Marketing 49 and an Incredibly Talented Customer Whisperer
Melissa Schoenwether is the creative mind behind Marketing 49, LLC in Kodiak, AK. Implementing everything she has learned and applied over the last twelve years allows Schoenwether to add a depth of experience to her efforts in connecting small businesses authentically with their audience through strategic marketing and growing their brand.
After settling into her new home in Kodiak, Schoenwether connected with the Alaska Small Business Development Center (Alaska SBDC) and began working with Jennifer Adams, Rural Program Director to identify the best next step professionally. Considering her marketing work with companies from Shanghai to South Pittsburgh, from micro and massive, she began to explore how to use this skill set to help her community and small businesses.
In working with her first client in Kodiak Schoenwether reflected, “As we worked together, assessing, planning and structuring ways to improve communications with customers and strategies to employ within the brick and mortar business, she grew in confidence and clarity, proud of what she owned and eager to grow it more. What started out as a door closing for me really wasn’t. I just needed to move forward and see what work I was supposed to do. And in establishing Marketing 49 I began something for me and also had the opportunity to turn disappointment into productivity and joy!”
Inspired by this new venture she related, “Suddenly the success of my island community and mainland neighbors became an all-consuming drive.” Especially as businesses across the state and the nation have worked to pivot their businesses, improve business practices, and increase customer engagement, Schoenwether knew she could guide them to success, and more importantly, desperately wanted to.
Marketing 49 provides a unique service with a strong focus on old-school mentoring with Schoenwether helping develop the businesses’ customer base and supporting the small business owner in learning the strategies needed to apply in the future effectively. Regarding her approach and process, she shared, “I work very hard to solve the problem, implement repeatable systems, train, and the client.” In her efforts, Marketing 49 intentionally meets clients where they are in their strategy and provides an initial consultation at no cost.
From this, Schoenwether enjoys serving as a sounding board for clients and can speak directly to surface-level problems while providing actionable tasks business owners can enact right away. About her craft and the support Marketing 49 can provide, Schoenwether explained, “It is an incredible feeling to provide this without charge. If clients wish to have further help customized to meet their needs, I begin that journey with them: making a strategy especially designed for their specific needs.”
Classes & More!
Marketing 49 recently offered two courses to assist small business owners with their marketing and branding efforts: “Merry & Bright: Create A Season of Sparkling Success;” a 3-week online course to help businesses take the stress out of holiday promotions and develop profitable solutions. Schoenwether created a quick course so participants can hit the ground running with less stress and ample support, develop customer-captivating engagement strategies in time to kick off Halloween, and continue through the final sales quarter and holiday season.
New online courses will be available as well to streamline problem-solving strategies that many need. These comprehensive online courses blend self-paced work while being fully supported by Schoenwether and help new businesses start strong and sell more, or assist established businesses in scaling faster. Free mini-trainings packed with problem-solving solutions will be offered as well.
Marketing 49 also offers Better Business Bootcamp, a weekly action plan emailed directly that offers tasks or strategies for businesses to use right away. Stay tuned because Marketing 49 is also unrolling a new podcast: Small Business Matters, which will interview successful entrepreneurs, share detailed execution plans that can grow your customer engagement, and actionable next-steps for results-driven business owners in Alaska!
To get clarity, get inspiration, and get customers, visit www.marketing49.com. For special help growing your businesses’ Instagram account follow @discovermarketing49!
