Check This Out: Conferences, Webinars, Contests and Awards |  |
- Check This Out: Conferences, Webinars, Contests and Awards
- Small Business News: An Acquisition, a Rebrand and a Shutdown
- Grumpy Cat Now Delivers Weather Forecasts to Your Phone
- Learn to “Pitch Anything” Through Persuasion and Presentation
| Check This Out: Conferences, Webinars, Contests and Awards Posted: 07 Sep 2013 04:30 PM PDT Welcome to our latest curated list of events, contests and awards for small businesses, solo entrepreneurs and growing companies. To see a full list or to submit your own event, contest or award listing, visit the Small Business Events Calendar. Featured Events, Contests and Awards
Join us at Small Biz Big Things in New York City for an evening of learning, networking, fun and discussion as we explore how small business owners can do very big things through innovation. Laggard companies are being crushed. Companies who can strategically innovate are being created and growing. Will your business thrive? Will it survive? Seth Godin will do a rare Q&A session, answering your burning questions about small business, marketing and doing work that matters. Carly Strife, of Barkbox (and previously with Uber) will present her real life, hands on experiences, and best practices in how small companies can profitably innovate and grow in the midst of challenging market forces and intense competition.
This fresh, one-day conference brings together amazing women entrepreneurs, both on and off the stage. Our incredible speaker lineup will help you learn how to get funding for growth, make your brand stronger, and turn your idea into a company. Pitch journalists live on stage with our media panel. You'll also hear the REAL behind-the-scenes stories from founders including JJ Ramberg, Janine Popick , Pamela O'Hara and more. SEATING IS LIMITED. More Events
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This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends and SmallBizTechnology. The post Check This Out: Conferences, Webinars, Contests and Awards appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Small Business News: An Acquisition, a Rebrand and a Shutdown Posted: 07 Sep 2013 12:30 PM PDT If you didn’t get time this week to keep up with the latest, we’ve got you covered. The Small Business Trends editorial team has the latest and shares the news stories you as a business owner or entrepreneur need to stay on top of. Here’s the weekly recap. An Acquisition, a Rebrand and a ShutdownThis is what the Microsoft acquisition of Nokia means. Despite detractors, this could be a good thing for big Windows users (read lots and lots of small businesses.) If you’ve longed for a Windows smartphone to match the operating systems on the other devices in your office, Anita Campbell explains why this is good news. GoDaddy Puts Out Van Damme ad, changes focus. You may ask, what does Belgian martial arts expert and film star Jean-Claude Van Damme have to do with small business? Read how the Web hosting giant is promoting outreach to “courageous” small business owners. MyOpenID service will close down for good. The company that pioneered use of Open ID standards has decided to end its MyOpenID single-sign-in service. Larry Drebes, CEO of Janrain, Inc., says his company is focusing on new projects. By now most people use single sign-ons, even if you’re not familiar with the term. When you sign in with your Google, Facebook or LinkedIn login to another site, you’re using single sign-on, and they use the OPEN ID standards. So there’s no longer any need for a separate service called MyOpenID. Gadget NewsThe Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is here. After plenty of leaked photos on the Internet, now we know a bit more about the latest Samsung device. It should be coming to the U.S. in October and could be great for small business productivity, but the price remains uncertain. The Nexus 4 is now $100 cheaper. Here’s an overview of what your business will be getting for its investment in Google’s budget smartphone. The phone compares well with many of its ilk including some that are a bit more expensive. But remember it lacks 4G LTE. Services & ResourcesMYQROsites are a new approach to mobile. The service lets you create and customize mobile websites for a fee. You can also use the service to generate QR codes. They are square 2-D barcodes that can be scanned with your camera phone directing customers to your website. Marketing overseas is an option for small businesses too. The U.S. government provides resources to help your business accomplish this. But you must know where to look. In this update from the U.S. Small Business Administration, we learn what’s available and how to get started marketing your business abroad. EntrepreneurshipLenovo’s CEO will share his $3+ million bonus with employees. Split among 10,000 factory workers, that’s $325 per person at the Chinese computer manufacturer and equal to almost a month’s pay. That’s a rare move for a large-company CEO, says Anita Campbell. More could take a page from small business owners, who have a tendency to share profits. Where we stand with small business recovery. It’s been four years since the economic recovery began. So where do small businesses stand? Better off than they were when recovery began, says Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies at Case Western Reserve University Scott Shane. But there’s room for improvement, because we haven’t equalled pre-recession levels. Customer Service & MarketingSage went on a tour to visit customers – here’s what you can learn. Sage North America’s 50-day Sage Listens Tour has come to a close. Using the Tour as a backdrop, we came up with 7 lessons small businesses can learn about customer relationships. And you don’t need to trick out a pricey RV or spend 2 months on a tour. Keep your online marketing strategy up to date. Online marketing plans especially are not things you can set and then never update. Instead, they