Whats next

Existing Market 

Local music and mic nights are of interest to help drive more adoption within the service. I have selected two of my brother’s musician friends and interviewed all three of them.

 They stated without social media then no one would know they are playing at the local bars or restaurants when the play. The locations often don’t advertise much other than that they have an open mic night. However, the locations see the most patrons when they offer secondary entertainment above the main drink specials or TV entertainment. As an entertainer they would love to place their schedule on the platform so that users visiting the business listings would see exactly who is planning those nights. The figured that people would visit their social media sites or YouTube channels to view/listen to their music ahead of time. The also loved the idea how it would help them find more places to play music. Win – win.

New Market

Small businesses are underrepresented in the market and have been mostly pushed out the markets with the move away from brick and mortar to the online stores and delivery services. Creating services to elevate these companies or individuals may provide a value added layer for the local searches. Instead of having a specific location in the search result the service could highlight a delivery or service zone for a flower company, handy-man, tailor, dog walker, etc. The service would need to be a nearly free service to the business and may need to facilitate preorder or bookings within the platform and charge the consumer the convenience fee.

I interviewed a small business owner who sells clothes and jewelry online and at home parties. She works from home so she can’t advertise through traditional channels because the results make it appear that her home is a store front in a neighborhood. Most neighborhoods and apartment complexes prohibit running a business out of your home if they drive traffic to your domicile. So she was excited to think there may be an app that would allow her to select her local area that she is willing to drive to conduct the at home parties and that people could book he in advance.

I interviewed a friend who is a handy-man and he has been using some of the new small job boards to get work. It is zip code based so sometimes he ends up driving 100 miles in one day to get to 2 jobs on a Saturday and spends as much in gas as he earns if it is a quick job or a no show. Offering the ability to pre-book and even pay in advance was very attractive to him. The other services make this optional too but if it existed inside of a service they already use a lot would make it more likely that the person would trust it.

The services direct to consumers for small businesses without a specific location seems very viable within the current search assistant model. I wouldn’t mind driving to a tailor with great reviews but I may like it better to have the tailor come to me if the price was the same. Honestly, I might have them fix more clothes if they were so close to my closet. It varies dramatically by the type of business but the value seems to be clear. It is hard for small businesses to market themselves in the traditional model and without a specific address it is impossible to gain business in a location based search tool. Opening the results to the service zone for these businesses may make them compete with big box stores for similar products and services and bring the local communities closer together.