Press Release: National Invest In Veterans Week Wins Multiple Awards in 2021

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A team of military veterans has recently racked up a string of impressive wins for their revolutionary social impact organization. Coined National Invest In Veterans Week, the organization's mission is to empower the public to invest in the veteran population through veteran-owned business sustainment, educational development, and mental health empowerment. Celebrated during the first week of March, National Invest In Veterans Week's vision has made its way to South Carolina's legislatures. Concurrent Resolution 3825 was passed in February to honor veteran business owners during the week-long celebration statewide.

Their recent wins include:

The Ritz Herald. Best Social Impact Initiative of 2021.
The Ritz Herald editorial board named National Invest In Veterans Week "Best Social Impact Initiative of 2021" for their growing impact in the veteran entrepreneurial sphere. Led by Iraq War Veteran and nationally syndicated columnist Jeff Shuford, the organization launched multiple innovative digital marketing strategies that aided aspiring and established veteran business owners nationwide. As a Rolling Stone Culture Council member, Shuford devised unique social impact tactics that consisted of hashtag marketing, technological platform development, and engaging media campaign outreach, among other notable strategies. The publication stated, "As the brand continues its expansion nationally, the award-winning organization remains hyper-focused on utilizing innovative marketing techniques to advocate for veteran business owners throughout the country."

Belmont Star. Innovative Media Excellence Award.
The National Invest In Veterans Week team refined their mobile application on Google Play and their innovative Progressive Web Application in early 2021. Regarding the scope of the Innovative Media Excellence Award, the Belmont Star wrote, "The Innovative Media Excellence Award does not singularly focus on the development and launch of mobile applications. It also commemorates the hard work, persistence, determination, creativity, social impact, and brilliance in the leadership within the companies that have created the innovation that we find value in today." Although the design and execution of National Invest In Veterans Week's mobile innovations are distinguished, there was one significant aspect of the technology that the Belmont Star noted. "Recognizing that many tech companies are unsuccessful at marketing, National Invest In Veterans Week employs a proven innovative digital marketing approach rooted in social awareness."

The Hudson Weekly. Veterans in Business Award Winner.
Social impact was the main focus of this particular award from The Hudson Weekly. The publication wrote, "Veteran-focused organization National Invest In Veterans Week is our choice for the 2021 Veterans in Business Award. Founded in 2019, the organization has positively impacted veteran business owners nationwide with great success. What makes National Invest In Veterans Week unique is its innovative marketing and social impact strategy." The National invest In Veterans Week team won the 2017 BizTech Award under their Tech From Vets brand and brought the same innovative development and marketing to National Invest In Veterans Week. Co-founder and National Football League veteran Drayton Florence was the primary driving force behind both companies' success.

National Invest In Veterans Week Leadership

National Invest In Veterans Week is led by nationally syndicated columnist and Philadelphia native Jeff Shuford. Shuford became a nationally syndicated columnist at age 30, making him one of the youngest nationally syndicated columnists in the country and one of the youngest African-American nationally syndicated columnists of all time. In his current role with the American City Business Journals, Shuford's monthly column appears in more than 43 regional business newspapers. In his previous position with GateHouse Media, Shuford's weekly column appeared in 144 daily newspapers, 684 community publications, and over 569 local-market websites in 38 states, making him one of the country's most syndicated black columnists of all time.

Drayton Florence, serves as co-founder and director of strategic partnerships for National Invest In Veterans Week. Florence attended Tuskegee University and was inducted into Tuskegee University Hall Of Fame in 2014. He registered school-record three returns for touchdowns on interceptions at Tuskegee. As a senior, he was named first-team Division II All-America by the Associated Press and American Coaches Association. Florence is the highest drafted player to enter the National Football League from Tuskegee University. In his illustrious National Football League career, Florence was a member of the Carolina Panthers, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Buffalo Bills. After playing eleven (11) seasons in the National Football League, Florence completed his degree at the University of North Florida with a Master's in Sport Management. Florence has made veteran business development his daily mission and continuously advocates veteran-focused initiatives throughout the country. As a co-founder of National Invest In Veterans Week, Florence runs the day to day operations that have allowed NIVW to expand further.

