Essence Announces Move to Expanded, Bimonthly Print Issues

Starting next year, Essence magazine will move from a monthly to a bimonthly publishing schedule, signaling the end of an era while promising that the best is yet to come.

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9 Marketing Tips for Black-Owned Small Businesses to Accelerate Business Growth

To increase sales, one of the savviest moves black-owned small businesses can make is to develop a strategic marketing plan. Small business owners who hone their marketing skills and take a multi-pronged approach to growth are much likelier to increase their customer acquisition rates than those with a spray-and-pray approach. Understanding how to optimize your outreach efforts for success is crucial. Integrate the following nine small business marketing tips into your company’s growth plan, and you’ll be amazed how quickly you start to see results.

9 Marketing Tips for Black-Owned Small Businesses

1. Use ‘Google My Business’ to create custom offers for your target audience. Potential customers are already using Google to find companies just like yours; why not stack the odds of engagement in your favor?

2. Conduct sales feedback calls with your existing customers. A quick phone call to current customers to ask for their feedback on interactions with your business shows you’re interested in continuing to earn your customers’ patronage and helps keep your company top-of-mind.

3. Posting new videos on YouTube not only helps turbocharge the effectiveness of your video marketing efforts but can improve your search engine optimization (SEO), too. Make sure you’re uploading both seasonal and evergreen video content to maximize the potential of your video outreach.

4. SlideShare is a powerful customer outreach tool many small business owners overlook. Adding slide presentations to SlideShare not only gives you more niche-specific pages for search engines to index, but it can also help increase your social media marketing too. Sharing individual slides from your SlideShare presentations can drive traffic to your brand while increasing your thought leadership reputation at the same time.

5. E-book downloads are an excellent tool for small business owners wanting to double down on email marketing. Offering a free e-book in exchange for an email address helps build your subscriber list and showcase your small business’ expertise to prospective customers.

6. Don’t overlook your opportunities to market your small business at local community events. Attend trade shows and conferences in your area wearing a jacket with your business’ URL on the back. Who knows how many visits you’ll have to your small business’ website simply because you advertised your URL to local conference attendees.

7. LinkedIn blogging is a must-use tool for savvy small business owners. Post fresh content marketing posts on your business’ LinkedIn page on a daily/weekly basis to draw attention to your brand. Be sure to share your LinkedIn posts on social media with hashtags specific to your local area for maximum impact.

8. Speaking of social media, promoting your brand and local community on social media networks like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook is an excellent way to boost brand awareness. Not only will you be connecting with community members, but you’ll also be sharing insights about your small business at the same time.

9. Digital marketing for small businesses is essential for company growth. Be sure you develop a detailed search engine optimization strategy to grow your company online. Use everything from blog posts on your company’s blog to guest posts on websites specific to your target customers. A detailed SEO strategy can drive traffic to your small business for years to come.

Small business marketing doesn’t have to be overwhelming if you take a strategic approach to company growth. Incorporate these nine marketing tips for small business owners into your company’s growth strategy, and you’ll be amazed at the results.

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Study: Black Investment Fund Managers Face Racial Bias Despite Delivering Top Returns

For years, black investment fund managers have delivered their clients some of the best returns in the industry. Yet, they continue to get judged more sternly than their white peers with similar credentials. Institutional investors exhibited racial bias when asked to appraise fund management teams overseen by white and black men, according to research from Stanford University and Oakland, California-based venture capital private equity firm, Illumen Capital.

[RELATED: BLACK VENTURE CAPITALISTS RAISING $370 MILLION THIS YEAR. HOW MUCH WILL GO TO BLACK BUSINESSES?]

Asset allocators—or, professional investors—were asked to rate venture capital funds based on their evaluation of a one-page summary of the fund’s performance history and other capabilities. One discovery was professional investors rated venture investing teams headed by white men more approvingly than firms managed by black professionals. That finding came when other credentials were viewed as equal by both groups of professionals.

The study also revealed that people of color in the asset management industry “are likely to encounter more bias as they achieve stronger credentials,” Pension & Investments reported.

The biased view is evident on the money front. The study surmised that of the $69.1 trillion global financial assets under management across mutual funds, hedge funds, real estate, and private equity, less than 1.3% are managed by women and people of color.

Here are some significant revelations that were written in the study:

“We find evidence of racial bias in the investment decisions of asset allocators, who manage money for governments, universities, charities, foundations, and companies. This bias could contribute to stark racial disparities in institutional investing. In general, asset allocators have trouble gauging the competence of racially diverse teams.”

 

“At stronger performance levels, asset allocators rate white-led funds more favorably than they do black-led funds. At weaker performance levels, asset allocators actually prefer black-led teams to white-led teams. However, asset allocators are unlikely to invest in weaker funds, diverse or otherwise. These results suggest that beyond racial disparities in the pipeline, there are additional systemic racial disparities in how investors evaluate funds and allocate money.”

Illumen Capital Founder Daryn Dodson reflected on the study in this statement to media outlets.

“I’ve observed investors leaving money on the table because they underestimate the value of funds managed by people of color and women,” the Illumen Capital founder says. “But many of these investors did not seem to harbor conscious prejudices or even notice their biased behavior.”

The new study appears to show black asset managers, despite strong skills and top-performing investment records, might be missing out on some potentially lucrative deals.

