This blog post was written by Ray Sidney-Smith of W3 Consulting. It may come as a surprise from Small Business owners to start thinking about holiday marketing planning before Labor Day. But, now is the time to start planning the holiday marketing campaigns you want to be successful for this coming fall and winter holidays… Read more »

You have social media accounts, but do you ever run out of ideas to write or talk about? At last month’s Small Business Roundtable attendees brainstormed ideas for social media posts, from Tweets to Podcasts.  Each participant gave a very brief “elevator speech” about their business, and others told them what they would want to… Read more »

Small business owners packed the room at the Alexandria SBDC last week for Maurisa Potts’ annual update of the latest trends in marketing.  As always, content is king, and the focus is on how to connect with customers in a way that the “big box stores” and online sales cannot. The first step, of course,… Read more »

Every year, a small subset of small business owners that I meet lament that they were not prepared for the “holiday marketing season.” That is, they say they were not prepared with their holiday marketing campaign in time to take full advantage of it. Don’t let this be you! Before you know it, the winter… Read more »

This post is written by Bill Reagan, Executive Director of the SBDC and first appeared in the Alexandria Times on August 24, 2017. Holidays are a wonderful time in Alexandria. The area is especially beautiful and festive from Halloween through Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Years and George Washington’s birthday. We have the prototypic neighborhoods and shopping streets that… Read more »

The following blog was written by Heidi O’Leska, Vintage Juice Brand marketing, who presented a workshop on this subject for the Alexandria SBDC last week. More than likely, it’s not the marketing, it’s the message.  I often hear from clients, we spend tons of money on direct mail (or print advertising or social media) and… Read more »

Several days ago, visual merchandising expert DP Miller presented a workshop at the Alexandria SBDC on the 11 Basic Rules of Window & Interior Merchandising.  The speaker stressed that you must know the rules, and the reasons behind them, before you can “break” them.  This is the first of a three-part series on this subject… Read more »

Recently, the Alexandria SBDC presented their annual Marketing Trends Workshop, featuring Maurisa Potts of Spotted MP (Marketing + Public Relations).  Among the trends that were highlighted for the upcoming year are the following: Interactive Content – Get people participating in your business even before they are a customer. Interactive content includes activities such as polls,… Read more »

This article was written by Ray Sidney-Smith, facilitator for Alexandria Small Business Development Center’s monthly Business Development Roundtable. You may join us every third Tuesday, January through November, for different topic-based discussions for Small Business in the City of Alexandria, Virginia. What brands do you think about when you think about the biggest brands in… Read more »

I’m sure you are in the same race to the end of the year that most small business owners face around the country, and around the globe. No matter your political persuasion, this year’s election campaign cycle was surprising not only because of the outcome, but also since it was so hyped up in the… Read more »