Trade Secrets: Let’s give ’em something to talk about

More than just the lyrics to a great Bonnie Raitt song, the title of this post is also the goal of our new Trade Secrets program.

No, Dell's not out to steal your proprietary business information – we're simply looking to get our SMB customers not only talking with us, but also with each other. And, not just talking about Dell products, but also about the larger topics small and medium businesses face and how Dell solutions can help.

Like business development – something a majority of small business owners said they plan to focus on this year. An important part of business development is making that first impression on a customer and we think the new Vostro V130 laptop can do just that while working beautifully.

But, first impressions are about more than just a sleek, stylish system and that's where Trade Secrets comes in. We want our customers to share and learn from each other by sharing their own secrets to making a good first impression.

They can do this on Twitter with the #tradesecrets hashtag or directly on Facebook where our Trade Secrets app aggregates them all.

trade-secrets-tab-interaction

To help kick-start the conversation, we also sent several V130s to bloggers in the US and UK. We wanted their opinion of the product, but also asked them to help us increase awareness of Trade Secrets. We listened to them about how they could best reach their audience, and that led to a few contests for which we donated prizes.

You'll find a list of their posts at the end of this one, and we'll continue to update it as more come online. (Let us know in the comments if we miss one!)

And, this isn't just a one-time marketing campaign. No, Trade Secrets will evolve as new topics come along. Today we're talking about first impressions, but next month the conversation may revolve around the challenges of a mobile workforce or continuous improvement of your business products.

If you've got a hot topic to suggest, we'd love for you to leave it here in the comments. And, if you want to take a peek at some secrets already shared, visit Facebook.com/DellBusiness.

Trade Secrets/Vostro V130 blog posts:

About the Author: Laura Pevehouse

Laura Pevehouse was profiled as one of five “social media mavens” in the March 2009 issue of Austin Woman Magazine and named an AdWeek’s TweetFreak Five to Follow. She has been part of the Dell organization for more than 15 years in various corporate communications, employee communications, public relations, community affairs, marketing, branding, social media and online communication roles. From 2014-2018, Laura was Chief Blogger/Editor-in-Chief for Direct2DellEMC and Direct2Dell, Dell’s official corporate blog that she help launch in 2007. She is now a member of the Dell Technologies Chairman Communications team. Earlier in her Dell career she focused on Global Commercial Channels and US Small and Medium Business public relations as part of the Global Communications team. Prior to that, she was responsible for global strategy in social media and community management, as well as marcom landing pages, as a member of Dell’s Global SMB Marketing, Brand and Creative team. When she was part of Dell’s Global Online group, Laura provided internal consulting that integrated online and social media opportunities with a focus on Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. She managed the home page of Dell.com, one of the top 500 global web sites in Alexa traffic rank, and first brought web feeds and podcasts to the ecommerce site. In her spare time she led Dell into the metaverse with the creation of Dell Island in the virtual world Second Life. Laura has earned the designation of Accredited Business Communicator from the International Association of Business Communicators, and received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Louisiana State University. Before joining Dell Financial Services in 2000, she worked at the Texas Workforce Commission and PepsiCo Food Systems Worldwide.