A Bit More Than Expected.
On the eve of EAG Advertising & Marketing’s 13th anniversary and recently surpassing the 300-client mark, Paul Weber, chief executive officer, has learned a thing or two about small business that he never expected when he launched this Crossroads advertising agency. Things like…
Every four years, during an election cycle, small business owners get nervous. Very nervous.
If a small business owner’s home life is in an upheaval, then work life will be the same. And vice versa.
Small business owners are the most generous, philanthropic people you will ever meet. They just won’t brag about it.
“We’ve worked with over 300 businesses and owners, and no two are ever alike. The 300 easily represent 280 different business categories. From adoption to aerospace and that’s just the letter A,” says Weber, “The diversity of our clients, their history and their forward-looking optimism is a powerful motivator for us. These aren’t just businesses; they are an extension of the families we serve. Second and even third generation companies, over 100 years old are not uncommon on our client list.”
Marketing and advertising has been and always will be about great story telling. The channels of message delivery may change, but a great story always sells. EAG’s clients, their entrepreneurial stories and their family business are chock full of great stories. Like the time EAG helped a couple in suburban Maryland use digital marketing techniques to aid in their adoption search. Or helping a Lee’s Summit aerospace company with international reach enhance their brand and digital presence.
EAG’s clients come from the Kansas City metro area, but also include companies in a growing number of states. Recognized as small business experts, EAG’s message has resonated beyond local borders to drive new clients from an extended reach.
A common thread among many of the agency’s clients is that they might have hundreds of employees and a national sales footprint, but seldom have marketing leadership or an internal marketing staff. EAG fills that gap with an experienced team of artists, designers, writers, media buyers and strategy planners. The agency’s staff is as diverse as the client base, with many having spent earlier careers at some of the area’s largest agencies.
“We meet a very concrete need for our clients. Usually it is to defer hiring of internal marketing staff or to unite a very disparate marketing system of freelancers and specialist companies like web development firms,” explains Weber, “At some point in a company’s life cycle, marketing must mature and become integrated to be successful. Eventually, a company might outgrow EAG and pursue a larger agency. On the other hand, several larger agencies regularly refer clients to EAG because of our small business scalability and focus.”
What else has Weber and the EAG team learned from working with entrepreneurial companies in Kansas City?
Here are the top 10 musings Weber finds common among business owners.
- Data is important, but not as important as history. Don’t try to prove a business owner wrong with data, simply increase their knowledge and let time be your ally.
- Your agenda and a business owner’s agenda may seldom align. Remember the owner wears an infinite number of hats: leadership, operations, finance, production, hand-holder, cheerleader, truck driver, maintenance technician and so on.
- Affectionately speaking, owners can be squirrel chasers, chasing the next thing that gets their attention. That’s okay. That’s the creatively and constant wonder that made them successful in the first place.
- Family and business are intertwined, whether it is obvious or not. A business is as intimately connected to a family as anything. If things aren’t good at home then the business will suffer, and vice versa.
- Generosity abounds among business owners. So does humility. Just because you don’t hear about it or see it, that doesn’t mean that successful business owners aren’t giving back – in buckets.
- If a small business doesn’t pay its bill, something is wrong. It may not be avoidance of your bill. Something is wrong. Business owners pay bills and their bills get paid. It’s life blood.
- The marketing knowledge of most business owners is substantial. Just like taxes and human resources, owners make critical business decisions every day, and they seldom do it without knowledge.
- Uncertainty is uncomfortable. Take a national election cycle, throw in possible changes in tax or healthcare costs and small business owners sit in the corner and tremble. But only for a short while. They know that life, and more importantly, business goes on even after elections are over.
- Don’t lump similar businesses as alike businesses. Want to offend a business owner? Act like you know his/her business because you worked with a competitor.
- Respect the history of the business. Small business survival is just that, survival. Respect it.
These are just a few of the small business life learnings Weber has picked up along the 13 years, working with small businesses and entrepreneurs as mentor, teacher and agency owner. Although EAG works with fewer startups these days, they still hold a special place in Weber’s heart. He served as a facilitator and coach for the prestigious Kauffman FastTrac Program, as well as many other Kansas City entrepreneurial incubators. And every story heard and every lesson learned by Weber and the EAG team continues to build on the agency’s foundation of providing big brand strategies for small business, helping them get from Point A to Point B, profitably.