One on One Interviews

A recent report on the future of marketing commissioned by customer engagement platform provider Pegasystems found that more than half (51%) of marketing leaders felt that investment in MarTech could increase revenues by 10% to 40% over the next five years. On the other hand, 59%. also admit that they haven’t been allocated enough budget to deliver truly effective. digital transformation.

The study was full of interesting datapoints and insights about what marketers think will be important to them being able to do their jobs going forward, and I was able to ask a few questions of my own during a recent LinkedIn Live conversation with Tara DeZao, Director of Product Marketing, AdTech and MarTech at Pega.

Tara goes over some of the main findings of the survey, and also provides her take on what the implications are as MADTech (marketing and advertising technology) itself transforms customer expectations and demands for how companies communicate with them going forward – whether that by via text, email, in the Metaverse or anything else hurtling in our direction at accelerating speeds.

Sadly, there was a time when small business owners might have shied away from hiring neurodiverse employees, concerned they couldn't complete tasks or fit in with the team. But those days are over, says Anita Murphy, CEO of One Bridge Center, a company specializing in training these individuals for the workforce of the 21st century.

In this latest episode of SmallBiz in: 15, Anita Murphy sits down with Shawn Hessinger, the Executive Editor for Small Business Trends to discuss the major misconceptions that employers have about neurodiverse employees and the many reasons why it’s a good idea to hire them.

Other key points Anita Murphy discusses in the video center around successful neurodiverse worker case studies and how small businesses can go about placing these individuals within their organization.

Right before last week’s Prime Day (which accounted for roughly $12B in sales over two days), Amazon announced a new training initiative aimed at helping people with the right mix of experience and skill start their own delivery business. The Road to Ownership (RTO) program is an extension of Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program they started in 2018, that has allowed Amazon to grow and work with a network of local small businesses to get more Amazon packages delivered within their own ecosystem.

To learn more about the program, During a recent LinkedIn Live conversation I had the opportunity to speak with Karena Scoggin, Senior Program Manager for the Amazon RTO Program. Also joining us in the conversation is Marvin Edgar, a recent graduate of the initial RTO cohort, to share his experience with the program and how it led him to pull up stakes from Florida to start his new delivery business in New Mexico.

Between Boomers seeking to cash in and fears of inflation and recession, more small businesses are expected to go up for sale. But how do you get the money to buy one of them?

One excellent option, says Chris Hurn, Founder/CEO of Fountainhead Commercial Capital, is a loan backed by the US Small Business Administration (SBA).

In this latest episode of SmallBiz in: 15 Chris Hurn sits down with Shawn Hessinger, the Executive Editor for Small Business Trends to discuss this topic in depth.

Other key points Chris Hurn discusses in the video are the steps small business owners can take if they’ve found a business they want to acquire and want to finance through the SBA. This includes the requirements and documents you’ll need to put together to qualify.

You can catch up to Chris Hurn at https://www.fountainheadcc.com/ if you need more information after watching this episode.

If you are wondering what is a chamber of commerce and if it can help your business, this latest episode of SmallBiz in: 15 is one you won’t want to miss.

Here, former Chamber Executive and Co-founder of Save Your Town Deb Brown sits down with Shawn Hessinger, the Executive Editor for Small Business Trends to discuss this topic in depth.

Highlights of the interview What is a Chamber of Commerce? include:

• Benefits your local chamber can bring your small business

• When you should join more than one chamber

• If you should consider starting your own chamber of commerce

Deb Brown also explains why asking how a chamber can help your business may not be the right question to ask and what is a better question to ask instead.

You can catch up with Deb Brown at https://saveyour.town/ if you need more information after watching this episode.

Are you thinking about opening a small business in a small town but aren’t sure there are enough customers to support it? If so, you’ll want to check out this latest episode where Patrick Palmer, Business Owner of the Computer Guy, discusses how to have a successful small business in a town of 5,000 people or less.

In this video episode, Patrick gives you tips on how to plant your flag in the ground and become the local expert in your niche. Plus, he discusses how to use your successful small town business as a launching pad for new subdivisions and examples of surprising up-and-coming creative niches that really deliver.

You can catch up to Patrick Palmer at https://thecomputerguy.bz/ if you need more information after watching this episode.

If there’s one thing for sure, the only constant is change. That’s never more true than in the business world where changes like tech and shifts in customer’s tastes threaten your small business’s very survival. Why then, does it take many of us small business so long to make the changes needed?

Here to demystify why that is and let you know how to actually make the changes you already know you need to make is Barry Moltz, Business Expert and Author of Change Masters.

Just call Barry Moltz the Small Business Expert at www.barrymoltz.com if you need more information after watching this episode.

As of next year, Google Analytics as we know it will be disappearing forever.

In its place will be Google Analytics 4, or GA4, for short. Meanwhile, don’t panic, says Anil Batra, Managing Partner of Optizent, and Shawn Hessinger, the Executive Editor for Small Biz Trends. In this episode, they sit down together to discuss what GA4 is, the main differences between it and previous versions (including expanded event tracking that enriches your data for better analysis) and other important takeaways.

For more from Anil Batra and Optizent, visit https://www.optizent.com/

While COVID restrictions may be lifting, the virtual events that became popular during the pandemic aren’t going anywhere, says Monique Johnson, Founder of LIVE Video Lab and The M.O.V.E Experience. In this video interview with Shawn Hessinger of Small Biz Trends, she discusses how small business owners can use this trend to their advantage.

By watching, you can find out more about how virtual events have evolved, their benefits and how small businesses can use them as a business strategy to level the playing field against larger players.

For more from Monique Johnson, visit LIVE Video Lab at:

https://livevideolab.com/home/

Join Kristin Ostrander of Mommy Income and Shawn Hessinger of Small Biz Trends to get the lowdown on how FBA works, how sellers can get started, how much it costs on average to start up and more. Kristin also goes into the different business models people are using (e.g., retail arbitrage, your own private brand and wholesale)