Focus on Data Privacy-
January is quickly coming to a close, and it is a good time to review your 2019 plans to determine if the right systems are in place to achieve the sales growth and other goals you’ve set for your business. This week’s Small Business Accelerator includes solid sales, marketing and branding ideas that will help you and your team more effectively and efficiently promote sales growth.
If it isn’t already, protecting data must be a priority for your small business. Besides being the right thing to do for your customers and employees, it’s the smart thing to do. The reputational cost of a data breach could destroy your business. In addition, many states are taking California’s lead and enacting strict and costly data privacy laws. Twenty-six states are considering such laws. That is why SBE Council is working on “one set of federal rules” for data privacy, as complying with a 50-state regulatory regime would be a costly nightmare for small businesses.
In the meantime, it is critical that your small business do all it can to protect its data. Let your customers know that their data and privacy are priorities for your business. January 28 is officially DATA PRIVACY DAY. But small businesses must do all they can to protect and secure data every minute of every day!
SBE Council is a DATA PRIVACY DAY partner. Here are some excellent resources and tips to protect the data of your small business, customers and employees.
Steps to Take for Better Data Security, Big Ideas for Small Business. “It’s not news that small businesses are targets for cyber attacks that compromise their prized data. This can leave their data on customers and employees at risk and cost on average $86.5 thousand in legal compliance matters when there are breaches (e.g., informing those customers and employees, providing identity protection monitoring, restoring corrupted data).” Here are some basic steps to beef up security and protect your data.
Sales, Marketing & Branding
How to Boost Your Selling Skills and Win in Business, Startup Professionals. “Most of you who start new ventures don’t think of yourselves as sales experts. In fact, you may feel on the opposite end of the spectrum, more focused on delivering the perfect solution and managing the finances to grow the business. Yet in today’s competitive and rapidly changing world, top notch sales and marketing skills are critical to the success of every business.”
6 Typical Mistakes of Marketing Email, Small Biz Daily. “Social media marketing can be unreliable. Ads are expensive. But email is cheap — and when it works, it really works. An effective email marketing campaign is a great way to build a loyal customer base. And that’s precisely why it’s so important to nail email marketing from the get-go.”
SCORE WEBINAR
How to Connect with Any Potential Customer, Referral Partner or Influencer
January 29, 2019 – 1:00 p.m. ET
Having difficulty reaching new qualified customers or clients? Need more referrals but can’t seem to find new referral partners?
In this eye-opening presentation, John Corcoran, co-founder of Rise25, will share strategies to connect with any potential customer, referral partner, or influencer using simple online tools.
You will learn:
● A three-step process for generating 80 to 100 qualified leads online every seven days (without hiring a team)
● The #1 B2B lead source available today – LinkedIn – and how to use it
● How to take a cold prospect from “new lead” to paying customer quickly, without being salesy
7 Recommendations for Building Your Brand with a Blog, Startup Professionals. “To be successful, you have to get your message out there, and make your company stand out above all the clutter. Use the social networks, like Twitter, to ‘pull’ in the business. Be a blogger today, and trump your competitors tomorrow.”
How to Make Customer Service the Heart of Your Small Business, Small Business Trends. “Whether via service interactions, product quality, or overall brand, experience has become the deciding factor that determines whether or not a customer will do business with a company. In order to capitalize, small businesses and startups looking to grow must build a culture that cares about the customer.”
Top 9 Best CRMs for Small Businesses in 2019, CrowdSpring. “While there are hundreds (and perhaps thousands) of CRM solutions, not all are alike and not all are created with small businesses and startups in mind. Many are free while others cost thousands of dollars per month. How can you choose the best CRM for your small business?” (And why you need CRM.)
Management & Operations
What is the New Layaway and Why Should Your Small Business Consider It, Small Biz Daily. “Now, a new breed of installment payment plan companies is springing up to offer retail financing solutions to even the smallest businesses. These plans promise to help you attract shoppers, compete with larger businesses and reduce financial risk. Here’s a closer look at the trend.”
5 Money Moves Your Business Should Consider in 2019, American Express. “For business owners, it’s a perfect time to take stock of their financial situations, explore new investment opportunities and set some financial goals. Here are five money moves that can help businesses better navigate the possibly bumpy year ahead.”
5 Tips to Create a Retirement Plan for Entrepreneurs, Small Business Trends. “Research from the Manta survey suggests that 34 percent of entrepreneurs don’t currently have any retirement savings plan – even though 60 percent say they plan on retiring before the age of 65.”
Disability Coverage for Owners and Employees, Big Ideas for Small Business. “It’s an unfortunate fact that the chances of becoming disabled are too high to be ignored. According to Council for Disability Awareness, 1 in 4 of today’s 20 year-olds will become disabled before they retire. Yet less than half (49%) of working adults in the U.S. have disability insurance (other than basic Social Security coverage or workers compensation). What to do?”
Trends
You Can Rent a Desk by the Minute at WeWork’s First Public Location, Fast Company. “…this week, We Company opened a new kind of space in Manhattan’s Flatiron neighborhood–one that’s entirely open to the public. It’s a retail store-cum-cafe-cum-coworking space, where you can buy products made by WeWork member companies, grab a bite to eat, and reserve a desk or a conference room by the minute.”
Twelve Graphic Design Trends that Will Be Most Influential in 2019, CrowdSpring. “Whether you’re looking for a modern logo design for a new business or considering a rebrand, creating or refreshing your product packaging or package graphics, or looking to redesign your company’s website, you should be familiar with these 12 graphic design trends that will be most influential in 2019.”
Forgoing Staffers, Many Businesses Turn to Freelancers, AP. “Using independent contractors or freelancers has many benefits besides flexibility. In a tight job market, owners can more easily find independents rather than full-time employees.”
Startups & Entrepreneurship
5 Reasons Why Your Freelance Marketing Business Will Fail Without Good Design, CrowdSpring. “Good design is your visual ambassador when you can’t be there to sell your skills in person.”
8 Keys that Separate Lifestyle from Growth Startups, Startup Professionals. “The term applies to anyone who places passion before profit, and intends to combine personal interests and talent with the ability to earn a living. This usually means not taking money from equity investors, since investors want fast growth, high profits, and an exit event, to allow investments to be recouped.”
How the Great Recession Killed the Entrepreneurial Spirit of Millennials, Forbes. “Only 0.22% of Millennials start a new business in any given month, as opposed to 0.37% of Baby Boomers. And post-Millennials are generating more annual business revenue than Millennials.”
Personal Improvement
Why Mentorship Matters and How You Can Make it Work for You, Forbes. “It requires deliberate and purposeful engagement with others who know how to achieve success (and know how to fail), because they’ve succeeded and failed themselves over and over again.”
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