A big agency
A monthly retainer, commonly two to three thousand, with the analysis folded into month one
SMALL BUSINESS MARKETING CONSULTANT, BAY AREA
A small business marketing
consultant who sends a plan.
A small business marketing consultant usually starts with a meeting and ends with a retainer. This starts with one payment and ends with one document. I research your market, find who you are actually competing against, and write down what to fix first and in what order. It arrives the same day, and there is nothing to cancel afterwards.
$300, one time. Same-day delivery. Nothing renews unless you add Auto Marketing.
New here? Run the free SEO checker first, read a worked example, or browse the blog.
START TO FINISH
What you are
actually buying.
Marketing consulting for small business usually hides its process behind a proposal. Here are the five stages, in this order, every time. Scroll through them, or click any one to jump straight to it, and the panel shows you what comes out of each.
STAGE 01
You tell me about the business
Straight after payment you get a questionnaire, not a calendar invite. It asks about the business in your own words: what you actually sell, how long you have been going, the area you serve, who your customers are and what you have already tried. It is the part only you can answer, and it is what stops the report reading like a template.
STAGE 02
The research runs
Your site is fetched and read, your Google Business Profile is pulled, and the businesses actually ranking for your service in your city are collected with live ratings and review counts. Market and margin figures come from published federal data for your county and category.
STAGE 03
It gets ranked
Every finding is scored on what it would take to fix against what it is worth. This is the step that turns thirty problems into the two or three worth your attention this quarter.
STAGE 04
The document arrives
Written up, sourced, and emailed the same day. You own it outright. Nothing renews on its own and there is nothing to cancel.
STAGE 05
Your dashboard opens
The plan is only worth what gets done with it, so the report does not arrive on its own. With Choice 2, your first month of AI Auto-Marketing comes with it, and this is where the plan turns into work that actually happens. Setup is you connecting your accounts, about twenty minutes, and every department starts switched off until you turn it on yourself.
STAGE 01 / WHAT I ASK YOU
Your business,
in your words.
A written questionnaire after checkout. No call, no calendar, no sales pitch. Answer it whenever you have twenty quiet minutes.
◎
What you actually sellThe specific service or product people pay you for, not the category label
↗
Your historyHow long you have been going, how you started, and what has changed since
⌘
Where you workThe cities and neighbourhoods you actually serve, which decides who counts as a competitor
◎
Who your customers areWho calls you, what they ask for first, and what makes them choose you
↗
What you have already triedSo the plan does not hand you back something that already failed
STAGE 02 / THE SOURCES
Named, not guessed.
Every figure traces to one of these.
◎
Census CBP and ACSBusinesses like yours, and who lives in your area
↗
IRS SOI and BLS OEWSReal margins and real labour costs
⌘
Google Places and PageSpeedWho ranks near you, and how your site performs
STAGE 03 / THE ORDER OF WORK
Two or three,
not thirty.
Ranked by value against effort.
↗
Do firstCheap, fast, and it moves something
◎
Do nextWorth it, but not this quarter
⌘
Ignore for nowNamed, with the reason it can wait
STAGE 04 / THE DOCUMENT
What is actually
in the file.
The real section list the report generator produces.
◎
Key Findings at a GlanceThe whole report in one page
↗
You vs. The MarketYour position against the businesses ranking near you
⌘
Digital Health DashboardSite, profile and visibility, scored
◎
Financial Model DashboardMarket size and margins for your category
⌘
Customer DemographicsWho actually lives in the area you serve: household income, age spread, family makeup, how many own versus rent, and how that shapes who can afford you
↗
SWOT AnalysisWritten for your business, not a template
⌘
90-Day Action PlanThe order of work, with reasons
STAGE 05 / AFTER THE FILE
Where the plan
turns into work.
With Choice 2, your first month of AI Auto-Marketing is included. This is the same dashboard every ongoing client uses, not a preview of one.
◎
Connect your accountsAbout twenty minutes, done once, in your own browser
↗
Everything starts switched offNo department publishes anything until you turn that one on
⌘
The plan becomes a task listThe 90-day plan from the report arrives as the actual to-do list, in order
◎
A live Growth ScoreOne number, updated from your real data, so you can see whether it is moving
↗
Nothing auto-renewsMonth one is included. If you stop there, it stops there
PRICING
One consultation.
Two ways to start.
Both start the same way: your 30-page report, your own dashboard and your new website. Choice 2 adds Auto Marketing, where we run your marketing for you.
Choice 1
Consultation
$300one payment
Nothing renews. You are never charged again.
- Your 30-page report as a PDF, the same day
- Your new website on your own domain
- Your own dashboard for 30 days: growth score, to-do list and your numbers
- You do the work, with the report as your plan
- Add Auto Marketing later from your dashboard if you want
We do the work
Choice 2
Consultation + Auto Marketing
$300today
Website, plan and first month included. Then $300 a month, 3-month minimum.
- TodayYour plan, your dashboard and your new website, built and put live.
- Month 1Included. We post on your social media, write your blog and keep your Google profile updated.
- After that$300 a month on the same card.
- CancelAny time after month 3, from your dashboard. Your website stays yours.
Secure payment on Stripe. Questions first? Text (510) 833-8838.
H
HACHI ON PICKING ONE
Not sure which one? Start with Choice 1.
Read your report first. If you want us to do the work, add Auto Marketing from your dashboard later, with the same free first month.BIG AGENCY OR ONE PERSON
The same analysis,
bought two ways.
Agencies do produce market analysis, and some of it is good. The difference is what you pay for it, how long you wait, and who is actually holding the pen. Pick a row and see both answers.
b.AGENCY VS THISSide by side
01 / WHAT YOU PAY
A retainer,
or one payment.
