Up Your Exposure
United States of America#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Fri, August 10, 2012
I first met with Julie, the owner of Nosh San Diego through a close friend of mine. I have owned UpYourExposure.com, a marketing consulting company, for the past two years. I enjoy a good standing in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors in San Diego. Credible references can be found on my website.
After my initial meeting with Julie, I understood that she wanted to build out her business, but with other established business in the area offering similar services, it would take some dedicated time to break into the market. I created a marketing plan for Nosh San Diego that included 10 hours of work and was mindful of her limited budget and desire to take on her own marketing efforts in the future. The agreed upon cost for my 10 hours was a discounted rate of $300.
The marketing plan included collaborating on a press release, a brochure, a letter to concierges in the San Diego area, social media posts and adjustments to current posts, obtaining a list of corporate contacts and sending a letter to promote team building, community involvement through fairs and events, as well as finding ways to explore other local marketing outlets in the target area.
After working for 8.5 hours of the agreed upon 10 hours, Julie became frustrated at not seeing immediate results and asked me for a refund of my services. I offered her and sent a refund of the final 1.5 hrs of work and received a hateful email in response as well as a laundry list of online sites where she lambastes me by questioning my moral character, professionalism, and ability to complete agreed upon tasks.
I think any rational person reading this response to Julies online rant will understand that it takes much more time and effort to market a startup than Julie budgeted. I am floored by her tirade and have since sent her a full refund of monies paid for my service. The lesson learned is to size up a new client and carefully evaluate the clients fears, expectations, and resources before entering into a working relationship.