Patrick Schwerdtfeger is a leading authority on small business marketing and a motivational speaker who regularly speaks to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Patrick is the author of the award-winning book Marketing Shortcuts for the Self-Employed (2011, Wiley) and a regular speaker for Bloomberg TV. He has spoken at conventions and business events around the world, many of them in the retail space (including chains, franchises and independent labels). Examples include gift stores, pet supplies, arts & crafts, home & garden, kitchen appliances, computers & electronics, sports & outdoors, beauty supplies and clothing retailers. His social media expertise, coupled with his dynamic and engaging speaking style, make him a perfect choice for an empowering and inspirational keynote address or general session. More information about his experience and perspective (including a few simple tips) are provided below.
Past speaking clients include:
Recent speaking destinations include:
Retail Business Keynote Speech
By retail and consumer packaged goods companies, Patrick refers to physical storefronts that are local to a particular community. That opens the business up to countless location-based marketing channels including Yelp, Google Places, Yahoo Local, FourSquare and Facebook. With Facebook in particular, it makes sense to invest in ‘likes’ at the beginning. Your buying an annuity! It doesn’t cost a lot and very few people ‘un-like’ a page after they ‘like’ it. And on the other platforms, activity and interaction will naturally build your following. One rule of thumb is to reply to EVERY negative comment, no matter how inappropriate it may be. Your response can balance the critique and the interaction will continue to build awareness.
Once you have developed an online following, the key to success shifts to engagement and interaction. Both can be taught! Visual content (like photos and videos) will enhance engagement. People like interacting with visual content. And incentives can be used to build interaction. Micro incentives for micro actions; it’s remarkable what people will do for a cup of coffee! The incentives don’t need to be big. They can be as simple as a small product sample or a freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. But the important thing to remember is that Interaction = Trust. The more prospects interact with you, the more they will trust you, and trust is an essential prerequisite to a purchase decision!
Motivational Speaker for Retail
Much of retail success is built on the quality of your employees. In addition to Patrick’s expertise in social media and location-based marketing, he is also passionate about positive psychology and the science of happiness. In 2014, he delivered a session entitled “How to Find and Hire Great People” for a group of independent bicycle retailers. That same year, he delivered a program called “Sales, Success and the Science of Happiness” to a group of pastry retailers in Minneapolis. These programs were both built on the exploding research in positive psychology and the implications for retail store owners is profound. Happy employees make more sales. Happy employees lead to lower turnover. Happy employees will work for less money. Please let us know if you would like Patrick to incorporate this research in his program at your event.
