Cashing in on micro-moments

Des Moines-based Google worker to share online tips for small businesses

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Whitney Cox is on the phone, and she’s sharing a message she has given her own mother: 

If you want to succeed in small businesses — which Cox and many others call the “backbone of the American economy” — you have to be there for online customers in that “micro-moment” when they decide to look for help. 

Cox, a Keokuk native who grew up in Cedar Rapids and graduated from the University of Iowa, will be the keynote speaker for the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s first Small Business Success Summit at the FFA Enrichment Center in Ankeny on Nov. 10. She will speak on “Succeeding in a Micro-Moments World.”

“Today, our world lives in micro-moments,” said Cox, who is marketing manager for Small Business Outreach for Google’s U.S. operations. “Anytime we need to go and do or buy things, we turn on our mobile phones. We get directions or we search for something.

“The customer needs to find a solution,” Cox added. “We want to help businesses be there for the customer and give them the solution that they need. We teach about the importance of being online. You have to get ahead of the customers. Which can be hard when you realize that there has been a 34-fold increase in the “near me” searches online in the past four years. 

“We want to help businesses be there for the customer and give them the solution that they need,” said Cox, noting that Google ran a free Des Moines workshop earlier this year. 

What should we expect at the summit? “It’s a thought leadership presentation,” Cox said. “We’ll talk about consumer trends. What are customers doing? It’ll also talk strategically about products Google can provide.”

Then again, it’s not all about online.

“The impact isn’t just online. The small-business owners need to be online, but 85 percent of all transactions are still happening in a local store. People are using Google maps to find the store or call the store. 

Cox’s own mother has grilled her about how to get her therapy business at the top of Google searches. Cox gave Mom an earful: “You haven’t optimized your presence. You haven’t added photos or new content. You don’t have any added relevance. 

“At Google, we understand that small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. Two out of three jobs created are in a small business.”

Christina Moffatt, the Greater Des Moines Partnership’s director of small-business resources at the Greater Des Moines Partnership and owner of Creme Cupcake + Dessert, said she expects at least 250 to attend. The idea behind the one-day seminar came when Moffatt couldn’t find a short, concentrated, inexpensive seminar that teaches the marketing, budgeting, accounting, legal issues, Google use and other techniques small businesses need. So she created one and signed up 28 partners who backed a program with three keynote speakers and 18 breakout sessions. (Disclosure: The Business Record is a media sponsor for the event.)

“Most small businesses do continuing education, but it is specific to their own business,” and they need and want more, Moffatt said. 

The event will be held each year. “The need is there,” Moffatt said. 

The timing was set to correspond with National Entrepreneurship Month, to give businesses time to plan for the holidays, and because many will be using November to plan for 2018, 
Moffatt said. 

The conference, titled “Smashing the Barriers,” costs $79 for Partnership members and $99 for others. 

In addition to Cox, other scheduled keynoters include:
•    Former actor Chad Willett, who will discuss his book, “Smash the Box.” It’s about thinking differently.
•    Strategist Cindra Kamphoff, who will speak about “Beyond Grit: Five Practices to Gain the High-Performance Edge.” 

For information on fees and the agenda, go here: http://bit.ly/2izhzKe