Owner To Owner Podcast

Jenn Donovan from www.spendwithus.com.au on taking regional businesses to new customers

Episode Summary

Jenn Donovan co-founded www.spendwithus.com.au as an online marketplace and directory for rural and regional small businesses. In this epsiode she shares her own business story and her mission to bring more regional businesses to new customers and markets.

Episode Notes

@JennDonovan is co-founder of www.spendwithus.com.au, an #onlinemarketplace and directory for #rural and #regional #smallbusinesses of Australia who have been impacted by #bushfire, #drought, and #coronavirus. @SpendWithUs supports #ruralbusinesses that find it hard to compete due to location, size, technology, and other adversities.

Jenn was a #propertylawyer for 17 years before turning to #smallbusiness and #socialmedia #marketing #coaching and #mentoring.

She also has her own podcast @SmallBusinessMadeSimple. In our discussion Jenn talks about;

the pro's and con's of having a few wines with her best friend and deciding to quit their corporate jobs and buying a retail business without any retail experience, and
as a result finding her passion for marketing and social media
growing a retail business in a regional area, and growing it during one of the worst droughts
transforming and then selling the shop before deciding to help other small business owners grow their businesses and really make marketing a priority for them
the spark for @spendwithus from spending a lot of time working with #ruralbusinesses, and touring around rural #NewSouthWales #Deniliquin #Hay #Leeton #Griffith and seeing everyone was really sad and not particularly looking forward to Christmas,
#buyfromthebush
#spendwithus starting as a #Facebookgroup to help regional businesses sell to a different audience that was outside their towns , think #Amazon but for rural and regional Australia , that's got 315,000 people in it now.
her hard won first first lessons in marketing - to listen to the customers
why there is no such thing as mistake, just lessons to learn from
being a ready fire aim person, who prefers to just do it and perfect it as you go along because if we wait for the right time, it may never come,
finding a business to buy by knocking on doors
her aims;
- start a marketplace out so people could actually put their products on a website with traffic coming
- get small businesses online with a shopping cart even if they don't have a website
the type and size of customers on the platform
using emotive language and not just telling me the features
@ampaperarts
building brand awareness
why just opening the front door and expecting customers to flock in won't work offline or online
getting started by dipping a toe in the water
being blown away at the talent that rural Australia has
having some very hairy lofty goals for @spendwithus to be a household name like @amazon by showcasing rural and regional Australia
her best three tips for owners who are struggling with social media;

show up because people do business with people they know, like and trust. And if you are always just putting products and not showing this your actual face and your voice and your personality, then that is the number one thing that you can do better
as far as your marketing goes no matter what platform you're on or what piece of marketing, you're looking at, people have to get in front of that camera
networking and collaborations - she is a huge advocate that your network is relative to your net worth. So, if you want to get more sales, get out there join your local chamber, your local tourism board, whatever it is and brand yourself as part of your business.

#madethegrampiansway
understanding that the community depends on the viability of small businesses, and why we're better off supporting each other