Small Biz in 15 offers its final episode looking back at 2022.
Check out this round-up of business experts interviewed on our show over its first seven months by Shawn Hessinger as host.
As guests on our show have shared invaluable business advice and tips, many have come away having taken something away from it all.
Start watching or listen to the entire show above or use SoundCloud Player below!
At the very start of our first episode, while the world was emerging from two years of shutdowns due to COVID-19, our sister site Biz Sugar conducted two surveys that revealed substantial shifts in how small business owners responded to this pandemic. Ivana Taylor of DIY Marketer led both surveys for us. Small Business Trends spoke with Ivana for this interview and conducted both surveys herself.
When asked to describe what she found most eye-opening about the Post Pandemic Survey instead of before, she responded that business owners, entrepreneurs, solopreneurs and freelancers who actually dealt with the pandemic.
She reported that 43-44% of respondents identified sales as their top challenge in 2019 while the same amount reported marketing issues; these people include people in your neighborhood. By 2021, however, Ivana noted a change: respondents indicated more difficulty with sales as opposed to marketing issues.
What changed? Did they suddenly decide they needed advertising? If you are selling stuff in-person – for instance if people come in your restaurant to purchase stuff – that is sales. Now imagine you don’t have customers coming through your door or in-person sales has dwindled considerably and how can you generate transactions in this environment without them coming? Your in-person sales function becomes insufficient or significantly diminished and therefore marketing must step in as quickly as possible to generate those transactions again.
Ivana Taylor does not believe sales have ended; rather, she believes “it has simply changed its classification.”
Mike Blumenthal discusses why small businesses must pay attention to customer reviews.
Mike Blumenthal conducted research several years ago that examined the source of new leads for local businesses. According to this analysis, between 75-95% of these leads came from Google; most never made their way onto a small business website.
Mike told us that although customer reviews may be unpleasant, they’re crucial if your small business wants to survive. Mike recommended telling business who attempt to avoid customer reviews: “Sure, but I’m just going to stop participating in review sites now – no sense in paying any attention at all – this is too overwhelming!”