Our parent company, infoGROUP, in Omaha, Nebraska recently started a campaign aimed at generating stimulus for local small businesses.  Created by infoGroup's Executive VP, Stormy Dean, the Storm Dawg Marketing blog offers suggestions to small business owners, as well as an opportunity to receive some custom advice.  Business owners submit their stories to the blog, then once a month Dean selects one business to receive a tailored marketing plan and a starting budget.  The company's progress is documented on the blog for others to read and learn from.

In Dean's own words, "This is a great example of where capitalism meets doing good in the world." By helping small businesses, "hopefully they can create new jobs and along the way we can learn something."

Ralston's Trinity United Methodist, one of the first clients, needed to get the word out about their new community center and benefited from a fund raiser that infoGROUP helped to host.  Church members found it to be a great learning experience.  They hope others who visit the blog will benefit just as much from reading about both the positive and negative outcomes of the event. "It's exactly what we were looking for," said Trinity United's Pastor Nancy Kaye-Skinner.

This is social media in action, at its best - helping and teaching others during a tough economic period, while preparing for a promising future.  For more information on Stormy Dean's small business stimulus plan, visit www.stormdawg.com.