By Angela Hatton
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkms/local-wkms-908247.mp3
Mayfield, KY – Kentucky has around 93,000 registered small businesses. Many of the businesses owners are finding new resources to grow their business with Internet media. That topic was on the minds of attendees at the Small Business and Entrepreneurial Expo in Mayfield this week. Entrepreneurs from the Purchase District counties gathered at Graves County High School for workshops, networking, and resource information. Angela Hatton has more.
Von Puckett has been in business for two weeks. She's opened V and V Costume Jewelry in Calvert City, and is a walking advertisement for her store, with big, flashy black, white, and silver jewelry decorating her petite frame. She wears three rings, two bracelets, earrings and a matching pendent necklace. Puckett says so far she's been getting the word out about V and V by talking to people at beauty salons and gyms.
"Anyplace where women are at, because that's who we want that, who our customers are going to be is women . . . and we're on Facebook!"
Many entrepreneurs are accessing social media to advertise their products because it's free, and can reach a wide audience. The most recent statistics from the Kentucky Small Business Development Center show over 1.3 million Kentuckians over the age of eighteen have an active Facebook account. That means 1 in 2.5 Kentucky adults is on Facebook.
Go to the search window and type "deli," D-E-L-I."
At a workshop, Murray State University Marketing Professor Fred Miller teaches attendees how to use Google's free resources to advertise their business.
"We used to think that if you wanted to have a web presence the way to do it was to have a website, where you provided a comprehensive set of information and resources about your organization and if people wanted to see it that's where they came. You gave them a URL and that was it. That's no longer true."
Miller says having a website is still important, but it needs to be integrated with other resources, including adding your business information to search engines. Customers find your business information by typing a simple keyword on their computer or mobile phone. Miller says in 2009, the number of page views from mobile devices was 1.2 percent.
"Now that sounds awfully small. But, it's likely to go to 2.3 percent next year. Still big whup', right? But look what it's 2 percent of. This is Quantcast and they're measuring 200 billion data points per month."
Paducah-based physical therapist Paul Fransen attended the Google and social media workshop. Fransen has been in business for 23 years.
"It's important to realize that to uh, grow, we have to be prepared to be open-minded to be able to reinvent ourselves, reinvent our businesses because technology is changing, but also social needs are changing and I think it's important to be adaptable in that regard."
John Cole is the Director of the Small Business Services Division of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. Among the services they provide, the division offers classes for small businesses. One of the most requested right now is Emerging Technology education. Cole says Kentucky isn't last in the race to market through new media. We have the basic building blocks, but that still leaves west Kentucky entrepreneurs at a disadvantage.
"When you can go to a California as an example, and they've got 152 venture capital institutions, angel investors, whereas when you come here we've got maybe one or two in this area. So if you've got 152 people you can talk to about venture capital and you've only got 2 or 3 in this area, guess what? If those three can't service you, then you don't have another 149 more folks to go to."
Cole says since the recession, Kentucky state officials have recognized the importance of what he calls "home-grown companies," and have encouraged more business creativity. Successful entrepreneurs at the conference included those who had found a niche with technology like GPS devices and solar panels.
"You're starting to see more people germinating more ideas by looking at what problems we're dealing with by looking at what problems we're dealing with. Is it environmental? Are we trying to find new ways for alternative energies? So what you're seeing is we're having resources in place now that may not have been there five, six, maybe ten years ago."
The conference in Mayfield is one in a series of events held in partnership with Development Districts and development centers across the state. West Kentucky has played host to nearly half a dozen similar conferences in the past two years. Organizers hope to stimulate new ideas, and get entrepreneurs up and running, and the data to answer that question will be out soon. The Economic Development Cabinet stands poised to release their 2010 Small Business Report.