must be adjusted periodically with changes in your product, audience, or the marketing. Amie Marse shows you how. Operations & InfrastructureIt’s officially hurricane season. Is your small business prepared? More severe storms in recent years mean businesses all over the Eastern seaboard must prepare for the worst. But, of course, the increased use of outsourced workers or virtual employees means your business doesn’t have to be in the path of the storm to be affected. Ted Devine, CEO of Insureon, has more. BYOD can contribute to your network congestion. The days when your office had only one device per user are gone. Part of the reason is the tendency for workers to bring and use their own devices (BYOD). Security is one issue with BYOD. But congestion on your network is another, says Craig Sutton of Sutton Brand Management. Rules & RegsStay up on the rules for criminal background checks. You want to be responsible, and hire the best people. That means you will be doing background checks, and that may include criminal background checks. But recent changes at the EEOC could put your company at risk of a discrimination complaint. Employment attorney Robert Ottinger shares what you need to know to protect your company from legal trouble. Notify the state of changes in your business. If your business is an LLC, be sure you are following the rules. You are required to inform the state of certain changes you make to your business. Changes in company name, even in registered office information or business address, must be reported. Nellie Akalp, CEO of Corpnet.com, has more. The post Small Business News: An Acquisition, a Rebrand and a Shutdown appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Grumpy Cat Now Delivers Weather Forecasts to Your Phone Posted: 07 Sep 2013 09:00 AM PDT
Grumpy Cat is everywhere. This kitty marketing machine has worked her way into nearly all facets of popular culture, but the sour-faced feline turned marketing powerhouse isn't done yet. Now Grumpy Cat can even deliver a weather forecast right to your mobile device. The Weather Kitty app is a free mobile app for Apple devices (and soon will come to Android devices as well). It gives users a look at the forecast in their area with a photo of a kitty that changes based on the weather and time of day. If it's warm, for example, users might see a cat outside enjoying a sunny day. Or they could see a cat curled up inside if the forecast calls for rain. Grumpy Cat Weather App: The Grumpiest Forecast EverThe Weather Kitty app's tagline, "Smile every time you check the weather!" isn't exactly in line with Grumpy Cat's philosophy though. So the app also offers an in-app purchase called "The Grumpiest Forecast Ever." In the Grumpy Cat version of the app, Grumpy Cat can be seen with her signature scowl, along with grumpy captions like, "Your Forecast – 100% chance of failure," or "Get me out of here," if the forecast calls for snow. The Weather Kitty app features over 100 different cats, which are split into different themes including outdoorsy cats and summer fun cats. Grumpy Cat is part of a premium version for $1.99 that also includes an Add Your Own Kitty theme and a Yoga Cats theme. The app launched in early August as the follow up to the Weather Puppy app. Miami-based duo Shiv Takhar and Suraj Hemnani are responsible for the pair of weather apps. For Weather Kitty, Grumpy Cat was able to draw attention to the app from the cat's many dedicated fans, further demonstrating her marketing power. For Grumpy Cat and her owners, this is just the latest in a long line of projects. Grumpy Cat fans already have a YouTube Channel, an upcoming movie, a book, a coffee beverage, and a number of other themed products and features to satisfy their want for all things Grumpy Cat. Grumpy Cat would make a great case study about how to market an Internet meme. The post Grumpy Cat Now Delivers Weather Forecasts to Your Phone appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Learn to “Pitch Anything” Through Persuasion and Presentation Posted: 07 Sep 2013 06:00 AM PDT
That’s why the book, Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal by Oren Klaff, is relevant to you. Pitch PerfectKlaff knows a thing or two about how to pitch. As Director of Capital Markets for investment bank Intersection Capital, he’s got a long scorecard of helping businesses raise tens of millions of dollars from investors. He’s given and witnessed pitches. He has identified key strategies for helping anyone — whether you’re raising money or just trying to win over a client — give a more successful pitch. Getting Into the Psyche of Your BuyerToo many people, says Klaff, focus on talking too much about themselves, delivering endless pitches and generally ignoring what their audience wants to know. In Pitch Anything, he talks about the “crocodile brain,” which is the primitive part of the brain your target uses to react to your pitch initially.
Klaff provides strategies for appealing to this croc brain using the acronym STRONG:
You’ll have to read the book to learn more about each of these phases, but here are my big takeaways:
Who Should Read this BookIf you are a startup looking for investors, this book is heavily geared for you. I’m not seeking funding and I still learned plenty from this book. If you’re like me and dread sales meetings and pitches, you’ll gain some great strategies in this book that you can put into play immediately. The post Learn to “Pitch Anything” Through Persuasion and Presentation appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
Whether you want to admit it or not, as an entrepreneur, you’re in the business of sales. You’re constantly selling to customers, investors, even your employees, on the idea that your company is viable and your products worthy of being purchased.| You are subscribed to email updates from Small Business Trends To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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