An agency prices strategy as the front of a relationship, so the analysis is bundled into a monthly fee that keeps running whether or not you act on it.
Betograpy
$300, paid once. Nothing renews and there is nothing to cancel
The catch, honestly. You get analysis, not execution. If you want the work done, that is a separate agreement
02 / HOW LONG YOU WAIT
Six weeks,
or today.
Most of an agency timeline is not research. It is scheduling: a discovery call, an internal review, a presentation booked around several diaries.
A big agency
Discovery call, proposal, kickoff, then a deck presented some weeks later
Betograpy
You answer the questionnaire, the research runs, the document arrives the same day
The catch, honestly. Same day means published data read well, not six weeks of primary customer interviews
03 / WHO DOES THE WORK
A team you
never meet.
The person who sells you an agency engagement is usually not the person who builds it, and the person who builds it is usually the most junior one available.
A big agency
A partner sells, an analyst builds, an account manager reports, and they change
Betograpy
Beto. One person, in Walnut Creek, who built the research pipeline this runs on
The catch, honestly. One person has a ceiling. This is analysis for a small business, not an enterprise engagement
04 / WHAT YOU OWN AFTER
A relationship,
or a document.
This is the part that decides whether the money was worth it, and it is the part least often written down before you sign.
A big agency
Slides presented on a call. Useful while the retainer runs, harder to act on alone
Betograpy
A file you keep, with the source named next to any number, yours to take anywhere
The catch, honestly. Plenty of people read it, do the work themselves and never hire me. That is a fine outcome
WHERE THE NUMBERS COME FROM
Real sources,
named in the report.
The weakness of most small business marketing consulting is that the numbers are invented, or copied from a national blog post and presented as your market. Every figure here traces to a published source, and the report names it next to the number.
Where it does not come from
- Round numbers with no source
- National averages presented as your city
- An AI asked to guess your market size
- Competitor lists you supplied yourself
If something could not be verified, the report says so instead of estimating it.
Where it does come from
- Census County Business Patterns for how many businesses like yours operate in your county
- Census American Community Survey for the demographics of your service area: household income, age, household size, owner versus renter, and commute patterns
- IRS Statistics of Income for real margins in your category
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for what the labour actually costs
- Google Places for the businesses ranking near you, with live ratings and review counts
- PageSpeed Insights for how your site performs on a phone
IF YOU WANT THE DETAIL
Open only what
you care about.
The short version is above and it is enough to decide. This is here so nobody has to email me to find out what a section actually contains. It is also the honest scope of what a small business marketing consultant can tell you from public data in one day.
What does the research actually look at?
Public sources, read by hand and by tools: Google Business Profiles and reviews for the businesses ranking in your category and city, your website if you have one, search demand for the terms your customers use, and industry margin and wage data from IRS and BLS published figures. Where a number comes from a source, the report names the source. Where something could not be verified, it says so instead of estimating.
Who are "my competitors" in the report?
The businesses that currently appear when someone searches your service and your city, not the ones you think of as rivals. Those are often different. For each, you get their rating, review count, how recent their reviews are, and what they are doing on their profile that you are not.
What is in the 30-page report?
Your market size, eight competitors, your customers, a SWOT, an SEO keyword gap, the micro-economy of your area, your marketing funnel, a 90-day plan and a three-year roadmap. Both choices get the same report.
Do I have to buy marketing from you afterwards?
No, and plenty of people do not. The report is a finished thing you own. If you want me to carry it out, that is a separate conversation with separate pricing. If you take it to another agency or do it yourself, the document still works.
Why is it same day?
Because the research pipeline is software I built and run myself, and the writing is the part I do on top of it. It is not a queue of junior staff. The tradeoff is honest: this is a strong analysis of public information, not six weeks of primary customer interviews.
What if the report tells me not to spend money?
Then it has done its job and it was the cheapest thing you bought this year.
BEFORE YOU ASK
The questions
I get every week.
Is this a subscription?
Not unless you choose it. Choice 1, the consultation, is one payment and nothing renews. Choice 2 adds Auto Marketing: your first month is included today, then $300 a month with a 3-month minimum, then cancel any time from your dashboard.
How do I get it after I pay?
It is emailed to the address you enter at checkout, the same day. If it has not arrived, email [email protected] and I will send it directly.
Can I pay in person or by invoice?
Checkout takes a card through Stripe. If you need an invoice instead, use the booking link above and ask.
Who writes it?
I do. I am one person in Walnut Creek. I built the research pipeline, the SEO checker on this site and the client dashboard myself, which is why I can tell you where any number in the report came from.
What if I already have an agency?
Then the report is a second opinion you own outright, and it is priced like one. Several people have used it to work out whether what they are already paying for is working.
WHAT THE FILE LOOKS LIKE
Pages from
a real report.
These are not mockups. They are pages the report generator actually produces, in the layout you receive them. The business details are from a test run, so the numbers on them are not a client's.
R
Rex on the page count. About thirty pages. Longer is not automatically better: the 90-day plan stays short, because there are only ever a few things worth doing first.
Open the full sample report (PDF)
Seven pages, exactly as the generator produces them. Opens in a new tab.
Every figure in the report names its source. Where something could not be verified, it says so instead of estimating.
SIMILAR READING
Read before
you decide.
LOCAL MARKETING
3 Local Digital Marketing Lessons: Part 2
Practical local marketing ideas you can apply before you hire anyone.
Read the article ↗
AUTOMATED MARKETINGHow marketing automation works for a small business
SEASONAL MARKETINGSF Bay Area Labor Day Marketing: Beat Big Retail Budgets
START WHERE IT IS CHEAPEST
One payment. One document.
Same day.
If it turns out there is nothing worth spending on, the report says that too.
Related: local SEO, AI marketing, everything together, or who I am.