EAG Advertising & Marketing isn’t focused on pulling in the big-name brands. Its sweet spot is small business in the Kansas City area and throughout the U.S.
A complaint from a small business owner sparked the idea for the agency, founder and CEO Paul Weber said. He had just wrapped up his marketing presentation at an area university when a home inspector approached him.
“He couldn’t get any help in town from marketing professionals because he was too small,” said Weber, whose background includes working at small and large advertising agencies.
There was a gap in the market, and Weber decided to fill it. When he founded EAG in 2003, area agencies weren’t embracing niche focuses.
“And certainly nobody was seeking small business. Nobody,” he said.
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EAG’s client base includes a variety of industries, from aerospace to legal services to retail and everything in between. Most of EAG’s clients are second-generation businesses, some are third-generation, and several clients have been in business for 100-plus years. Although some clients are midsize, they still possess the entrepreneurial mindset and are individually owned, he said. There’s also longevity: EAG’s client roster includes companies that have been with the agency for 13 years.
Through the years, EAG has never backed away from its small business target, he said. And it’s paying off. In 2016, EAG hit its 300th client milestone and actively works with about 50 companies at any given time. Even during the economic downturn in 2008 and 2009, the company experienced growth and has remained profitable every year since 2003, he said.
“(The) diversity of industry is a safety net,” he said. “If one industry or business is down, another is up. Even in the worst economic times, strong companies survive and grow. We’ve been fortunate in that most of our clients normally come to us at a time of growth. That’s why they need help. They don’t come when their sales are soft.”
Thanks to EAG’s small business niche and outsourced marketing services, businesses from places such as New York, Chicago and Ohio have contacted him about becoming a client. This year, Weber plans to add three to seven employees to his 15-member team.
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Small business marketing doesn’t come without challenges. To most small business owners, marketing “is still the unknown science, so it takes a lot of education on our part,” he said. Small businesses also are less enamored with research.
“You’re often talking to somebody who’s been in business for 30 years, and their father was in business for 30 years, and now you want to come and do research and tell them something different from what they know,” he said. “You really have to be good at speaking truth to power. Sometimes you have to tell a business owner that a logo they’ve used for 25 years is not reflective of their company or where they want to be. Sometimes you have to tell them they have gaps in their sales force or that their taste needs other opinions.”
But working with small businesses is the ultimate reward, he said.
“The highs are really high. When something goes well, we’ll get comments like, ‘I cried when I saw it.’ We get hugs, literally. We get comments like, ‘My business feels real.’ When we see businesses get to the next level of maturity, that’s huge. The ability for business owners to exit is huge.”
He’s seen clients garner honors, such as being named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year regional finalist or a Women Who Mean Business honoree.
“We find that very endearing. We are heavy supporters of other small business awards programs in the city,” Weber said. “When we see a client walk across the stage, it doesn’t get any better than that.”
Leslie Collins
Web Producer
Kansas City Business Journal