A.I. For Small Businesses

Kamelle focuses on ways A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) can impact a small business in a meaningful way through customer support, analyzing data, and sales.

*** SHOW NOTES***
10 AI Tools To Run Your Business from A to Z  
7 Different Ways To Use ChatGPT For Your Business

Events
Jul 18 - Small Business Interest Meeting Fordyce
Jul 25 - Start Small Think Big
Aug 8 & 10 - Food Service Start Up
TBD - Latino Business Awards   

Other Resources
ABN UADA Page – https://uaex.uada.edu/abn
Podcast – https://uaex.uada.edu/abnpodcast
ABN State Website – https://arbusinessnavigator.com
SBA Website – https://sba.gov
ASBTDC website – https://asbtdc.org

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Arkansas Business Navigator podcast to show their reviews, Small Business Administration and Arkansas business Navigator resources available to support small businesses and entrepreneurs in the natural state. Kamelle is here in today's episode will cover easy social media marketing efforts for your small business. Events going on around the state and Q&A segment around. Small business marketing. 

 (intro music) 

Let’s get into our main topic today. Marketing has greatly expanded through the invention of social media and our reliance on search engines. Back in the day, there was only a few ways to get a business's message out. Looking at the landscape today, you know mastering and social media has become an art form with small business owners. And if you're able to effectively. Speak to your consumer base. It has positive impact on your bottom line. Today I want to highlight the lessons learned from the UADA Communications team social media training, effective digital strategies for small businesses. The points we hope to make today are: social media isn't that hard? It also doesn't have to be time consuming.  

Social media promotion for your business doesn't have to be complicated. Amy details, the four essential questions you should ask yourself before you start social media marketing. Who is my target audience? And what platforms are they using? What type of content will I be reliably able to share? What kind of time do I have to spend on social media marketing? What outcomes am I hoping for? These questions will be key to guiding your marketing activities and scaling your eventual plan. Yes, I said playing because without planning, you're going to plan to fail. Understanding the characteristics of your clients will also serve you very well.  

As much as people are getting to know what products and services you have to offer, they're also getting to know you. In a blog written by Jen Matthews on top tier media, she says that 

 “Sharing your face, your personality and glimpses behind the scenes are what make consumers trust you.... they will stop seeing you as a faceless corporation and start seeing the person (or people) behind the brand.” 

 They will stop seeing you as a faceless corporation and start seeing the person or people behind the brand. So, to all the entrepreneurs out there, you'll stop being camera shy. There're so many easy content opportunities that you may not know you are missing. You don't have to be a graphic designer or have superb skills with Photoshop or anything like that. You just need to be handy with your phone's camera. 

 Let's say you are a business that sells homemade fashion goods at a Saturday flea market in your home town. I can imagine 4 distinct moments that you could capture that would advertise business and allow potential customers to establish a relationship with you as well. While you're at home. There will be a stage where you prep. You'll likely put your raw materials in a staging area ready for assembly, snap. There's a moment and content for your social media page. You can record a short video, generally under a minute, or capture a picture featuring you and or friends, family assembly, raw material into your product. Next, you'll have finished products ready to be packaged. Another Kodak moment. Take a moment to talk about what it takes to do what you do and or tell the people where to buy your products at. Oh yeah, in any promotional activity you need tell people how to buy your goods! A great question I just learned is, do you want to make goods or do you want to make money? Always tell people how, where and what to buy from you. Every time. Another moment, would be after delivering your products to a market and another moment would be a customer satisfied reaction to buy your goods or services, snap. Capture those moments and tell people you know how to buy what you have worked on. It seems too easy, doesn't it?  

Of course, you'll need to be fun and engaging or whatever aligns with your brand. If you're speaking, you'll want to be clear and articulate your message. These content strategies are easy to create and easy to apply to all your businesses. Use as you wish and focus on what makes your money. 

In June, we have. The Smart Growth Accelerator program online, the 2023 Smart Growth Accelerator is for Arkansas companies looking to move from the start-up phase into the scale up mode. The multi week fully virtual program. Focuses on business planning, marketing, financial management and financing for growth or expansion. Through our four virtual workshops and individualized assistance companies selected to participate will create and implement customized strategic growth plans. Sessions will be held online via Zoom on June 7th, June 14th, June 21st, and 28th participation in all sessions is required.  

On June 7th, we have getting Loan and investment ready online. The time to prepare for loans and investment is now, not when you need it. In this webinar, we'll review what banks and investors will require. In order to consider your loan as well as what factors will increase your chances of approval, the presenter is Scott Lacy from the UAF SBTDC counseling center.  

On June 13th, we have smart principles of marketing messaging online. In this online session will cover 6 smart principles of marketing, messaging and psychological tactics to help you get and keep your audience's attention. Learn some of the tricks you can use with your brand to make an impact on your target market?  This is an example heavy event analyzing marketing tactics that different companies use and distilling them into lessons that small businesses can apply. Presented by Melissa Foziat, a Southern California-based marketer, speaker, consultant and author.  

On June 20th, we have is QuickBooks right for your business online? This virtual event is for those who are not yet using QuickBooks accounting software or are considering switching between different QuickBooks versions. Topics include QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online features. The capabilities of each and how those features. With the accounting needs of different types of businesses, they're not charged to attend. If you're interested in any of these events, check out the link on the show notes.  

Now pivoting to our Q&A segment. We're only going to have two questions. The first one is: Is there a resource to help learn more about marketing my small business? The SBA Learning Center platform is free and it has courses that focus on marketing in the bigger context and also social media marketing specifically. 

What should I focus on when trying to market my business? Your market, I.e. who you're looking to sell products to. Your strategies and your message should align with your target customers. The question for you is, do you know who those people are and how to reach them?  

Thanks for listening to the podcast. Consider subscribing to get notified when new episodes drop. If you found the information useful, we'd really appreciate it if you could leave a review on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you listen. If you want to ask a question and have it answered on the podcast. Go to the show notes and complete the form, the Arkansas Business Navigator Podcast is produced by Brandon Matthews and Kamelle Gomez. Our music was created by Music Unlimited from Pixabay, the Arkansas Business Navigator is a program of the Arkansas small Business and Technology Development Center, hosted by UA Little Rock and is funded. In part through Grant from the US Small Business Administration, all opinions, conclusions and or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect. The views of the SBA Special thanks to our partners at Arkansas Small business and Technology Development Center, University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas. Division of Agricultural Cooperative Extension service to learn more about the Arkansas business Navigator or how to access free confidential business counseling. And resources go to arbusinessnavigator.com. Thank you again.