Small Business Spotlight - Alison Woo Video

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Small Business Spotlight - Alison Woo

Ivy Hartman: It is wonderfully warm here in Phoenix Arizona at the NAWBO 2008 Women’s Business Conference and we are meeting wonderful women from all over the country and with me is Alison Woo, journalist and entrepreneur of New Media Mavens. Alison, welcome to sbtv.com. Alison Woo: Ivy thanks so much for having me. Ivy Hartman: We can go on and on about your background but let’s talk about your journalistic background and starting New Media Mavens. Alison Woo: Absolutely. Well, I'm a journalist who work in television for CNN, Time Warner with Linda—I've also worked in print started newspaper and have my on radio show. Ivy Hartman: What is New Media Mavens? Alison Woo: It’s actually a consulting company that teaches business owners how to say it and what to say when a marketing sale is online. And when we’re talking online we’re talking to that website using podcast, social media and blogs. Ivy Hartman: Who are your clients you're finding or needing your services the most right now? Alison Woo: Well you know this is a tough economy right now the recession has never been a better time to really market yourself smartly. Talk about just the cost of new media. I suppose there are business owners here who send out 10,000 prints newsletters for $30.00 you could have done the same thing. You could have spent over $3,000.00. Ivy Hartman: I've been doing some research and I'm learning that advertising overall is going down when you look at media outlets, but online advertising spending is going up right now. Alison Woo: Absolutely. Business owners want to go where their customers are and you know with SBTV the customers are online. We don’t live in a society where you go home at 5 o’clock and turn on the news, we don’t even have time to read the newspapers in the morning because we’re out the door at 6 AM and back at 10. So online is really where people are consuming their media and really helping business owners connect to their customers online is really going to help them stand up from the crowd. Ivy Hartman: Talk about your entrepreneurial background and how are you able to relate to a lot of these business owners? Alison Woo: Absolutely. I was born in Hong Kong and when I was 10-days old my parents bundled me up and put me on the plane came to Kennedy airport, they started out with 263 American dollars and through the great dream of American business ownership they had been able to start restaurant in New York and my mother a management consultant for hospitals. So, I know personally how important it is for the entrepreneurs to succeed. And then really when I decided to really give back to the community and now I could use my skill to help. I really decided I wanted to work with small business owners they are the future. Ivy Hartman: Speaking of the future and the current trends going on right now we’re seeing somewhat of a disjoint when it comes to baby boomers generation and then we got this IT generation Y or whatever coming up and they have this technology savvyness. Now you published a book How to Stay at Marketing with New Media? A guide to marketing for small business website using blog and podcast, but even more than that as your services go you're really helping bridge that gap and teach some of these generation something new. Alison Woo: Absolutely and it is about conversation marketing. People are trying to realize it’s not about I want you to buy my service. It’s about asking your customer what is it that you need and how can I help you with that. And we have this total information overload and you really need to be able to meet your customer’s needs if you want to get that buy. Ivy Hartman: So, you got a boomer entrepreneur, somebody who is over 50 and they are—maybe they are not IT savvy but they need to be because their clients are going to be using the internet or podcasting or an easy whatever, are you able to help them on that? Alison Woo: We do actually a digital divide bridging the digital divide yet for generation and that’s one of the consulting products that we do offer. I think it’s really important for people to walk through the steps at a pace that they're comfortable with and there lots of different resources that people access whether it’s their public libraries that offer classes, whether it’s hiring a tutor, whether it’s getting a virtual assistant to help do the function like blogging or updating their Facebook page. There are lots of different options nobody needs to be left out. Ivy Hartman: That’s fabulous. Now you're base in—where are you base in? Alison Woo: We’re actually base both in New York City and Charlotte North Carolina. Ivy Hartman: But you can take care of your clients all over the country. Alison Woo: All over the globe actually. Our book is being published by Penguin Partner this fall around the nation and 25 countries nationwide. Ivy Hartman: Awesome! An international force that’s awesome. Alison Woo of New Media Mavens. You’ve started it with Lena Claxton. If you want more information, you can go to newmediamavens.com or you can email them at mavens@newmediamavens.com. I think that you definitely hit the nail on the head. Are you already getting a big— Alison Woo: We’re very excited. This is born out of our seminars series that was popular with people who look them down, look at east coast and the west coast so we know there's a market. Ivy Hartman: Are you prepared to keep up with all the business after this? Alison Woo: We are hoping to getting ready. We've got everything down. We've got out Facebook page, our podcast, our radio, our blog we've got this up. Ivy Hartman: And call Alison if you don’t know what any of those things mean or you can check out all of those definitions in expert tips and advice right here on sbtv.com for some of those things as well. Keep it right here as we continue our exclusive coverage of NAWBO 2008.

