"Women Who Wow" featuring Margaret Brown, Founder + CEO, SocializeLA.com

"Women Who Wow" is an annual feature in West Coast Magazine in partnership with Luminary Leaders. This year, 6 exceptional women made the list and we could not be more PROUD to be included! West Coast Magazine is celebrating their 30th Anniversary and dedicating the September/October issue to the women who are propelling business, industries, communities, and the workforce to new heights. Check out our feature in "Women Who Wow" on page 18!  http://bit.ly/womenwhowow

Micro-businesses create jobs – good jobs – in the U.S. economy.

According to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, the national association of micro-business development organizations, micro-businesses in the United States employed almost 35 million people or about 22% of private sector employment in 2019.

When I started my business in 2009 I had zero knowledge of starting a business. I attended a workshop and participated in monthly business consulting offered by the Inland Empire Women’s Business Center. Now SocializeLA has helped over 1,000 companies through our services, workshops, events, and online courses. Over the past 12 years, we have created...

Choosing a promotional item for your business can be super difficult. What will people use, what will they keep. We found the answer!

First off, a few years ago I came up with the saying "Be Wildly Excited About the Possibilities." This became a saying that resonated with the SocializeLA team as well as the people we serve. With that we began to add this to our promo items any chance we got. 

Side note: I had always admired the sticker game at WeWork. I had an office at the time in Downtown Los Angeles and always loved their stickers. But always thought that was BIG TIME, and that level/quality of sticker probably wasn't attainable for a small business.

Fast forward I was visiting a client in Philly and they grabbed me a Philly sticker, out of a box that said STICKERMULE! I couldn't believe my eyes. I had heard of StickerMule.com before. But I didn't know their quality was so amazing! I immediately ordered my sticker and it was love at first sight. Since, it's been my go-to...

It's so important to invest in your business and yourself. -- Margaret Brown, CEO + Founder of SocializeLA.com

Join us for an insightful and timely conversation with Ursula Mentjes, CEO & Founder of Sales Coach Now. On this week's episode of the Double Your Sales Now podcast, Margaret and Ursula talk about adapting to change, embracing remote work opportunities, and expert marketing strategies that really work! They also discuss how pricing is the key to profit, and how to release limiting beliefs about charging too much money.

Click here to listen to the podcast, and here to watch the video.

We know a lot has changed in the past few months, but there are still so many opportunities for your business to grow. Be wildly excited about the possibilities!

Our founder and CEO was featured in this week's City Club LA Member Spotlight and we couldn't be more proud!

11 years later all my hard work has paid off more than I could have daydreamed. –  Margaret Brown, CEO + Founder of SocializeLA.com

Read on for insight and fun facts from Margaret: https://bit.ly/2PIpv9g

• Product Focus: Drybar promoted their hair care product line so that customers could re-create “the perfect blowout” from the comfort (and safety) of their homes, while physical locations were closed. They leveraged video tutorials on social media, featuring their signature blowout styles and product line.
• Supporting...

In recent years, the concept of "customer experience" has gone from something that was limited to a (sometimes short-staffed) customer service team to the forefront of every business decision for leading companies around the world.

Think: Kelly Kapoor from The Office

Today, customer experience is everything.

It has the power to make or break a business faster than ever before, and the ones doing it well are using customer experience to drive all major business and marketing decisions.

Being customer centric means having the end-user as the focus for every business decision. This applies across the entire customer journey; successful businesses today understand the value in providing the best possible experience every step of the way.

Why is this important?

• Understanding the customer ensures business decisions are tied to customer interests.
• Learn from valuable and often unexpected insights that come from listening to a wide range of customers and potential customers.

How is it...

Industry Spotlight, by Faryn Maya Seiden 

Our founder and CEO was invited to contribute to a collective conversation on responding to the current cultural climate as a business owner. While there is no "one size fits all" solution, we saw several themes emerge around topics such as sensitivity, timing and authenticity.

My best advice for small business owners is to not retreat. Although we need to be mindful and strategic to what we say and don’t say during these unprecedented times. The truth is, your audience still needs your product and service. Maybe the message changes slightly (maybe it doesn’t). Continue to innovate for your business, your clients, your employees, and the community you serve. – Margaret Brown, CEO + Founder of SocializeLA.com

Read on for advice from marketing and business development leaders on effective marketing efforts in the current cultural climate of COVID-19 and international Black Lives Matter protests. > https://itsbossible.com/direct-from-the-source/...

The State of Digital Marketing in the New Normal

We are all facing a host of new and unique challenges, both personal and professionally, as we adjust to the “new normal” of life at home. From a digital marketing perspective, businesses can actually think of this time as an opportunity to connect with customers in new and meaningful ways.

Today, winning brands are focused on providing comfort & utility during this time of fear & uncertainty.

If necessity is the mother of invention, then we should see a wide range of innovation and customer-centric solutions coming out from this unprecedented time. We have been cut off from the majority of our everyday rituals and conveniences on a massive scale, as every sector of public and private life has been disrupted by this global health crisis. Through it all, people are more connected than ever through technology and social media.

So where do small businesses go from here?

Some guidance from our perspective: