Big City Association of Small Business Owners.

Big City Association of Small Business Owners.

RE: Small Business in the Digital Age

I run a small business in this digital age, and is my pleasure to deliver this presentation to you fellow entrepreneurs as we seek to grow our businesses with limited resources. In the digital age, change and adaptability is inevitable. The market is changing at an alarming speed and running a business in this age is not easy. The challenge we small entrepreneurs face is limited resources but even amidst this constraint we still need to grow our businesses and remain relevant in the market place. Technology is transforming businesses and it’s imperative that we adopt it to prepare our businesses for todays and future success. We also need to respond to the everyday changing customer needs.

Credentials

I am the owner of Gulf Coast Marketing (GCM). A small firm with extensive experience in crafting and executing top notch social media strategies. We have successfully crafted social media strategies for many clients. Our company have great presence in LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and also have a YouTube channel where we post informative videos. I have a background in public relations and I am an active member of the Association for Business Communication. I have extensive knowledge and expertise in account management and always up to date with developments in this field. Sharon holds an MBA in marketing and is a pro at account management. She is an expert at analysis and spotting data trends that help our clients to capitalize on such opportunities. Juan Rivera, is our consultant in the customer service field. Last year he was the main speaker at the Big City Chamber of Commerce Annual Meeting. He also writes a weekly column for the Business Page of the Big City News.

Presentation Summary

Technology is changing many aspects of small businesses. It has revolutionized the conduct of doing business. The modern customer is shopping online and any business with no online presence may not survive. Businesses should seek to provide a lasting customer experience by putting the customer needs. Incorporating technology can help a small business reduce its operating costs by adopting an enterprise software that will automate some functions. It also helps to broaden the customer base by enabling small business penetrate local and international markets through websites and social media handles. Additionally, it helps improve communication within a small business for both internal and external customers. For example through use of emails, WhatsApp, texting and websites. Technology also promotes efficiency by reducing their turnaround times for small businesses as opposed to manual ways. Businesses are able to engage their existing and potential customers in a better and quicker way. Most technology tools provide an analytical tool that entrepreneurs can embrace to help them make better and more informed decisions. This will make it easier to measure return on investment. Entrepreneurs in small businesses are also able to secure more sensitive business and customer information. All this will give small businesses competitive advantage over their colleagues with no technology. Small businesses will also be able to compete much better with bigger firms.

Small business entrepreneurs with limited resources can incorporate tools such as Facebook, email, texting, WhatsApp, mobile, twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to market and create awareness of their products and services. Managing social media requires good public relations, good customer experience and have ability to analyze data and forecast trends. In every business, the customer comes first, with our vast experience in customer service we are able to manage and give a lasting impression to your customers as well as provide best public relations. We also analyze the data from these platforms and forecast rends and advise our clients on areas to capitalize. Small business owners need to have good leadership skills, sales and marketing skills, customer service skills, communication skills, public relations management skills, and digital skills. These skills combined will promote business and revenue growth.

Benefits of this presentation to small business entrepreneurs

This will have several benefits to the small business entrepreneurs. First, it enlighten them on the importance of technology and the benefits they will get should they incorporate technology. Second, it will educate them on how to incorporate technology in their businesses and the possible tools they can start using. Third, it will also provide them with skills and practices that they can incorporate immediately such as good customer service skills, basic digital skills, communications skills, marketing and sales skills, and leadership skills. Fourth, since they are mostly very busy, it will educate them on how they can outsource such services to our company. Additionally, they will understand how public relations, customer experience and market analysis are integrated when it comes to running the social media effectively.

In conclusion, you don’t have to incorporate technology in your business overnight. At Gulf Coast Marketing (GCM) we started small by digitizing our existing systems by incorporating the right tools. For example, doing social media campaigns in Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. But it’s also important to note that change is inevitable and any business that fails to prepare for the future will eventually miss the future. Technology should be at the heart of every single business.

Regards