<p>Dibspace is a <a href="http://www.dibspace.com">Seattle based barter network focused on small businesses.</a> Their premise is, <em>"Every single service business has some amount of productive time that goes unfilled and Dibspace.com is the marketplace for those unfilled hours."</em></p>
<p>The nice thing about it is that you don't need to find someone to trade with that wants to trade with you. You can "sell" your services to business X and spend the proceeds you earned on business Y. From their website, <em>"And best of all, to make this marketplace work better for everybody involved, all transactions are based on a specialized currency, the Dibit, designed specifically for this purpose."</em></p>
<p>Now I don't actually market my services to businesses. I'm a Seattle area architect that designs homes for individuals. However I do consume business services and there are a number of services that I've never felt I could spend cash on that I'm able to obtain at Dipspace. Through Dibspace I've hired an attorney, a photographer, a graphic artist, a web designer and I'm working on a writer and videographer.</p>
<p>Here's where the marketing tool comes in. Every professional I've hired or interviewed has reported gaining a substantial amount of business (sometimes too much business) from their Dibspace offers. Most of them have become so busy that they no longer have "unfilled productive time" to offer. This leaves room for new folks to enter the fray.</p>
<p><strong>Using Dibspace as a B2B marketing tool</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Post a company profile. Use your value statement and keyword rich text to describe your business</li>
<li>Select the business categories where you want people to find you</li>
<li>Add a link to your website</li>
<li>Add a link to your blog - consider a Dibspace specific landing page (similar to what you already do with Twitter)</li>
<li>Add a link to your Biznik or LinkedIn profile (you can add up to 3 website links)</li>
<li>Link back to your Dibspace profile from your blog, in email signatures, etc.</li>
<li>Post a job offer for each of the services your provide</li>
<li>Include a full, text rich description of each service</li>
<li>Include a photo appropriate for that service</li>
</ul>
<p>I have a <a href="http://www.hungryarchitect.com/blog/dibspace/">Dibspace specific landing page on my blog</a> that my Dibspace profile points to. That page gets a surprising amount of traffic from both directions.</p>
<p>Dibspace is getting a lot of buzz in the Seattle area right now. A Google search shows that most of the major western Washington newspapers have written articles recently about the service. It's one more way to get in front of potential customers.</p>
<p>The user experience is great. They have an excellent organization/navigation setup, so finding a business or service is easy. They also provide a place for reviews so that you can see what others have thought about the services they've used.</p>
<p>Dibspace isn't only B2B. You'll find offers of office or house cleaning, meal preparation, gourmet baked goods, yoga instruction and lots more. One of the best business investments we made was a massage for my wife and creative director. She left the office stressed and returned rejuvenated and full of enthusiasm. I suppose that is B2B.</p>
<p>As the second B in the B2B equation I look for business services there first. If my experience as a consumer is any indication, a lot of other folks are doing that as well. If you offer something I need, please sign up for Dibspace, I have dibits to spend (♫...and dibits to lend and dibits to send home to my wife...poor wife! ♫).</p>
2009-05-31T14:52:32Z
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dibspace-as-a-tool-for-b2b-marketing
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2009-06-10T11:28:22Z
2009-06-10T17:29:28Z
How to use Dibspace as an additional web presence to describe and sell your services to other businesses.
Dibspace as a tool for B2B marketing
1
2009-06-10T17:29:28Z