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Show me the Money – Crowdfunding and other creative ways to get money for Small Businesses

August 6th, 2022 | Posted by martinbrossman in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

Course Title: Show me the Money – Crowdfunding and other creative ways to get money for Small Business Owners

Developed by: Martin Brossman and Dan Scala
Video about the training: https://youtu.be/iTBSf4jGbGU
Case Study of success: Interview with an Award-Winning Local Business – OMGoodness Pimento Cheese https://youtu.be/QApBeq56Pdo 

Course Description: Crowdfunding is one of many new creative ways of getting funding for small businesses. This class demystifies crowdfunding and other new ways to get money for small businesses today with a lower barrier to entry. You will learn the how-to of getting money for your business and what is the right funding to explore. Developed by Social Media and Small Business Marketing expert Martin Brossman and Small Business Funding expert Dan Scala.  

Learning Objectives: Understanding the different new top creative funding ideas and which one is right for you.

Course Materials: Handout and extensive online resources of links to gain more knowledge. 

Who is it for: Small Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, and Inventors. 

Course Length: 2 hrs

Trainers and Developers Martin Brossman and Dan Scala

Martin Brossman is a leading authority on social media and online marketing. He is a business coach, consultant and dynamic trainer known for his insight and humor. A member of the National Speakers Bureau, Martin is a popular speaker on social media topics. He teaches at North Carolina Community College Small Business Centers throughout the state.

Martin offers customized coaching and training solutions for individuals and groups integrating social media, social networking, and reputation management strategies. An advocate for professional transparency, Martin is a catalyst for achieving powerful business results with integrity. An overview is featured on his website, ProNetworkingOnline.com.

His recent books, Linking Into Sales and Social Media for Business, provide guidance and resources for accelerating professional networking and marketing; both are available at Amazon.com.

Martin’s clients have included: IBM, SAS, GlaxoSmithKline, EPA, Women’s power networking, North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants, Professional Photographers Association of NC, Small Business Centers, Chambers of Commerce, Counties and Towns across NC…. to name a few.

Active Member of ASTD—American Association for Trainers and Developers, NSA—National Speakers Association

Recognition: 2007 Ron Hering Mission of Service Award, 2009 Ethel N. Fortner Writer and Community Award from St. Andrews Presbyterian College, RTP volunteer of the year 2001 by the Governor of NC & IBM Mean’s Service award, completed, Fonder of the KI Coaching: Coaching Certification Program, Founding member of UPSA of RTP, Certified & Registered Sales Professional (CRSP), Certified & Registered Sales Professional Trainer (CRSP-T) 

Dan Scala
Dan is the co-founder of the “Center for Excellence”, a learning and development center serving small business owners and entrepreneurs in the Raleigh area.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of South Carolina.       

Dan spent 25 years working as an Engineering Manager in a variety of Computer companies.           

Over the past 17 years, he has started up and grown several businesses and companies, including a management consulting firm, a commercial real estate development company, a business brokerage firm, 2 restaurants, a convenience store and 4 truck rental agencies.                  

He is a graduate of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development’s Fast Track 1 and 2 programs and has grown 2 of his companies to over the million-dollar mark . He currently serves as a volunteer member of the speaker’s bureau with the Raleigh Chapter of SCORE .

Dan currently spends his time dedicated to helping others interested in starting up and growing new businesses.

Marketing for Artists Series

August 6th, 2022 | Posted by martinbrossman in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

Marketing for Artists Series – A series of 2 hour Webinars 

Developed and taught by Martin Brossman and Jeanne Munoz

How to Start and Grow an Arts and Crafts Business

  • How to present yourself as an artist both on and offline to build relationships and market your work
  • How to build compelling stories about your work to attract buyers
  • How to develop a pricing strategy and formula to apply to new artwork
  • Fundamentals for printing on demand
  • Online arts and crafts resources for marketing and selling

Increasing Art Sales Through Strategic Marketing

This class applies marketing basics to successfully reach, convince and close sales to customers. 

  • Establishing a plan-a quick look at goals and strategies
  • Identifying and knowing your target customers/audience
  • Choosing the right social media channels to reach your customers
  • Using hashtags to extend your reach
  • Examining your website and optimizing to be found online
  • Determining a pricing strategy
  • Creating great content
  • Storytelling that attracts buyers
  • Creating compelling images and video

Tips and Strategies for Getting Your Art Into a Gallery 

  • Selling yourself as an artist
  • How to build your online reputation
  • Building gallery relationships
  • Gallerist criteria for selection
  • The submission process
  • Tips for greater success

Ten Tips to Grow Art Market Sales   This class introduces strategies to help market, display, and pitch your art to generate successful sales along with resources to locate upcoming markets and tips for selection.

