topic Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day in Ask Me Anything and Panel Discussions

[Closed] Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

jennysowyrda — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 15:59:12 GMT

Small businesses were hit hard during 2020. They have adapted, learned and persevered through the challenges placed in front of them. In honor of Small Business Day on June 27th, we've brought together a panel of four HubSpot users and small business experts to answer your questions around small businesses. With experts from the United States, Spain, and Brazil, there is an expert here to answer any question you have.

Ask your questions now and join us on June 27th at 1pm ET | 2pm BRT | 7pm CEST to get answers from our panel of experts.

Chantelle Marcelle, Head of Growth at PromoPrep (United States) - @ccmarce

Rafael López, Marketing Director at Odontonet by Glintt (Spain) - @rlopez

Dan Moyle, HubSpot Specialist at Impulse Creative (United States) - @danmoyle

Carol Giacon, HubSpot Specialist at Suno Research (Brazil) - @carolgiacon

Not sure what to ask? Start with these questions:

1. What do you recommend for someone thinking about launching a small business?

2. What lessons have you learned about managing small businesses in 2020?

3. How have you seen the small business landscape in recent years?

4. What business resources do you recommend for small businesses?

Open for questions from June 18 - June 27, questions will be answered between 1-2pm ET on June 27th on this thread by our panel of experts.

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

NicoleSengers — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 11:36:44 GMT

What tech stack do you use to run and manage your small business?

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

danmoyle — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 14:56:10 GMT

So I know I'm a contributor, but I'd still love to hear responses from my fellow panelists.

Small business owners wear so many hats. What's your advice on social media in particular? Should SMBs be on most channels? All? And how do you suggest they manage the communications across all those platforms?

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

victoriaharkes — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 17:59:16 GMT

How do you best manage competing priorities for your time? In any small business, every role will wear many hats, but how do you decide which hats are worth wearing and which can be put back in your closet for another season?

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

NicoleSengers — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 18:01:39 GMT

To follow on what @victoriaharkes is saying I wonder how small businesses can retain staff as they scale. Samll businesses require huge effort and often this means a high staff turnover. How do you keep staff without the financial freedom or better perks offered by more established companies?

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

rlopez — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 13:45:04 GMT

Hello!

I know I'm a contributor too as @danmoyle said, but I also want to hear from the other panellists their opinion:

What is your favourite argument to convince your boss to buy HubSpot? (Small business environment, of course)

Regards,

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

BOguzie — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 14:04:06 GMT

What ESP do you recommend for someone to launch a small e-commerce business in Esty?

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

AngelaIke — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 21:28:54 GMT

What impact does company culture have on the way you operate? Has your culture changed over the past year due to the pandemic, and do you foresee any long-term changes or adaptations in response to the temporary changes you may have had to make during the last year?

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

danmoyle — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:05:48 GMT

Great question @NicoleSengers! This is one I know we all hear a lot. Here's a look at what I do for a nonprofit I volunteer with (not exactly an SMB but may be helpful):

Squarespace for the website
Blubrry for our podcast
Mailchimp for posdcast subscribers
Network for good for the nonprofit CRM

However my goal is push HubSpot CRM for us this next quarter. 😊

I've also encouraged SMBs to put HubSpot into play as much as they can afford, starting with free. Then add ClickUp or Asana for project management, Slack for team IMing and Loom for recording shareable instructional videos via email.

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

danmoyle — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:10:03 GMT

Gosh @victoriaharkes if I could answer that I'd be organized myself ... and rich! 😂

One way I try to stay organized across my priorities is to block calendar time. Every week I dedicate an hour to scheduling social media posts. Then I block some time every day for interacting in HubSpot Community. I also block creative time and stick to it, along with professional development/learning time. So for me, it's about calendar blocks.

We also use ClickUp for our project management & time keeping tool at Impulse Creative, which can help keep projects on track so you're not over scheduling.

I'd also throw out for SMB owners to consider delegating what you can to virtual assistants. VAs have come a long way in recent years and I know of a few companies who have very good VAs to help with a lot of "stuff" SMB owners have to deal with.

