Not many big businesses get it yet, but people are starting to come around to the idea that small businesses hold some significant advantages when it comes to serving changing markets.

I spent a few minutes chatting with Seth Godin, arguably one of the more articulate identifiers of emerging marketing reality (wow, that’s a mouthful) and author of the newly released – Small Is the New Big: and 193 Other Riffs, Rants, and Remarkable Business Ideas. Seth irritates as he inspires masses of blog readers at Seth’s Blog and accurately identifies what’s going on in the world and mind of the consumer these days

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For a company to succeed in this age of over stimulation they must connect and to connect, they must have a good story. Markets are conversations and they must be conversations that people want to hear, talk about and spread. Note to anyone not blogging, do you get it now?

The thing I love most about this book is that even though it’s not really written with the kind of small business in mind that I speak to here at Duct Tape Marketing, it clearly validates some of the natural advantages that I believe small businesses possess – if they choose to employ them.

1) Small businesses can serve very narrow markets
2) Small businesses can do something because they want to
3) Small businesses can change – rapidly
4) Small businesses can listen to their customers
5) Small businesses can craft a compelling story
6) Small businesses are personal
7) Small businesses. . . (you fill one in the comments!)