Small Business and the Internet: Panel Discussion at Darien Library

Small business owners are invited to learn more about the changing marketplace due to the power of the Internet. Get tips on navigating the changing world and trends for the future from the experts.

Darien Library is hosting a business panel discussion starting at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 17 in the Community Room of Darien Library.

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— an announcement from Darien Library

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The discussion, which runs to 7:30 p.m., is moderated by Mark Rosenbloom, a vice president at First County Bank and Darien Chamber of Commerce chair.

About the Panelists

Cindy Palmer Dean, Owner and Creative Director at Palmer’s Market in Darien. After graduating college, Cindy ventured out into the corporate world but quickly realized that it was not a career path she wanted to pursue.

With a flower pot in one hand and a basket in the other, Cindy asked her father if she could sell her arrangements at the store! And from there blossomed Palmer’s Flower Shop.

Over the past 30 years, Cindy transformed the store from a traditional supermarket into an incredibly successful gourmet market. Cindy’s latest ventures include the Gift Basket and Travel/Tour business, as well as a new e-commerce platform in development with Noble House Creative Group.

Doug Campbell is an Executive and Career Consultant/Coach, Business Owner, Author, National Speaker & Innovator. He works with clients to design and implement growth strategies, facilitate strategy and team building retreats for growing companies, and works with companies to plan for business succession.

He is also an expert at onboarding and business innovation. Doug has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal, Bottom Line Business, the Stamford Advocate and Investor’s Business Daily and on Cablevision.

He is a mentor for Yale Entrepreneurs and also runs a High Talent Creative Group that meets with leading entrepreneurs in Fairfield County. His most recent business book is Where To Go From Here: Reinventing Your Business, Your Career and Your Working Life.

SIDEBAR 1: Recent Articles About Small Business & the Internet

• Small Businesses Are Returning to Groupon (Wall Street Journal, April 30)
• The Neighborhood Bookstore’s Unlikely Ally? The Internet (New York Times, Oct. 5, 2016) “He began offering free shipping anywhere in the United States and hired a full-time social media manager, who promotes the store and has used Twitter and Facebook to talk to readers who would never find themselves near Traverse City.”
• How Small Firms Can Use Pinterest and Facebook to Sell Directly to Customers (Wall Street Journal, April 30)
• 6 Trends Driving Small Business To Embrace Automation In 2017 (And Beyond) (Forbes, May 3) “The good news is that this technology means that we believe that very soon, business admin could become completely invisible, as easy as messaging a friend, or even completely automated, as machines learn like humans. This will empower entrepreneurs to stay focused on building their businesses […]”
• The Business of Roadside Attractions (Wall Street Journal, April 28): “The museum put up billboards along the interstate, but he says discussions and coverage on the internet generate the most traffic. Half of the visitors are foreigners, lured by articles and the pull of the Wild West, he adds.”

 

Brian Jarvis is a SCORE volunteer with a background as a retail consultant focusing on retail operations, retail branding, training and development, customer service and retail finance.

He has held executive positions at Express, Bath and Body Works and L’Oreal and has personally owned and operated several retail stores.

Starting with a small shop led to running over 1,000 stores for a large organization doing over $1 billion. The hallmark of Brian’s career has been the delivery of excellent customer service and how to deliver it to the brand needs.

Being in cosmetics for many years has taught Brian the importance of product training and development of staff. I have a strong grasp of the financials of retail and back-end technology, plus site selection and construction.

Peter Belbita, Founder, Noble House Creative Group, is best described as passionate about business, whose expertise with web design & development, online marketing, application support, communications and general business practice lead to success for every client with whom he works.

Peter bridges the gap between marketing and technology to bring superior results to client endeavors. With humble beginnings at the dawning of information technology in the 2000s, Peter has evolved with the rapidly changing demands of contemporary digital marketing over the decades, giving him the ability to harness the digital world to consistently deliver unparalleled results and superior value to your business and bottom line.

The Darien Library is proud to cosponsor this event with the Darien Chamber of Commerce and SCORE of Fairfield County.

SIDEBAR 2: Eight Ways Small Businesses in Darien Can Use the Internet with Darienite.com:

1. Let us know about your business if you’ve got a story we can tell in a feature or a news story. Email dave@darienite.com. See below for some of the things we’re interested in.
2. If you’re a restaurant with a special of the day, Darienite.com will put your Facebook or Twitter post on our feed (we have more than 1,000 Facebook followers and more than 850 Twitter followers). Let us know.
3. If you’ve got a very important new line of products or if you’re making a change to your business that customers will find important, let us know and we may tell our readers (or at least our Facebook and Twitter followers).
4. If you’ve been around a long time, that could be an interesting feature.
5. If you’ve just opened or are about to open, that could be an interesting news story.
6. If you’ve hired someone or promoted someone to an important position, send us your employee’s picture and tell us about him or her.
7. Do you have an event at your business that the community would be interested in? If it’s free or if a significant amount of sales are going to charity, Darienite.com may give you publicity for it. Email us (with a picture of some kind) or post it yourself on our Events Calendar. Easy instructions here.
8. And if you want to advertise on a publication that gets 100,000 page views a month, you can do it with some interesting forms of advertising on Darienite.com — including ads that you can change yourself from a Facebook or Twitter account or a text, or a revolving cube ad, or one that flips to a new image. See examples here.