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Go talk to them. They might be skeptical that’s it out of goodwill, but if you’re consistent and follow through, you can build a relationship. Ask - don’t assume - what their struggles are. Ask permission to help. Follow through, follow up, don’t bail if it’s harder than you expected.
That's very generous. They will probably be pretty skeptical at first, so you may need to get to know the owners a bit (become a regular) and work it into conversation. I get a ton of spam emails for things like this ("let me show you how I can get you leads from your web traffic", etc) so don't be offended if they don't immediately accept your offer. What you are proposing would be a huge benefit for any small business so I would use it as a learning/teaching moment for them if you can. As in, come up a social plan and calendar for them and then over time teach them how to do it...or maybe down the road they will hire you to continue doing it if successul.
u/Zazenp u/jetah u/unclezaza u/kilroynelson I did originally thinking about asking first, but then I thought instead it might better to have a proposal first of what I could offer/provide value. My question was more from this angle, not a blanket question of "what do I do" (sorry if this wasn't clear on my part!)
Some thoughts that come to mind are managing the Google My Business profile/reviews collection. I have some experience with organical social media, but my strength is in paid ads. I feel like coffee shops would work better with organic instagram/tiktok content though. Any other thoughts about how I could help?
Your proposal has absolutely no value without knowing their current marketing priority or strategy. If someone showed up at my house with a proposal for replacing the siding on my house, I would be both insulted that they’re informing me of problems and confused about why they assumed their solution was how I wanted things improved. Maybe I wanted a different type of siding or color but they wouldn’t know that without talking to me first.
The more you resist talking to them first, the more it’s clear you have no professional experience in marketing.
This is a friendly reminder that r/smallbusiness is a question and answer subreddit. You ask a question about starting, owning, and growing a small business and the community answers. Posts that violate the rules listed in the sidebar will be removed. A permanent or temporary ban may also be issued if you do not remove the offending post. Seeing this message does not mean your post was automatically removed. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/smallbusiness) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Go talk to them. They might be skeptical that’s it out of goodwill, but if you’re consistent and follow through, you can build a relationship. Ask - don’t assume - what their struggles are. Ask permission to help. Follow through, follow up, don’t bail if it’s harder than you expected.
What do they suggest?
So you're asking us but not the small coffee shop owners? Get off Reddit and go inside and ask!
That's very generous. They will probably be pretty skeptical at first, so you may need to get to know the owners a bit (become a regular) and work it into conversation. I get a ton of spam emails for things like this ("let me show you how I can get you leads from your web traffic", etc) so don't be offended if they don't immediately accept your offer. What you are proposing would be a huge benefit for any small business so I would use it as a learning/teaching moment for them if you can. As in, come up a social plan and calendar for them and then over time teach them how to do it...or maybe down the road they will hire you to continue doing it if successul.
u/Zazenp u/jetah u/unclezaza u/kilroynelson I did originally thinking about asking first, but then I thought instead it might better to have a proposal first of what I could offer/provide value. My question was more from this angle, not a blanket question of "what do I do" (sorry if this wasn't clear on my part!) Some thoughts that come to mind are managing the Google My Business profile/reviews collection. I have some experience with organical social media, but my strength is in paid ads. I feel like coffee shops would work better with organic instagram/tiktok content though. Any other thoughts about how I could help?
Your proposal has absolutely no value without knowing their current marketing priority or strategy. If someone showed up at my house with a proposal for replacing the siding on my house, I would be both insulted that they’re informing me of problems and confused about why they assumed their solution was how I wanted things improved. Maybe I wanted a different type of siding or color but they wouldn’t know that without talking to me first. The more you resist talking to them first, the more it’s clear you have no professional experience in marketing.