Check Out One of These Small Business Events, Awards or Contests

Welcome to our latest curated list of events, contests and awards for small businesses, solo entrepreneurs and growing companies. To see a full list or to submit your own event, contest or award listing, visit the Small Business Events Calendar.

Featured Events, Contests and Awards

Big Awards for BusinessBig Awards for Business
August 14, 2013, Online

The Big Awards started with a mission of recognizing real talent and performance. Real business people, those with experience and knowledge, judge the Big Awards. Request an entry kit today and submit your nomination by August 14, 2013.
Discount Code
SBT50 ($50.00 off)

INBOUND 2013INBOUND 2013
August 19, 2013, Boston, MA

INBOUND is a 4 day marketing experience that brings together thousands of marketers from around the globe for an annual event held in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.

Small Business Influencer Awards 2013
Online
Small Business Influencer Awards 2013

The 2013 Small Business Influencer Awards recognize the apps, organizations and people who have a strong impact on small businesses in North America. Now its 3rd year, the Awards are a coveted recognition for those who serve small businesses.  No fee to enter.

Check to see who’s already been nominated, and nominate yourself, or someone or some organization or app you admire.  Twitter hashtag: #SMBinfluencer

WomanCon 2013WomanCon 2013
September 25, 2013, New York, NY

This conference brings together amazing women entrepreneurs, both on and off the stage. Hear real behind-the-scenes stories of success including JJ Ramberg, Sarah Endline, Janine Popick, and Pamela O’Hara. Expert keynotes and panel discussions include: Getting Funding for Growth with Kay Koplovitz & Peggy Wallace, Turning Ideas into Companies with Yao Huang, 5 Strategies for a Stronger Brand with Julie Cottineau, and a journalist panel on Pitching the Media. SEATING IS LIMITED.
Discount Code
SBTRENDS ($50 off)

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This weekly listing of small business events, contests and awards is provided as a community service by Small Business Trends and SmallBizTechnology.




Is Google Out Of Touch With Small Advertisers?

Based on a recent “AdWords survey” conducted of pay-per-click (PPC) professionals and the ensuing conversations it has led to, I believe that Google is out of touch with small advertisers using their AdWords advertising platform. And here is why I think that.

But more importantly, this piece is not to complain - but to try to get action. At the end I have a concrete suggestion.

First let’s take a look at what the recent (admittedly informal) AdWords survey showed.

What PPC Professionals Think “Small” Means

I decided to ask my fellow PPC professionals what they considered a “small” PPC advertiser to be. I asked the question, “Which amount below would you say is the largest monthly budget you would consider a ‘small’ PPC advertiser?”

Here are the results:

adwords survey

If you do the math, you’ll see that the average “small” advertiser would be spending $6,783 per month on their PPC efforts. that’s according to the pay-per-click professionals who took this survey.

But what does Google think?

What Google Thinks “Small” Means

Obviously, this is a tough question since Google is a huge company with thousands of employees. However, I had the chance to hear from 2 Google representatives at a recent meeting of the Salt Lake City Search Engine Marketers group (SLC|SEM).

The first rep worked as a dedicated account manager for companies advertising with Google. During the Q&A she repeatedly referenced her “smaller clients,” so I asked her what kind of monthly budget these smaller clients have. She deferred to the other Google rep (who had been her boss before) and he proceeded to dance all around the question so as to not give any number. Not even a range.

So Google won’t tell you how much a “smaller client” would need to spend in order to merit a dedicated account manager.

How else might we get an idea?

What Justifies A Google Rep

Fortunately, I know a few advertisers with large enough budgets to merit an account rep. They all spend over $75,000 per month with AdWords and feel like they’re on the smaller end of the spectrum.

After posting the results, I did hear of some accounts at the $30,000 month level with account reps, but I also heard this:

So what could Google do to help smaller advertisers?

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Let’s acknowledge that Google is making a sizable effort already. Here are 3 things Google already is doing to connect with and support small business AdWords advertisers:

(1) They have the 866-2-GOOGLE number that is available to any advertiser.