Robert L. Greene, the CEO and president of the National Association of Investment Companies, said via email, that these findings correspond with other studies that show diverse investment managers face an uphill battle to gain access to institutional capital, even when a diverse manager’s performance exceeds that of their competitors.

He added until asset allocators embrace the fact that talent is equally distributed but opportunity is not, they are failing their stakeholders from a fiduciary perspective.

“Simply put, having a more inclusive search for investment managers gives institutions a better chance at greater returns. Some have realized this, but too many have yet to reach this conclusion, despite the published evidence,” Greene says

Could revelations from the study mean it will be tougher for the nation’s largest black-owned asset management firms to boost assets under management (AUM) in the current business climate? Ten black asset management firms are on Black Enterprise’ 2019 list of top black-owned companies. As a group, those firms’ AUM in 2018 totaled around $58.2 billion, down from nearly $62.7 billion in 2017.

At the same time, some of those firms’ abilities to realize asset management growth might be diminished further by the shaky U.S. stock market.

[RELATED: VIEW THE LIST OF TOP BLACK-OWNED FINANCIAL SERVICES FIRMS]

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22 Days of Eating Like Beyoncé, Day 3: I Really Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter

Fun fact: I love toast.

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These Executive Coaches Will Help You Advance Your Leadership Skills at the Black Men XCEL Summit

What element transforms executives into best-of-class leaders? In a word: coaching.

In every arena—from sports to business—peak performers achieve superior results because they’ve gained top-notch advisers to help them maximize skills and identify blind spots, among other areas. Having such guidance is especially important for African American men in business seeking to advance their goals and tackle complex management challenges in today’s increasingly fast-paced, chaotic environment.

In fact, a 2018 Harvard Business Review article in which black men shared what it was like to be “in the gender majority, not the racial minority” revealed that while black men were able to “capitalize on shared gendered experiences to bond with white men who can serve in important roles as allies, sponsors, and mentors, they described a sense of alienation and isolation on the job.” It further stated “that fitting in with white colleagues has its limits, and from the sense that only other black men can really understand the challenges associated with being black and male in these spaces—the persistent negative stereotyping, the complicated dance of managing interactions with white women to avoid appearing threatening, the need to avoid ever being perceived as the “angry black man.”

Due to such issues and more, BLACK ENTERPRISE developed a series of intensive leadership coaching sessions at our third annual Black Men XCEL Summit, being held at the J.W. Marriott Turnberry Resort & Spa from Aug. 28 – Sept. 1. These 25-minute, one-on-one only sessions are designed to help you achieve your personal and professional best while dealing with such landmines.

So what will our appointment-only consultations do for you? Given your professional situation and objectives, our coaches will undertake a Socratic approach to helping you recognize strengths and weaknesses, break you out of your “comfort zone” to develop more diverse relationships, deal with racial and gender scenarios, create processes to determine goals and desired outcomes, customize your leadership style and other matters.

So let’s meet some of the coaches we have assembled to help guide you to the next level:

Kevin Wayne Johnson

Founder, Chief Visionary and CEO, The Johnson Leadership Group L.L.C

Kevin Wayne Johnson

 

Johnson believes “God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.” As such, developing individual and organizational operating excellence is his life’s ministry as he coaches people to live out their gifts. A renowned expert and author, he delivers training on the elements of dynamic relationships and equips teams with the attitudes and attributes needed to develop individuals into leaders. He’s an independent certified coach, teacher, and speaker with the nationally recognized John Maxwell Team. Johnson tailors learning experiences to “help maximize efficiency, growth, awareness, and effectiveness” and provides a step-by-step action plan to enable individuals to reach their aspirations as well as develop the leader within.

Randi Bryant

CEO, Bryant Consulting Group

Randi Bryant

Bryant is a diversity and inclusion strategist, author, speaker, and trainer that helps people and companies “navigate tough racial, gender, and cultural issues by equipping them with the right tools and resources to foster real, open dialogue.” Through her speeches, trainings, and one-on-one services she offers individuals the essential tools to engage in transparent conversations on racial, cultural, and diversity issues. This founder and president of a 17-year-old, award-winning change management firm has created the “Fingerprint to Blueprint” curriculum and guided major corporate and government clients in seven countries and 41 states.

Ron Harvey

Vice President, Global Core Strategies and Consulting

Ron Harvey

With more than 25 years of combined experience in human resources management, training development, and executive coaching, Harvey has enabled leaders and organizations to “be intentional about identifying and reaching their full potential.” He specializes in building professionals’ capacity to lead under pressure and connect with diverse workforces. As such, he works with clients to gain more self-awareness related to their strengths and leadership styles. Currently serving as president for his local chapter of Association of Talent Development, this certified coach makes use of the skills and insights gained from the Georgetown University International Transformational Leadership Training Program so his clients “go forward faster using less fuel.”

Dr. Latanya Hughes

Resource Global Mentor Coach

Latanya Hughes

Hughes is considered an authority in global business dynamics with proven results that eliminates the words: “It can’t be done!” She has delivered “mission-critical results driven by an innate need to strategize and innovate” and developed a consistent track record of helping managers advance growth, revenue, operational performance, and profitability. Her secret weapon: Directing cross-functional teams to apply interactive and motivational leadership that fosters trust and spurs people to willingly exceed their maximum effort.

 

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Join us at the Black Men XCEL Summit as we honor the essence of today’s man of color.  

 

REGISTER HERE TODAY

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