Today we’d like to introduce you to Brad Weber.
Hi Brad, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started in magazine publishing in the 1980s! Well before the internet, social media, etc. My partners and I launched a network of 130 franchised coupon magazines which were directly mailed to 15,000 homes in each of our communities across the US.
Our niche was helping local businesses get immediate results from advertising by assisting them with creating attractive offers and distributing those offers in our magazine to local residents.
We were highly successful and sold the business in 2012.
During and after this time, I also printed and mailed magazines for other publishers across the US.
In 2015, I acquired a locally owned postal/ shipping store (similar to a UPS Store) in the Normal Heights neighborhood of San Diego. We had a very hyper-local customer base who could walk, bike, or drive a short distance to use our services.
I believe in advertising done right and want to get the word out about our new ownership, etc.
When I looked to reach this neighborhood, I found there was nothing available other than sending my own mailers or door-knocking local businesses and residents.
Through my research, I found a local newspaper in a neighboring community that had been publishing for over 25 years but had gone out of business six months earlier.
“Print is dead, haven’t you heard” was what the former owner told me on the phone, “the internet and social media have taken over!”. Boy, was he wrong!
I met with this ex-publisher, and he agreed to give me the magazine as long as I hired his former staff editor and graphic artist. I published our first monthly edition in 2015 and have since grown the monthly publications to numerous communities in San Diego County, reaching over 140,000 mailboxes!
Print is FAR from dead! Print is dead in the DAILY NEWS business because consumers get that kind of news instantly through online and broadcast media.
Print is alive and very well in local neighborhoods whose residents love to find out about their neighbors, kids, new local business openings, events, etc.
Our motto is “Community, Kids, and Causes” as we provide this very type of information.
For our advertisers, like my store – they can reach only those consumers who are most likely to try them and return repeatedly because they live in the neighborhood. Advertisers can reach other consumers through the recommendations of local residents – but without the massive cost of mass media.
It works beautifully – and we are expanding later this year to Orange County and other parts of the LA Metro / So Cal area.
Print is NOT dead – and the secret is… marketing in print gives local businesses unique authority and reach, making social media and other marketing work better than ever!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Never a smooth road! Those who have never owned their own business simply cannot understand what it takes, I like to say it’s like raising a child! Sometimes it can be challenging; sometimes, it can be the most joyous feeling! – but no matter what, you can never completely forget it. Like a child, even when they aren’t with you, they are on your mind in some capacity because they are the most important thing in the world to you. Similarly, with your own business, even on days off and vacations, you never completely check out because it’s “your baby”. Furthermore, there are other people (“Family”) that are counting on me to make the business successful and they depend on the income.
IT’s a huge responsibility, top to bottom – and NOTHING like having a job working for someone else.
We’ve been impressed with Local Umbrella Media and Simply Local Magazine, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We arrange business courtships by making you the most well-known, trusted, and respected professional in your specialty.
We’re the very best at one thing, and that’s helping local independent business owners who don’t have the financial or creative resources for an effective marketing campaign attract long-term lucrative business relationships.
Our program creates name recognition and trust on the part of consumers so that they want to buy from you – and once you make them happy, they choose you and repeatedly refer you to others.
We publish monthly PRINTED AND MAILED magazines and newsprint publications.
We specialize in providing positive, community-level information and articles that neighborhood residents love to read.
We allow local businesses to reach consumers in their community effectively with a small budget – without wasted reach into outside areas which don’t produce an adequate return on investment.
What sets us apart is both the effectiveness and the affordably of our programs for smaller local businesses.
Local businesses are constantly being sold the latest and greatest marketing program, usually something online. We agree that they should have a social media presence as well as a great-looking and functional website. The truth is the one thing that stands out above all others is local print/direct mail.
Look in your mailbox! There is little competition for that space now and when we place a well-done, colorful community publication there with your message displayed prominently, your best prospects see it.
The FINLA SECRET? Print (when well-done) makes all of your other marketing work better!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere! Our town had a population of 800 – and even then, I seldom went there other than to school. This isolation, at least in part, made me very uncomfortable around other people – I was painfully shy!
Even when I went to college at a large University, I never really “broke out of my shell”.
Finally, after graduating, I decided I needed to fix that, and the best way to do it was a career in sales where I’d be constantly thrown in front of people.
WHAT A REVELATION!
I learned that I love (most) people! Calling businesses allowed me to learn so much about people and more importantly, showed me that the vast majority of them are very kind! Most people treat you the way you treat them. When I lead with kindness and genuine interest, it is normally returned.
At my first sales job, I was introduced to the little book called The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino, which serves as a guide to a philosophy of salesmanship and success.
The one phrase from the book that has always served me well is “I Will Greet this Day with Love in My Heart”. It’s so important to greet everything – even challenges and heartbreaks – with a loving attitude. It shows when you look into others’ eyes with love – and when you do (most often), the love and connection is returned.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.LocalUmbrella.com
- Other: SimplyLocalSoCal.com