(2) The online help is quite thorough (though it gets out-of-date at times with all the changes).

(3) The Google AdWords Forum has some very helpful people that are giving out great advice and solutions to the pressing questions of the day.

However, my primary suggestion for Google would be to put some of their best & brightest reps on these “micro” accounts around $5,000  per month or lower. Let them see how differently this size advertiser behaves to compete with such large competitors. Then have these top reps come back to the product team 6 months later and give input.

This first-hand experience will help the platform become more friendly to small advertisers. If you’re a small advertiser, do you think this would help you?




Is Google Out Of Touch With Small Advertisers?

Based on a recent “AdWords survey” conducted of pay-per-click (PPC) professionals and the ensuing conversations it has led to, I believe that Google is out of touch with small advertisers using their AdWords advertising platform. And here is why I think that.

But more importantly, this piece is not to complain - but to try to get action. At the end I have a concrete suggestion.

First let’s take a look at what the recent (admittedly informal) AdWords survey showed.

What PPC Professionals Think “Small” Means

I decided to ask my fellow PPC professionals what they considered a “small” PPC advertiser to be. I asked the question, “Which amount below would you say is the largest monthly budget you would consider a ‘small’ PPC advertiser?”

Here are the results:

adwords survey

If you do the math, you’ll see that the average “small” advertiser would be spending $6,783 per month on their PPC efforts. that’s according to the pay-per-click professionals who took this survey.

But what does Google think?

What Google Thinks “Small” Means

Obviously, this is a tough question since Google is a huge company with thousands of employees. However, I had the chance to hear from 2 Google representatives at a recent meeting of the Salt Lake City Search Engine Marketers group (SLC|SEM).

The first rep worked as a dedicated account manager for companies advertising with Google. During the Q&A she repeatedly referenced her “smaller clients,” so I asked her what kind of monthly budget these smaller clients have. She deferred to the other Google rep (who had been her boss before) and he proceeded to dance all around the question so as to not give any number. Not even a range.

So Google won’t tell you how much a “smaller client” would need to spend in order to merit a dedicated account manager.

How else might we get an idea?

What Justifies A Google Rep

Fortunately, I know a few advertisers with large enough budgets to merit an account rep. They all spend over $75,000 per month with AdWords and feel like they’re on the smaller end of the spectrum.

After posting the results, I did hear of some accounts at the $30,000 month level with account reps, but I also heard this:

So what could Google do to help smaller advertisers?

Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Let’s acknowledge that Google is making a sizable effort already. Here are 3 things Google already is doing to connect with and support small business AdWords advertisers:

(1) They have the 866-2-GOOGLE number that is available to any advertiser.

(2) The online help is quite thorough (though it gets out-of-date at times with all the changes).

(3) The Google AdWords Forum has some very helpful people that are giving out great advice and solutions to the pressing questions of the day.

However, my primary suggestion for Google would be to put some of their best & brightest reps on these “micro” accounts around $5,000  per month or lower. Let them see how differently this size advertiser behaves to compete with such large competitors. Then have these top reps come back to the product team 6 months later and give input.

This first-hand experience will help the platform become more friendly to small advertisers. If you’re a small advertiser, do you think this would help you?




Predictive Analytics And The Power of Prediction

predictive analytics“I knew you’d say that.” - Sylvester Stallone as Judge Dredd

That may have been Stallone’s catch phrase in the movie Judge Dredd, but these days a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) or even your marketing strategist could easily say that phrase as well.  These days analytic solutions are breaking down more data from many sources, creating more accurate sales and operational models.  Businesses are learning to compete through innovation, but how does one model the volume of analysis and concepts presented?

Predictive Analytics: The Power to Predict Who Will Click, Buy, Lie, or Die by Eric Siegel, PhD serves as a clarion call for business managers to understand the possibilities and myths.  Siegel is the Founding Conference Chair of Predictive Analytics World and President of Prediction Impact, an analytics services firm.   I was really excited when I came across the book. Several new analytics books are being released this year, so I asked Wiley for review copy.

