This past Thursday, I had the honor of being selected as a speaker at the 2024 Walpole Business Forum. This event, hosted by the Walpole Chamber of Commerce and Destination Downtown was held at the Walpole Country Club and was well attended by many small business owners and town officials. A special thanks to Dan Busler Photography for capturing some great images of the event, including those in this blog.

The theme for the Forum was Digital Marketing and Cyber Security. I was honored to be selected to the speaker panel along with Kevin Martin from Nerds To Go and Leah Shalbey from @Wicked.Cravings.

Kevin provided a great presentation about the threats of Cyber Security and why you need to arm yourself when running a small business to protect from any type of hacking, ransomware, or other attempts to harm your online business presence. There are so many threats out there that most of us don't even know about, and hearing from Kevin you just knew that he and his team were experts on the subject and would be ready to help anyone who has been a victim of a cyber attack. More importantly, he provided the strategies and information to help prevent those attacks from ever impacting your business by using his services.

Leah, who has a tremendous social media management service and is doing great things within the restaurant industry, provided some really great insights on social media and why it is so important for small businesses. She showcased some of the basic tips and tricks for small business owners to use, as well as sharing some of the great work that she has done with numerous locations in the Greater Boston area. Her presentation provided some great information to those in attendance and was a perfect compliment to the presentation I was delivering to them at the Forum.

My presentation showcased 5 Free Social Media Strategies You Need To Be Using Right Now. This is a subject that I know so many small business owners have questions about and it was the perfect opportunity to bring these strategies to them during the Forum. The five strategies encompassed ways that you can grow your reach, build engagement, utilize testimonials and referrals to your advantage, and capitalize on current trends on social media - all at zero cost! I also spent some time discussing how to tailor your content to the social media channel you are posting to, ensuring that your message resonates with the audience because it fits the medium. It was the perfect opportunity to share one of my favorite infographics - the Social Media Donuts!

I had a great time at the event, getting to meet many local business owners that I had not had the pleasure of meeting yet, as well as being able to share my expertise and insights while representing 13th Mile Marketing. I'd like to give a special thank you to the Walpole Chamber, Destination Downtown, and Harry Brousaides for providing me with the opportunity to be a featured presenter at the Forum. I'd also like to thank those that attended and engaged in the presentation. I look forward to more events like this in the future!