Providing a small business marketing service to local merchants is not rocket science.
Local businesses need marketing assistance whether they recognize it or not. Many will use your business marketing services if they understand it is not going to cost them an arm and a leg.
Initially, your first task is to visualize their problems and provide solutions. I was fortunate to meet Phil, in of all places, a cruise ship!
He was in his 10th year of his small business marketing service.
I interviewed him.
From Dayton, Ohio, for over 35-years, Phil has worked for multiple employers mostly in the retail field.
He had been a sales person, a cashier, a department manager, store assistant manager and a store manager mostly for national retailers.
He is now retired.
Through his experiences, he realized local independent merchants could improve their brand, sales and profits if they would only follow some basic steps.
He wanted to help.
As a store manager, when people who wanted the company’s advertising dollar approached him, he only wanted to know the answers to four questions.
1. What will you do for me?
2. How do I know what you propose to do for me will work?
3. How much will it cost me?
4. What will be my return on investment?
He decided he needed to give away free marketing info in order to make money.
Here is an example he gave me.
In his town there were 3 butcher shops. He visited and made notes about each of them: cleanliness, presentation, product offered and services given.
He then visualized what opportunities each had to improve their business, to gain market share and ways to differentiate their business from other two butcher shops in the market place.
Their competitors were not only other butcher shops but the supermarkets too.
Phil said he approached butcher shop one.
He told the owner of his background and said he wanted to help grow his business for free.
That is, he would gather some information from the owner and the general public and then share his findings.
If the owner wanted to pursue growing his business, then they could reach an agreement on what to pay him for developing and implementing a plan of success.
Fortunately, this owner said yes. Phil had his first small business marketing service client!
Initial Questions Phil Asked (These questions could be asked of any type of company.)
These are the questions he asked of the shop owner:
Phil's responsibilities were to conduct a series of surveys:
Phil then correlated all the responses and presented the info to the owner.
That was the end of Phil’s free service.
If the owner wanted to continue with Phil developing and implementing a local small town shop marketing plan, then a fee was presented to the shop's owner of $2,500, an amount the business owner, who was committed to growth, could afford.
Phil and the owner implemented the plan.
I hope this has been helpful to yo as you start your own small business marketing service.
This educational website is an extension of my personal commitment to help folks start a small company. I provide free consultations "world-wide."
This offer is not a come-on or a trick to get you to bite on my free service and then I try to sell you something. Nope. I will "never" try to sell you anything!
I genuinely just want to help would-be-entrepreneurs.
If I may assist you, please just click on "my picture" at the top of the page.
Wishing you great success.
Thank you for visiting starting a small business marketing service.
Small Business Administration: Marketing 101
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