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Ivy Hartman: It is wonderfully warm here in Phoenix Arizona at the NAWBO 2008 Women’s Business Conference and we are meeting wonderful women from all over the country and with me is Alison Woo, journalist and entrepreneur of New Media Mavens. Alison, welcome to sbtv.com.

Alison Woo: Ivy thanks so much for having me.

Ivy Hartman: We can go on and on about your background but let’s talk about your journalistic background and starting New Media Mavens.

Alison Woo: Absolutely. Well, I'm a journalist who work in television for CNN, Time Warner with Linda—I've also worked in print started newspaper and have my on radio show.

Ivy Hartman: What is New Media Mavens?

Alison Woo: It’s actually a consulting company that teaches business owners how to say it and what to say when a marketing sale is online. And when we’re talking online we’re talking to that website using podcast, social media and blogs.

Ivy Hartman: Who are your clients you're finding or needing your services the most right now?

Alison Woo: Well you know this is a tough economy right now the recession has never been a better time to really market yourself smartly. Talk about just the cost of new media. I suppose there are business owners here who send out 10,000 prints newsletters for $30.00 you could have done the same thing. You could have spent over $3,000.00.

Ivy Hartman: I've been doing some research and I'm learning that advertising overall is going down when you look at media outlets, but online advertising spending is going up right now.

Alison Woo: Absolutely. Business owners want to go where their customers are and you know with SBTV the customers are online. We don’t live in a society where you go home at 5 o’clock and turn on the news, we don’t even have time to read the newspapers in the morning because we’re out the door at 6 AM and back at 10. So online is really where people are consuming their media and really helping business owners connect to their customers online is really going to help them stand up from the crowd.

Ivy Hartman: Talk about your entrepreneurial background and how are you able to relate to a lot of these business owners?

Alison Woo: Absolutely. I was born in Hong Kong and when I was 10-days old my parents bundled me up and put me on the plane came to Kennedy airport, they started out with 263 American dollars and through the great dream of American business ownership they had been able to start restaurant in New York and my mother a management consultant for hospitals. So, I know personally how important it is for the entrepreneurs to succeed. And then really when I decided to really give back to the community and now I could use my skill to help. I really decided I wanted to work with small business owners they are the future.

Ivy Hartman: Speaking of the future and the current trends going on right now we’re seeing somewhat of a disjoint when it comes to baby boomers generation and then we got this IT generation Y or whatever coming up and they have this technology savvyness. Now you published a book How to Stay at Marketing with New Media? A guide to marketing for small business website using blog and podcast, but even more than that as your services go you're really helping bridge that gap and teach some of these generation something new.

Alison Woo: Absolutely and it is about conversation marketing. People are trying to realize it’s not about I want you to buy my service. It’s about asking your customer what is it that you need and how can I help you with that. And we have this total information overload and you really need to be able to meet your customer’s needs if you want to get that buy.

Ivy Hartman: So, you got a boomer entrepreneur, somebody who is over 50 and they are—maybe they are not IT savvy but they need to be because their clients are going to be using the internet or podcasting or an easy whatever, are you able to help them on that?

Alison Woo: We do actually a digital divide bridging the digital divide yet for generation and that’s one of the consulting products that we do offer. I think it’s really important for people to walk through the steps at a pace that they're comfortable with and there lots of different resources that people access whether it’s their public libraries that offer classes, whether it’s hiring a tutor, whether it’s getting a virtual assistant to help do the function like blogging or updating their Facebook page. There are lots of different options nobody needs to be left out.

Ivy Hartman: That’s fabulous. Now you're base in—where are you base in?

Alison Woo: We’re actually base both in New York City and Charlotte North Carolina.

Ivy Hartman: But you can take care of your clients all over the country.

Alison Woo: All over the globe actually. Our book is being published by Penguin Partner this fall around the nation and 25 countries nationwide.

Ivy Hartman: Awesome! An international force that’s awesome. Alison Woo of New Media Mavens. You’ve started it with Lena Claxton. If you want more information, you can go to newmediamavens.com or you can email them at mavens@newmediamavens.com. I think that you definitely hit the nail on the head. Are you already getting a big—

Alison Woo: We’re very excited. This is born out of our seminars series that was popular with people who look them down, look at east coast and the west coast so we know there's a market.

Ivy Hartman: Are you prepared to keep up with all the business after this?

Alison Woo: We are hoping to getting ready. We've got everything down. We've got out Facebook page, our podcast, our radio, our blog we've got this up.

Ivy Hartman: And call Alison if you don’t know what any of those things mean or you can check out all of those definitions in expert tips and advice right here on sbtv.com for some of those things as well. Keep it right here as we continue our exclusive coverage of NAWBO 2008.

Transcription by: Scribe4you Transcription Services