Why You Should Run Your Veteran Owned Business Like a Tech Startup

In today’s technological world, it’s apparent that Tech Startup’s are doing something right. They are getting all of the press, developing digital products that drive future innovation and their businesses are utilizing technology properly. Although we have so much innovation around us, we often find that most business owners are slow to adapt to the changing technological times.

The majority of small business owners is under impression that the word of mouth is the only use of effective marketing they need. No need to utilize social media or any digital marketing platforms to increase revenue, simply have great service and product and people will come back. This is not the case in today’s competitive marketplace. In a crowded marketplace, it’s hard for small businesses to separate themselves from the noise. A small business usually will try to rely on TV or Radio advertising and find that the return on investment is very poor. If only the business owner used social media properly they could understand that traditional marketing is almost obsolete. Not only is social media free it’s the most use technological service in the world. Facebook allows businesses to target specific demographics of people with targeted marketing and advertising. Your business page analytics allow you to track when people in your area are most online and where they live and work.TV can’t guarantee that the market you are targeting will be in front of the TV when your commercial plays. Businesses must look at alternative solutions to reach their target market. In a recent interview with the Jacksonville Business Journal, I reiterated that the goal for business owners should be to reach as many people as possible. Customers are not loyal to brands in today’s changing technological society. Online shopping has closed many big name department stores we would never have imagined would be out of business. Business owners need to understand that they can also be crippled by not having a technological advantage on their competition. My business Tech From Vets decided instead of simply selling our award-winning services we would help business owners understand the reason why technology is important and how they can keep up with the mobile landscape.

Many business owners can’t understand the importance of mobile applications and they are afraid technology draws a wedge between their business and their customers. I agree to some degree however when technology is used effectively it can bring customers closer to a business. With mobile applications, when a business has an event they can send a push notification so the customer knows immediately. Businesses can integrate their Facebook and Twitter pages into their app so their customers can stay up to date and engage with the business. The business can feature a calendar of events and specials in the app so that customers can stay informed. There are many more features a business can utilize to engage with their customers and keep them coming back.

Business owners can’t neglect the future and if they do their business will suffer. Our goal at Tech From Vets was to empower and educate business owners to make wise technological decisions to keep and reach new customers.

Become a More Impactful Veteran Business Owner by Learning Sales Acceleration Strategies

Center: Drayton Florence Co-founder of National Invest In Veterans Week

If you are a veteran small business owner needing to increase revenues for your company this year significantly, it is imperative you strategically approach growth. If you're going to accelerate your company's profits this year, integrate the following five simple steps into your sales plan-of-action.

Assess Team Strengths

The first task you must complete is to assess the individual sales strengths of your current team members. Understand which team members excel at customer interactions and which ones are superior product specialists. Develop detailed reviews of your employees to understand better your staff members' overall sales strengths (and weaknesses). Don't forget to review your management team's sales strengths as your employees likely look to management to lead by example. 

Review Performance Environment 

Once you have assessed the sales strengths of your team, review their past performance. Discover who was on your payroll during exceptionally good sales years and who were the culprits when sales declined. When you review your team's past performance, you get a clearer idea of which attributes lead your team to sales victories and which ones caused morale to decline. By assessing team strengths and reviewing past performance, you get a better overview of where your small business team currently stands in terms of its ability to increase growth rates.

Analyze Competitors

The next simple step in developing a sales acceleration strategy for your small business is to analyze your competitors. Are there local competitors nipping at your brick-and-mortar sales? Are e-commerce behemoths like Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba annihilating your online sales? The more energy you put into learning your competitors and the tactics they are using to acquire customers, the better prepared you will be to use those same strategies to grow your small business. 

Create Buyer Personas 

Creating buyer personas is essential if you want to increase your small business' sales rate this year. You might assume you know your customers well enough that there is no need to document personas for your customers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Creating buyer personas for your small business isn't just about getting to know your customers better. Creating small business buyer personas helps you identify your ideal customers and discover opportunities to connect with potential brand loyalists for your small business. 

Review Marketing Initiatives

The final step in creating a sales acceleration strategy for your small business is to review your marketing initiatives to date. Which tactics are you using to grow your company, and which tactics have proven to offer a worthwhile return-on-investment? Combine the data you get from analyzing current and past marketing initiatives with the data you accumulate from analyzing your competitors' growth tactics. 

Keep these strategies in mind to increase the impact of your veteran owned business.