we're starting a marketing company and..

[FacebookMarketinTeam]

how should we approach small business owners and get them to hire us to help them?
We see so many small business owners not doing ANY marketing especially restaurant owners.

We can build Facebook for Small business owners to
advertise to all the local prospects
stay in contact with their current customers
Build relationship with their customers to convert them into more frequently repeating customers.
Handle and manage all their Contents such as articles, photos, and videos.
Customize their Facebook Fan Page so its more presentable than regular Facebook wall.

Following up and maintaining healthy relationship with customers is the most important part in business yet we dont see any small business owners doing that.

Should I send emails? direct mails? just to get in touch with the business owners.

[lkjackson321]

Its a good business idea because many business owners don't realize or know how to market their product properly. You must market yourself for your marketing business. Create a myspace page and a facebook page and add as much friends as possible. The more people the more exposure. I was able to get 30,000 myspace friends in a year which was great for advertising my graphic arts. You can get thousands of friends through various friend adder bots...etc. But its very useful. also post adds in the newspaper, flyers EVERYWHERE stores, schools..etc, emails seem to much like spam its hard to sell through email. Do part time telemarketing work. Call businesses up to let them know what you have going on then schedule a meeting with them in person. Make sure its a VERY strong pitch so they want to hear more in person then Walk into the business and talk to bosses and managers. Wear a suit and tie with a brief case. Make yourself seem professional. The key is advertising your own product. Be able to answer these questions without them asking: Why do they need your business? Is your business a necessity or just a accessory? Can you prove that what you have to offer is a necessity? What can they expect out of your business.......You have a great idea now go get it!....Oh yah it would also be a good idea to expand your business to twitter and myspace also because some businesses will stick with myspace or facebook but making both for them is even more exposure.

Lucas

[Stone]

Press releases are a great way to get your name out there and it can be extremely cost effective if done correctly. I would suggest paying for a professional written press release but once you have a good one or a few you can then use them multiple times and target different areas to attract local businesses.

Or do some kind of joint venture with a printing company or something similar.

I hope this helps or give you a few idea starters