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

rlopez — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:11:09 GMT

Hi @AngelaIke 🙂

It is evident that the pandemic has accelerated the digitization processes of companies, and I think that will not change in the future. There has been a lot of growth this year in that sense, and these processes have proven their efficiency. It has also conditioned us, and of course, we have had to turn circumstances into an opportunity. We must all learn at all times from everything that happens to us, both the good and the bad. Of course, teleworking and family conciliation are here to stay. But also other skills such as the ability to remotely coordinate teams, for example.

Regards,

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

ccmarce — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:11:47 GMT

Hi Dan,

This always comes up in conversation, and it's a tough one! It really depends on your industry and your customers.

You want to go where they already are instead of trying to draw them somewhere else. For example, if you notice your customers are already pretty active on Facebook, a FB group might make more sense than a LinkedIn one, even if everyone says you have to be all in on LinkedIn if you're in the B2B space.

It can take a little bit of experimentation. It's OK to get started somewhere, look at the quantitative/qualitative signals over time, and then realize something isn't a fit.

And it's also OK to take risks. A lot of businesses are hesitant about TikTok or don't know how to jump in. But at one point, I remember businesses thinking Facebook or Twitter were risky or too casual in focus to have real professional value.

For managing presence and communications, there are a lot of great tools to help with that, including HubSpot. Social monitoring and setting up alerts to monitor brand mentions is important because being responsive to trends or conversations as they happen makes a difference. I've been a marketing team of one trying to juggle all social presence on my own before. That's not ideal, but as long as leaders refine their expectations of what's possible at your level of investment, that can be manageable.

Chantelle Marcelle
Head of Growth

https://promoprep.com

https://chantellemarcelle.com

🐦 @ccmarce_writes

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

danmoyle — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:16:18 GMT

@NicoleSengers I've admired how @remingtonbegg and Rachel Begg have worked hard at this at Impulse Creative. It's not easy to scale as you mentioned. And Remington will be the first to tell you they don't always get it right. We talked about it on a couple of episodes of Wayfinding Growth, including this interview with Sarah Bedrick (formerly) of Compt.

I think one way to scale is to recognize that no one will have quite the same passion for your business as you do, as the founder. Appreciate and reward the work they put in, even if it's not quite as "much" as you would.

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

carolgiacon — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:16:24 GMT

Hi @NicoleSengers ,

We used to support our customers with a payment method, but that alone never works. It was always needed to have multiple companies working together so that the end service would be less expensive and more user friendly. There were a lot of partnerships with ecommerce developers platforms, that were integrated with our service, so they had all they needed in one place.

Ever since this Covid-19 pandemic started, we had to learn to adapt, to work more hours, to always be online, since there was no commute to work, no distractions (other then our pets). Small business suddenly became an attraction to those needing to make money, that wanted to explore something different. And that brings so many responsabilities, how to work all platforms, how to plan and organize stock of products, delivery rates, time of delivery, etc. Also, the internet moves too fast, you blink and there is another social media platform, a new place to HAVE TO be or to be left out.

So what I'd have to say to your question is: try and work them all in one place. It's going to be absolute chaos to have 3 or 4 platforms to run your business. We have several platforms companies in Brazil that allows you to have all in one place for your ecommerce, but not your sales/marketing strategy. That's why it's very exciting to have HubSpot, the possibilities of integration and management are endless!!

😄

Best Regards!

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

rlopez — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:17:23 GMT

Hi @NicoleSengers 🙂

It depends on what you want to achieve. I think the basic criterion should be to use the best you can afford to pay. And I would not forget as general rules:

Avoid using too many tools, less is more. Keep it simple.
As far as possible use software that can be interconnected.
It is always a good investment to choose tools that can grow with you. That way you just have to increase the investment and unlock functionalities without having to migrate data or face learning curves.

I agree with @danmoyle. Those are great examples 🙂

Regards,

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

ccmarce — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:42:20 GMT

Ugh, such a common struggle for everyone in a SMB or startup environment! You want to try everything and fire as many cannons as possible, but that's a fast track to burn out and failure.

Setting up measurable goals and KPIs for everything helps a lot. It gives you a framework to base investment rather than just going off gut or the latest, greatest trends. Going into something with a clear way to decide success takes a bit of the pressure off. So if you're investing in LinkedIn ads, and you do the research and say, "Ok, this is a reasonable outcome to hold ourselves to," but then you miss that mark at the end of a set time period, you can objectively pull back that spend and table that venture.