Creating Marketing Photos & Video with Your Smartphone to Get More Business

August 6th, 2022 | Posted by martinbrossman in Uncategorized - (0 Comments)

Creating Marketing Photos & Videos with Your Smartphone to Get More Business
  By Martin Brossman, Charles Register and Jeanne Munoz

Capture your customers’ attention and inspire them to take the next step toward buying your product or service with compelling photo and video content. We address the Why, What, How, and Where of visual marketing with photos and video on a shoestring budget. Learn about what to capture, and techniques for composition, lighting, and sound. Examine the features on your smartphone to get the best quality photos and video. Understand simple editing and free or low-cost tools.  Explore the various channels to distribute your visual content. You will walk away with a checklist of actions to get the maximum results from this class. 

** Director/marketing Notes **

Update your free Google Business Profile listing if you want more business

April 3rd, 2022 | Posted by martinbrossman in Google Business Profile - (0 Comments)
Google Business Profile - Martin Brossman

It’s always a joy to come back to Ocracoke to offer small business training through the Beaufort County Community College Small Business Center and Ocracoke Civic and the Ocracoke Business Association. One of the classes I recently introduced was how to get the most out of free Google apps. For businesses on very limited budgets, Google gives a wide assortment of free tools to manage your business.

 One of these tools I’d like to talk about here is your Google Business Profile and why it is so critical that you update it regularly. Google has changed the name of this free listing from Google My Business to Google Business Profile and you may find both names still used by Google in some places. Your Profile information will also be displayed as your business information on Google Maps.

Imagine someone sitting at home in Raleigh and deciding where to go on Ocracoke in the off-season. There are several places they will look. including the Ocracoke Observer and one of the primary places they look online is the Google Maps listing of businesses to see who’s open and who isn’t. This can mean them choosing to make the trip or not.

 When I arrived the night before my class on March 23 I looked to see what restaurants were still open.  I always like to eat at a new location since I’m also a Google local guide with over 1,500 reviews written. I found two restaurants that looked like they were next to each other that were closing in a half an hour so I went right to them. When I arrived at the first one it clearly looked like they were still in business but were closed. The second one next door that also looked like they were in business was closed too. It would have taken the owners literally 2 minutes to update the app and let someone know if they had to close early or if their times changed. This is what we teach in the class and it is that easy. I then looked up another restaurant and of course, this time called to double-check and they answered and said yes we’re still open, and went there. I’m a big fan of Ocracoke and if I were a new visitor I wouldn’t be as happy. 

Travelers are accustomed to using the Google Maps listing to evaluate places to eat, reading the positive and negative reviews, seeing if the owners cared enough to respond to the reviews, and looking for updates that are on it with new offerings as well as products they might sell online. We covered all this in the class as well.

Then in the morning, I wanted to get breakfast before I left. and I Googled the place I was hoping to go to. Their Google Maps listing said it was temporarily closed.. Luckily someone I was with said that’s not true, they’re open. I then called and confirmed they were open. if they had to temporarily close for some reason during the winter it would have only taken the owner a few minutes to just update this status on Google Maps.

I then notified Google that this restaurant was open and Google changed the status. The fast response I believe occurred because I am a trusted top-level 9 reviewer. Most people would not make this extra effort and will just move on and spend their money elsewhere or just decide too many places are not open and not come at all. Towns that have worked with me have learned how to even get business in the off-season and this is one of the ways. 

Part of the reason businesses don’t use these free services. beyond being very busy, is they often. receive phone calls from people trying to sell them these services and they don’t always realize these calls are a type of scam, they are not from Google.

 With the season just around the corner, please download the Google My Business app  (still the current name for it) and make sure that when you change your hours you simply update Google Maps. It’s money in the bank for you and it’s free. Then as we talked about in the class, you can also put updates of new specials if you have any products you’re selling online and now not just photos but also short videos. Also, continue the updates with the local paper because visitors when they land like to pick these up to find out the latest news.

I want to thank everyone that supported bringing me to the area again. I love your community and how you’re a true model of a small-town helping each other. It means a great deal to me when I can offer training that helps you all get higher-quality customers and business. I look forward to coming back and want to deeply thank the Ocracoke Observer for letting people know about my class. 

Martin Brossman – Success Coach/Trainer Find me online at: http://martinbrossman.com/ Phone 919-608-8157 to schedule time with me. Also, follow Martin’s Small Business Youtube for more tips: https://www.youtube.com/c/SmallBusinessTrainingbyMartinBrossman/featured