Social advertising, or advertisements published through Social Media platforms and networks, hit $23.6 billion in 2015. According to eMarketer, that spending is estimated to hit $35 billion in 2017. Just as the Social Media revolution took Small Business by surprise, so too is the Social Advertising evolution from purely content marketing to now a hybrid… Read more »

Ray Sidney-Smith presented a workshop about how to use LinkedIn for small business. Here are some takeaways and important points to consider when using LinkedIn as a small business owner. LinkedIn is the largest professional social networking platform today. They also happen to now be owned by Microsoft. As a Small Business Owner, you may think… Read more »

This is the second post in a two-part series. To read Part One, click here. Last week, we talked about how to incorporate social media into marketing and communications strategies. As a reminder, these strategies can be divided into six main categories: Executive Visibility Media Relations Content Marketing Events Recruitment Staff & Membership Morale Last… Read more »

This week, Alexandria SBDC staff had the opportunity to attend a conference organized by the Louisiana SBDC and America’s SBDC. The topic of focus was how SBDCs can better engage with younger entrepreneurs. One of the sessions was presented by Blair Broussard of ARPR and discussed how to incorporate social media into marketing and communications… Read more »

The SBA has posted an interesting blog suggesting some inexpensive marketing tips that small business can use to grow their business, particularly during the summer months. While not everything would work for all businesses, summer is a great time to “think outside the box” about how you can touch base with your favorite current customers and… Read more »

This week, we hosted a workshop on pitching your small business. Many business owners have never taken the time to sit down and really think through their business pitch. Whether you’re pitching to introduce yourself, to promote your brand, to gain a new client, to increase awareness about your product or service, or to ask… Read more »

The April Small Business Roundtable featured a lively discussion on how to deal with challenging customers. Whether it is a one-time issue or a constant complainer, all agreed that this is one of the most difficult issues of being a small business owner. Usually, you do not want to lose them as customers, but someone… Read more »

As Spring2Action approaches in Alexandria, more businesses are beginning to consider social responsibility and cause marketing. This blog post, written by Rieva Lesonsky and originally posted on the SBA website on March 1, 2016, gives some tips for how small businesses can incorporate social responsibility into their marketing.  Are you looking for a way to attract new customers? Social… Read more »

In February 2016, Maurisa Potts of Spotted M+P presented on the top marketing trends for 2016. This video recaps her presentation and talks about the top three trends that small businesses should be aware of this year. If you would like to learn more about our marketing resources, you can visit our Interactive Resource Library, which… Read more »

This post first appeared in the Alexandria Times on January 29, 2016. You may have read recent articles about store closings at the start of the new year. Several of the notable closings were due to retirements, and we should celebrate their long and successful runs. However, as a city, we have several resources available… Read more »