I find this approach is even valuable with the organic growth tactics that are harder to measure. For instance, if you create a Slack community for customers, you can build out surveys and hold customer interviews to see if it has an impact on your customer satisfaction or brand perception or retention.

It's really just about accountability and putting our limited resources into things that will get us closer to set goals rather than just doing what the next competitor is doing or what we read all marketers should be doing.

Chantelle Marcelle

https://promoprep.com

https://chantellemarcelle.com

Twitter: ccmarce_writes

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

carolgiacon — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:19:44 GMT

Hi @danmoyle ,

For me, the most important place to be is where your customer is, but never forgetting who your brand is and what it represents. Does it makes sense to have a TikTok account if your customers are not there? How do you want to attrack new leads? Then does it make sense to be in all social media platforms?

My point of view is: you need to explore channels that only make sense to you and your customer. Otherwiser you will have to create strategies, dedicate time in to operating and how will this help you reach your goal? What is your goal? Sales? Aquiring new leads? Brand awareness, each of these goals require different strategies, which, in my opinion, requires a different effort on social media.

For customers in Brazil, there is a looot of use on WhatsApp and Instagram. These are the MUST BE channels to be, but each one works so differently in strategy that this alone will cost you a lot of time management!

My main question is: where are your customers? How they want to be reached? How can you find them without being that annoying brand following them around?

Best Regards!

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

danmoyle — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:19:56 GMT

Making a business case for HubSpot... that's a good one @rlopez!

For simple numbers, I would look at what creating a good website would cost, what the cost for making changes to that website looks like, how you want to create conversion opportinuties on that site, where the CRM data goes, how you email them and how social media tools would help... and see how much all that costs. Then I'd create a proposal that highlights cost and value, along with why having your data in one place is even more valuable. Then I'd probably sprinkle in how intuitive HubSpot is compared to other tools and hopefully that would help.

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

carolgiacon — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:22:49 GMT

If I can add my two cents on @danmoyle 's reply and trying to help out @victoriaharkes is that I believe for any business to thrive, i feel it is essential to do the basic work well. It seems kind of obvious, but sometimes we get ahead of ourselves, thinking so many cool and different ways to grow, to implement a strategy that we get lost on the basics. If your small business is selling products, for example, you need to put on the hat that will allow you to master at the basic: purchase plan for your store (if it´s not your production), strategy to advertise, stock the product, organize a simple and effective platform for customers to choose and purchase, pack and ship and maybe have an after delivery strategy in hand. All of this is already A LOT if you are a small business, so why not focus on having a neat and concise plan? Make sure you (and your team) can handle the main goal of the business: selling the products.

As to how to keep staff on a small business, I think there is a thing such as trying TOO HARD to keep someone with you. Of course you don't hire people wishing they'd leave, after all you train them, get them to know your operation and this usually is a work of several months. But I belive the most important thing to have in mind is:
- Always be transparent with your goal for the business, let them know where do you plan to get and how to get there.

- Value their experience or effort as much as you can. This doesn't mean let the staff do what they want, but it means that when they feel they are contributing with knowledge, actions and even bringing new ideas, it's when they feel a part of the business.

- Create a career plan, as simple as it can be, as small as it is. Make their future clear for them, let them know what to expect and how you plan on helping them to get there. But remember: some staff might always feel you are "The boss", the one that has all the money at the end of the month, and it´s important to separate your personal life with work life for those people. They will often feel as if you don't allow them to earn more simply because you don't want to.

So, in my opinion, make a plan! A plan for the staff, for your business, for yourself and try and stay faithfull to it, explain and be clear to where you want to get and that this is a dificult phase to pass. The famous sentence: growing pains. If your staff is dedicated to your brand and believes in it, they will support you!

Best Regards!

Re: Ask Us Anything: International Small Business Day

danmoyle — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 17:23:11 GMT

Good question @BOguzie. I'm (of course) a big fan of HubSpot. I've used other ESPs like MailChimp and it's a good solution for microbusinesses and nonprofits, but if you can afford the $45/month for HubSpot Marketing Hub Starter, I think it's one of the best on the market. I love the intuitive and powerful nature of it.