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12 Ways ASBTDC Can Assist Your Customers
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· Market information and research· Site selection · Financial benchmarks · Industry trends and outlook · Business planning · Expansion planning · Ratio analysis · Marketing · Projections · Training (classroom and online) · Website optimization · Loan proposals We want to help your borrowers better understand their market, industry, and financials. ASBTDC offers one-on-one consulting services for current and prospective small business owners at no charge. 501.683.7700 800.862.2040
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Visit Our
New Blog
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The ASBTDC Lead Center at UALR recently launched the "Taps and Clicks" blog about tablet technology and online marketing for small businesses.
Visit the blog now
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A Client's Point of View
"We were very pleased with the ideas and services provided by the staff of the ASBTDC. We will definitely look to them for guidance in future business endeavors."
Alfonzo and Jennifer Franklin,
owners of Finishing Touch Detail in Monticello. They received assistance with social media marketing from the ASBTDC office at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. See the story at right.
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The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration through a partnership with the University of Arkansas at Little Rock College of Business and other institutions of higher education. UALR is committed to the policy of providing equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate in employment, admissions, programs, or any other educational functions and services on the basis of sex, age, disability, race, and national origin, color, or religion.
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Fact: As measured by the Direct Marketing Association, ROI on Internet marketing will outpace direct mail for the first time in 2012.
Source: Power of Direct Economic Impact Study (Direct Marketing Association)
 As a lender, you know that technology is rapidly changing the way your commercial customers operate and market their businesses.
Technological advances can lead to increased return on investment for small businesses that stay on the cutting edge, and greater ROI for your customers means greater ROI for your institution. Rising profits enable your customers to expand and invest in new projects; for you, this translates into ongoing business with an established clientele.
Successful business owners, however, don't have enough hours in the day to track what is new, what is effective and what is losing its relevance.
The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center is uniquely positioned to fill that gap. As leaders in technology and innovation, our staff constantly strives to research new technologies on behalf of our small business clients. We evaluate our clients' goals and objectives and introduce them to the appropriate tools to enhance their efficiency and increase their bottom line. Our staff is trained in cutting-edge applications, including:
- Tablet and smartphone technologies and apps
- Search engine optimization
- Social media
- Presentation tools
- Video and e-mail marketing
- Mobile technologies
With seven centers around the state, ASBTDC is available to help your small business customers. Referrals can result in success for all parties: for the lender, timely loan repayment and repeat business; for the entrepreneur, valuable coaching and training through all aspects of operations; and for ASBTDC, positive economic impact for the state of Arkansas.
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Tablet Technologies for Lender Meetings
When ASBTDC consultants meet with lenders now, most no longer tote bulky laptops or thick packets of printed materials.
ASBTDC is using tablet technologies to bridge the gap between one-on-one conversations and formal presentations for larger groups. For instance, for presentations to groups of up to 8 people, ASU ASBTDC's Laura Miller and Robert Bahn connect an iPad to an Optoma Pico pocket projector no bigger than a digital camera. The images project onto any surface and adjust from 6 to 60 inches. The projector can also link to a mobile phone or flash drive.
"This is far more productive than pulling up information at a lender's desk and asking half a dozen people to crowd around the monitor," Miller said. For apps, they use PDF Reader Pro and Slideshark.
Would you like an ASBTDC representative to visit with your lending team about the services and resources we offer to your commercial customers? Contact Heather Robinette, consulting and market research manager, at hbrobinette@ualr.edu.
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 What's Your Favorite App?
Please respond to our new poll question about the sort of app you like the best on your tablet or smartphone.
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 | | Click the image to watch the one-minute video "ASBTDC Online Marketing with The Empress of Little Rock." |
The Empress of Little Rock
Combining cutting-edge technology with Victorian-era elegance, The Empress of Little Rock, a bed-and-breakfast housed in a historic mansion, increased website traffic and online bookings by improving its online marketing.
"As leisure travel waned with the sagging economy in 2009, we needed to appeal to a wider range of customers and concentrated on online marketing with assistance from the Arkansas SBTDC," said Sharon Welch-Blair, Empress co-owner and marketing director.
Business consultants from the ASBTDC Lead Center at UALR helped Welch-Blair and her staff claim and optimize free online business listings, interpret website analytics reports and incorporate appropriate keywords that matched up with potential customers' searches.
In September, The Empress was named one of five grand prize winners in the national Google Uptick Awards contest for small businesses that use Google tools.
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Finishing Touch Detail
An established Monticello small business attributes an upturn in business to Facebook. Alfonzo Franklin started Finishing Touch Detail in 2001. The detail shop flourished over the past decade, but when he enrolled in barber school in the fall of 2011, Alonzo and his wife Jennifer didn't want Finishing Touch to decline in his absence.
The couple contacted the ASBTDC at the University of Arkansas at Monticello in November to discuss ideas to increase their business. ASBTDC's Lindsay Henry talked with them about marketing and suggested they start a business page on Facebook.
The Franklins went home and created Finishing Touch's Facebook page. Approaching 300 followers, the business has already run multiple contests and promotions on its page. The couple estimates business has increased 30-40 percent as a result of their new marketing emphasis.
"We were very pleased with the ideas and services provided by the staff of the ASBTDC. We will definitely look to them for guidance in future business endeavors," they said.
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Statewide SBA Lender Training
The Small Business Administration will offer lender training throughout the state in the coming months. Topics include updates to the SOP, changes to the CAP line program, loan programs for exporting, and updates to the SBA lender website. Sessions are scheduled for four locations:
- Jonesboro, ASU Delta Center - Feb. 21, 1-4 p.m.
- Fayetteville, Genesis Building - March 6, 1-4 p.m.
- Little Rock, UALR Reynolds Center - March 28, 9 a.m.-noon
- El Dorado, Chamber of Commerce - June 14, 10 a.m.-noon
The cost for each session is $40. ASBTDC is hosting the events. To register, contact the local ASBTDC office.
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