As part of our on going interview series with small businesses using social media marketing, we interviewed Leonard Knight of Entrepreneurs of Knoxville (E.O.K). For all the twitter people out ther make sure to follow @eoktown

What service/product(s) does your company provide?

EOK aims to create a culture and climate of successful entrepreneur activity in the Greater Knoxville area by connecting entrepreneurs to the needed resources through the E.O.K. network.  The E.O.K network includes our online community of members, association with other local business resources, and person-to-person relationships to support and create profitable businesses.

When did you launch your business/how long have you been in business?

We launched E.O.K. in the spring of 2008.  The idea started out with a few guys meeting over a cup of coffee and sharing ideas about what projects in which they were involved, with the hopes of creating profitable businesses through the sharing of ideas and potential projects.

What is your elevator pitch?

E.O.K. exists to serve businesses of all sizes and entrepreneurs to equip them with the tools needed for success.  Membership is free and open to anyone.  Basically we try to get a bunch of smart people in the same “room” and talk about what interests the members.  We are not a business card swapping network, but a network of professionals and entrepreneurs trying to start and/or grow businesses.

What marketing tool(s) does your company currently use?

Our main marketing tool is our website, which is a Ning site.  We have weekly meetings covering a variety of topics related to starting and maintaining a business as well as social events for the members to meet and greet each other.  We use a variety of social networks and media to communicate our message and events to the public (i.e. twitter, linkedin, podcasts, etc.)

What has been your greatest marketing tool?

The website and word of mouth.

A lot of companies are shifting their marketing efforts to online tools and free social media marketing. Has your company made this kind of shift, and if so in what ways are you marketing online? 

• We created a twitter ID for EOK (eoktown); the website’s activity log feeds the tweets.  Members of EOK reference (eoktown) in their tweets to their followers.  This has generated traffic to our site as documented by Google Analytics.
• We created a linkedin group for EOK.  Linkedin members search for Entrepreneurs or any of the other terms we have in our description.  This group has generated traffic to our site.

How are your company’s sales tactics or way of doing business being affected by this recession and do you have any advice to other small business owners?

We are a non-profit in the business of helping other small business owners.  We assume the recession will have an affect on us with reduced donations.  We counter this by leveraging volunteers, finding grants, getting the support of foundations, and asking for member donations.

Any cost saving tips?

Offering membership for free and asking for volunteers to promote and direct the daily operations of E.O.K.  People have been very responsive to the service oriented atmosphere of E.O.K.  Basically, the group exists for its members, and they get out of it whatever they are willing to put in.  The grassroots growth has been fun to watch this year, and with the down economy, we only expect our membership to increase.

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