Small Business and Credit

Posted On: 2006-11-27
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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Duct Tape marketing podcast. This is your host John Jantsch, and my guest today, we're going to take a little turn, maybe not directly in the marketing vein today, we're going to visit with Bruno Piero, the group head of MasterCard's global small business group. So welcome, Bruno.

Thank you for having me, John.

You bet! So tell me just a quick overview, and then we'll dig down into some details, that some of the things that are going on at MasterCard, as you focus, I mean, if there is a group head of global small business, then there must be some initiatives and some focus on small business, so tell me a little bit about what MasterCard's doing for and with small business.

Yeah, MasterCard is very focused on the small business market, and focused on the products and services we provide which really have to do around three key things. One is obviously the credit card that provides for the ability for a small business to access a line of credit when they need it. The card products, be it credit card products or debit card products that provide the small business with the ability to make payments when they make purchases in the store or online, when they travel, and third, is the set of resources we provide to the small business customers in terms of information on our website, as well as information that they can receive when they use their MasterCard business card, on their statement. For example, they can use their card for all their expenses and receive a consolidated statement of expenses that they can either directly download into the accounting system they may use, or in many cases, give it to the accountants for the accountant to keep track of the expense and run the books.

Ok, let's talk about that first one, then, the credit cards. Do you have specific products that are aimed and tailored for the small business?

We do, we actually have what we call four key product platforms that target the small business market. And those platforms are credit card products, primarily, so we have what we call the core business card product that is provided by a variety of banks, and typically what the banks do is they put their own customized flavor to it, so some of these cards come with rewards, be it cash back or miles, some of these cards may be co-branded with their retailer, so there's a variety of these products in the market today. We also provide for products that are more tailored to small businesses that travel. We have a product called the world elite business card that targets the small business that tends to travel a lot, and their products provide for, for example, upgrades and companion tickets when you travel overseas. So we a variety of products that are marketed by banks that tend to tailor those products further.

Well, so are there some unique needs or benefits, if you will, or maybe they're features, in marketing speak, that a business card needs...