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Q&A
SBS outreach methods for ensuring access to trainings
0:30:30
ยท
4 min
Commissioner Gross details the various outreach methods SBS uses to ensure small businesses have access to their training and education programs. The agency employs multiple strategies to reach and engage with business owners effectively.
- SBS uses email marketing, social media, and Google ad search to promote services
- Partnerships with community organizations and business advisory groups help reach more businesses
- A central outreach team was created in 2022 to increase citywide outreach capacity
- The MOBY mobile unit allows SBS to bring services directly to communities and business corridors
Dynishal Gross
0:30:30
I I love that question.
0:30:33
I think as someone who's obsessed with small businesses and who is really grateful to be in this job, one of the things that is most frustrating is when you learn that there was a business owner that needs exactly the service that we provide that didn't know about it, right, at the right moment.
0:30:50
So we we really try to do everything that we can.
0:30:54
Everything that we have done that has worked, we've tried to double down on, and build new ways to reach business owners.
0:31:00
Because as a nonregulatory agency, no business has to work with us.
0:31:04
If we're not delivering value through the services and reaching them through channels that they pay attention to, cutting through the noise, because these business owners aren't just wearing many hats.
0:31:15
In many of their businesses, they're wearing all of the hats, and so we've gotta get their attention, in the right way.
0:31:22
We've gotta reach them in language.
0:31:24
We have to have trusted partners who can, promote our services to them and assure them that, you know, this is a quality service.
0:31:32
That is not a scam.
0:31:33
That's gonna help them and not hurt them and not have a hidden cost, at the end.
0:31:38
So we do everything.
0:31:39
We have a central marketing team.
0:31:41
We do email marketing.
0:31:43
We do social media marketing.
0:31:44
We do Google ad search, responses so that if you're searching for something, SBS pops up in your results.
0:31:53
We do partnership with all of our business advisory groups, our SBAC, our, Latino American small business task force, our Asian American small business task force.
0:32:05
We do partnerships with community organizations on the ground.
0:32:09
Sometimes we partner to deliver our series, our business education series on government regulation and compliance in partnership with community organizations.
0:32:20
I believe we've done that 61 times, for the NYC best in your community program.
0:32:26
So there, we are working with those community partners to understand what the needs are of the business community, in in a particular neighborhood to do advanced outreach, to bring them together, to deliver the service, and then to do that follow-up to connect them to other needs.
0:32:43
Beginning in 2022, we made a decision as an agency to create a central outreach team, and that has significantly, increased our capacity to do outreach citywide.
0:32:55
We have our MOBY mobile unit, and we take the show on the road, all kinds of community events or events that we create.
0:33:03
When we send out the mobile unit, we canvas the corridors where we're parked.
0:33:08
We do, rapid consultations inside of the small businesses.
0:33:11
And I should also note that city council, funding and your discretionary programs are an important supplement to the outreach resources that we provide.
0:33:21
So the city council has funded Chamber on the Go, I believe, also since, for about 8 years, and, since the pandemic, the Small Business Resource Network.
0:33:32
And all those councils are those discretionary contracts are managed through SBS, and we, they supplement our outreach capacity.
0:33:41
So those are some of the ways that we we try to reach small businesses with awareness of our programs.
0:33:47
And then when we connect with them, we ask them how they heard about us so that that we can know what's working in terms of our outreach methods and and try to invest in those effective, methods of connection.
Oswald Feliz
0:34:00
Thank you.
0:34:00
Thank you so much for all the information on Local Law 156.
0:34:03
A few questions about intro 1132, but before that, I'll recognize the council members who have joined us.
0:34:09
Council member Ong, Batcher, Zhuang, and Krishnan.
0:34:12
Thank you for joining us today.
0:34:14
A few questions about 1132, which requires that that SBS analyze and report on the different, violations issued, based on community districts and different corridors.
0:34:26
1st and foremost, what's the administration's position on the bill?
0:34:29
Is it supportive?
0:34:30
And also, are there ways of making the bill better, stronger so that we could, make the goals easier to achieve?