Breaking Down The Basics - How Data Relates to Your Customers

The word “analytics” means “to break down” in Greek. The kind of break down in predictive analytics means correlating data to discover new opportunities with the given resources.  This new capability is also breaking down department “silos” in organizations, our preferences in our behavior and, at times, our privacy measures.

Siegel notes how people can overlook the omnipresence of the opportunity:

Most people couldn’t be less interested in data. It can seem like such dry, boring stuff… don’t be fooled. The truth is that data embodies a priceless collection of experience from which to learn. Every medical procedure, credit application, Facebook post, movie recommendations, fraudulent act, spam email and purchase of any kind - each positive or negative outcome, each successful or failed failed event or transaction - is in coded as data and warehoused. This glut will grow by an estimated 2.5 quintillion bytes per day.

Siegel uses seven chapters to show how we are increasing our understanding - and our misunderstanding - of the world through data.  Hewlett-Packard uses analytics to predict if you are considering quitting your job - valuable given that seeking a new employee can cost more than retention.  Another interesting correlation experiment is the “Anxiety Index,” a correlation of blog mentions against S&P 500 performance.

Fun correlated observations abound among the practical measurement delights, such as vegetarians miss fewer flights (“Airline customers who pre-order a vegetarian meal are more likely to make their flight….The knowledge of a personalized or special meal awaiting the customer provides an incentive or establishes a sense of commitment.”).  These discussions can frame personas; the kinds of customers who exist.

By its very design, PA (Predictive Analytics) foster serendipity.  Predictive modeling conducts a broad, exploratory analysis, test many predictors and in so doing, uncovers surprising findings.

You can tell Siegel adores the subject, but not with blinders or false salesmanship to the reader. When he says, “Data prospectors see value and value is exciting,” you know he really means it.

Siegel shares further personal insight, having been used as a “foil” on a Fox news segment on Target’s outing of a customer’s pregnancy.  Speaking of privacy, Siegel wisely dedicates a chapter to the subject.  He uses it to debunk myth with minimal bias, such as distinguishing predictive analytics from data mining:

PA [predictive analytics]  in and of itself does not invade privacy - its core process is the opposite of privacy invasion. Although it’s sometimes called data mining, PA doesn’t “drill down” to peer at any individual’s data. Instead, PA actually “rolls up” learning patterns that hold true in general by way of rote number crunching across the masses of customer records.

Such distinctions are critical in understanding perils with personalization programs. Reading this book will help managers who think digital only means flipping a switch.

Businesses small and large can uses this book to help frame what segments of data makes sense. For example, Siegel explains how a learning machine works through a decision diagram - although used in the book to frame an enterprise-level predictive model, small businesses could use the idea in framing their own data conundrums.

Other highlights include Chase bank’s mortgage risk predictive model, IBM’s data usage for Watson on the game show Jeopardy and a 147 example cross industry table of predictive models in use today.

How Does This Book Compare With Other Analytic Text?

Consider this book as an extension of data based marketing and more specific than Davenport’s Analytics at Work (Davenport provides a preface, by the way).

The book has comments that can make data entertaining, though with less of a spin than Avinash Kaushik’s book Web Analytics 2.0.  Ultimately it’s an excellent primer for developing some ideas on how data can enhance a business.

This makes the book more actionable than Big Data, although no deep database discussions are included.

Get This Book to Make Better Models for Your Business

Predictive Analytics is excellent, not just for its trend-of-the-day subject, but for the way its treats its subject - respect and reverence, with the right scientific doubt.

The book honors the work from business intelligence professionals like Thomas Davenport, Eric Sterne and Eric Stiegel. It also honors analytic practitioners or managers looking to increase their business’ competitive advantage.

I do not need data to know that competitive advantage is what any business is looking for.




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