace, engage customers in a two-way dialogue, and stay competitive against the competition.
New technology has made it possible not only for business owners to find niche markets, but for consumers to search for businesses that can address their unmet needs. According to a media survey by Fusion Public Relations, search engines were the top ranked means for researching companies. Search engine optimization is a smart, affordable way for entrepreneurs to increase their online exposure and bring qualified traffic to their site. Perspective clients have many businesses in each industry to choose from, so entrepreneurs need to do as much as possible to stand out from the crowd. In "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More," author and Wired editor Chris Anderson suggests that the Internet offers low-cost opportunities for niche marketers to reach consumers. According to Anderson, the small business segment --- "long tail of the Internet"--- represents a large, untapped market. The consumers in this market are seeking highly specialized content on industry blogs and non-business related sites such as YouTube.
Blogging, another Web 2.0 technology, has gone mainstream. Currently, 12 million Americans have their own blogs and 57 million Americans read blogs daily. A growing number of those blogs are promoting businesses and educating customers and employees. Blogging allows consumers to give business owners instantaneous feedback, which can be positive and helpful. However, some corporate blogs have become venues for irate consumers to air their grievances. "Whether you like it or not, there's a conversation going on on the Internet," says Sally Falkow, president of Expansion Plus, Inc., an internet marketing and PR agency. "The days of putting up static content and having it be effective are long gone." It isn't enough for entrepreneurs to be aware of the conversation; they must be active participants as well. "Professionals need to be listening to what's being said in podcasts, on Second Life, in videos and on blogs," says Jennifer McClure, executive director of the Society for New Communications Research. "What conversations are taking place about our companies, and about our brands and services? With that information, how can we advise our clients and companies about how we might want to address those criticisms and how we can get involved in the conversation?"
Dialogue between business owners and consumers is not limited to the blogosphere. Conversation is taking place on social media sites like YouTube, where business owners can post videos driving traffic to their website and consumers can respond with video critiques of their own. The co-founders of Trunkt, a New York City company that represents creative entrepreneurs such as designers and artists, have a presence on YouTube and feature popular design blogs on their site. In doing so, Trunkt has established itself as trusted facilitator of dialogue rather than a dictator of design do's and don'ts. "The web should be about community, feedback and being able to have a voice as to what content looks like," says Dev Tandon, Trunkt co-founder.
But how will Web 2.0 ultimately affect the bottom line? Results from a recent study conducted by CDW suggests that tech savvy entrepreneurs are more likely to be successful than non-tech savvy business owners. Brad Purl, Sales Director of CDW Small Business Division, explains the connection between IT know-how and entrepreneurial success. “To be successful, it can’t just be on a good idea or a good product alone. The tech savvy entrepreneur understands that connecting to customers is key to the business and allowing technology to help coworkers communicate to customers, get answers, and solve problems allows the business to generate not only revenue but also future growth. Technology today allows for quick, informed decisions and allows entrepreneurs to focus on the business and on their customers. It’s a dot com world; customers want quick decisions. Using technology to manage, to harness communication with your customers is key to a small business. If you’re going to survive, you’ve got to leverage technology.”
Female entrepreneurs in all industries will benefit from joining the Web 2.0 revolution. Young businesses especially have a great opportunity to experiment with Web 2.0 in its developmental stage. Reid Conrad, co-founder of Near-Time, a hosted online collaboration service, encourages entrepreneurs to be proactive, "The competitive winners of the future understand the interactive nature of what the web is. I would jump in." As Philadelphia emerges as the nation's first wireless city, so should Philadelphia's female entrepreneurs emerge as the leaders of the Web 2.0 revolution.


References

Anderson, Chris. The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, 2006.
''Do Geeks Make Better Entrepreneurs?” [Podcast] 3 October 2007. NetworkWorld.
www.networkworld.com/podcasts/panorama/2007/100307pan-cdw-geek.html
"Do You See What I See?" October 2007. Entrepreneur Magazine.
"Get a Social Life." October 2007. Entrepreneur Magazine.
"It Takes 2.0 to Tango." February 2007. Entrepreneur Magazine.
"Keep Them Posted." October 2007. Entrepreneur Magazine.
"Setting down in Second Life: Proving your worth within social media with honesty and accommodation." May 16, 2007. PR Tactics and Strategist Online.
"Survey of Tech Journalists Reveals Impact of Social Media." August 13, 2007. PR Tactics and The Strategist Online.