More and more technology companies are starting to invest serious dollars in marketing to small- and mid-sized businesses (SMB.) The steady march of technological advancement makes much of this possible: products and services that once were restricted to corporate data centers are now showing up on the desktop, or as desktop appliances, which in turn opens up new markets.

There are compelling business reasons for this trend. Small businesses may not have the IT budgets of their enterprise counterparts, but there are more of them (eight million more, by some counts). Fewer decision-makers means sales cycles can be dramatically shorter. And where some enterprise markets (think: CRM) are reaching saturation, millions of small- to mid-sized businesses are just waking up to the potential offered by the same solutions on a smaller scale.

Here are a few simple tips to consider for your next SMB campaign:

1. Keep it simple. The daily "pain points" of a corporate manager can be fairly provincial. As such, a campaign can resonate by touching upon issues and problems that may have minimal company-wide impact but nonetheless resonate loudly with that individual. By contrast, the concerns of a small business proprietor (take it from someone in that role) distill into something much more basic: money. If your copy doesn't show the reader how to either a) increase revenues, or b) decrease cost, you've missed the target.

2. No FUD. Because corporate decision-makers have the responsibility, the budget, and the fear of upper management, they try to anticipate problems well before they arrive. Small businesses tend to be more reactive. They buy things when they need them, and not before. Therefore, messages that rely on Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) are less likely to resonate with this audience than they might with someone mired in the corporate hierarchy.

3. Think print. Reaching a corporate decision-maker using direct mail typically means getting your message through multiple "screens": the mail room, the department secretary, the executive assistant. In a small business, however, it's likely that only one, maybe two, people see your direct mail before the intended recipient, which means your message has a much greater chance of reaching the addressee's desk.