The Greater Stillwater Chamber of Commerce is offering a three-part educational series for small- to medium-sized businesses to learn how to effectively market their business online.

“Low Cost No Cost Methods for Creating an Effective Web Presence” is a nine-hour class spread across three Thursday evenings in February (Feb. 2, 9 and 16) from 6-9 p.m. at Boutwell’s Landing in Oak Park Heights.

Ted Kozlowski, the president of DemandQuest and creator of the Stillwater, Minnesota Facebook fan page, will lead the discussion.

Kozlowski, a Stillwater resident, has a passion for helping small- and medium-sized businesses increase their online presence and generate new business while avoiding scams.

The sessions will cover topics such as search engine optimization, effective use of social media, Google Analytics and the most results-driven, cost-effective sources for online advertising.

And he assures Stillwater Patch, it’s not a sales pitch.

Q&A with Ted Kozlowski

Kozlowski took the time to talk with Stillwater Patch about the learning session. Below is a snippet from that conversation:

Stillwater Patch: So what’s this about?

Ted Kozlowski: The Chamber is putting this on as an educational offering for all small- and medium-sized businesses in the St. Croix River Valley. They really want to offer something to the business community whether you’re a sole proprietor, have a shop in downtown Stillwater or a business-to-business venture in Oak Park Heights to help you market yourself better online.  It’s designed to get more phone calls to their business, more leads online to get more people in stores and shops and get people calling up for more reservations at restaurants. Basically, it’s for anybody who does business and wants to get more business.

Stillwater Patch: What are some things businesses should know about online marketing that they will take away from this class?

Kozlowski: They’ll learn a lot. But one thing people will take away is that it’s not that hard to run your own online advertising campaign. There are a lot of good places online where businesses can advertise that have proven to be effective in getting more phone calls, more people into their shop and more leads online. There’s really a general lack of understanding. I think a lot of people are afraid of advertising—or spending money—online. There are a lot of people selling snake oil. You can’t turn anywhere in this town without someone trying to sell you top placement on Google or banner ads or email marketing or something—and I think people are just generally afraid.

So I think the biggest thing we are going to accomplish is you don’t have to be afraid of it. It’s not that difficult, and if you do it right, you are going to get good results.

Stillwater Patch: Is this course for the total novice or will someone with a lot of experience advertising online still take something away from it?

Kozlowski: This is a course I have given to more than 10,000 small- and medium-sized businesses and marketing firms over the last five or six years. It’s really designed for everybody but advanced marketing executives who do this for a living. You don’t have to know anything about online marketing or building a website to get something out of the class. It’s really designed for the small business owner who wants to bring more business in.

We’re going to talk about what makes websites effective, how to make websites better, how to use your current website to get more clients, email marketing, building an email list and how to engage your customers to get more referrals. We’ll also talk about how to spend your money wisely online. There’s a lot of different mediums for advertising whether it’s direct mail and post cards, advertising in local papers, advertising in local online media outlets, advertising on Facebook and advertising on Google. Bottom line is when someone searches for a plumber in Stillwater, you want to make sure your business shows up and you get the call.

Stillwater Patch: Social media is obviously an easy way to get stuff out there. But it takes time, and I see a lot of people and businesses do it poorly. So how will engaging an audience on social media play into your presentation?

Kozlowski: That’s a big part of our educational track—how you effectively use social media to drive more business. There are a lot of businesses that have a Facebook fan page and engage in social media, but there are very few examples nationally, that do it right. So we’re going to talk about some of the effective ways to do that.

Social media, while it’s free, takes time. And if you’re not doing it right—with a goal in mind—you can waste a lot of time without seeing results. So we’re going to talk about how to do things the right way that will lead to more revenue, more customers and more leads.

Stillwater Patch: In addition to operating DemandQuest, you also run the Stillwater, Minnesota Facebook page. How is that an example of how engaged people in the St. Croix River Valley are on social media—and why it’s important to learn how to engage that audience?

Kozlowski: The Stillwater, Minnesota Facebook fan page highlights the value of participating in social media. There are a lot of businesses out there that say it’s a fad, but the reality is that more than 14,000 people are a fan of Stillwater, MN—that’s virtually every resident in the Stillwater area. Everyone is engaging in it already, so that should be validation enough to know that the eyeballs are there and people are using it. Everybody is on Facebook. As long as we get our message out there in an appropriate and compelling way we can use that tool to get more business.

Stillwater Patch: How will the class be done? Are there things people should do to people prepare to get the most out of it? And flat out, is this a sales pitch?

Kozlowski: No. There’s no sales pitch. I just teach for a living. We don’t take clients. Unlike a lot of the conferences and webinars and different things you can go to that are done by vendors who give just enough information where you figure out you need them to do the job for you, this is definitely not designed for that. This is nine hours over three weeks of really comprehensive training that’s designed to move businesses forward. It’s very unbiased. We’re not selling product services or anything along those lines.

Honestly, the coolest thing about it is that the Chamber is actually taking an active interest in educating the business community as a whole. They’re not just pulling in some vendor to do an hour-long seminar about some magic solution that will help get more business. This is the Chamber brining in a professional instructor to teach businesses, both Chamber and non-Chamber members alike, how to do online marketing and advertising the right way.

If You Go:

The series is open to anyone—cost for Chamber members is $99/Series or $49 for any one session. Cost for non-Chamber members is $189/Series or $89 for any one session. Registered attendees may bring one additional staff person or volunteer at no additional cost.

To learn more, contact the Chamber at (651) 439-4001 or send an email to info@ilovestillwater.com. For a more detailed series description and to register, visit the Chamber website.