Now, look at what pops up. That’s your Google Business Profile. What are your hours, your business description, photos, do you have any reviews? And for a lot of businesses it’s the first thing people see when they search for your business or a business of your type. This might be their very first introduction to your business, they haven’t seen your website, or your socials or know anything about you.

So take an honest look at it! Are the hours and days right? Is it in the right category? Are the photos old? What about your business description? Are there any reviews that you have not replied to, whether they’re good or bad?

Here’s why it matters. Someone who is searching for your business or a business near them is going to decide in a few seconds whether or not they want to do business with you after viewing your google business profile. Do they trust you enough to walk in or call? Depending on what they see it might send them the wrong message.

And here’s the kicker. You’ll never know how much business you’ve missed. Because people just won’t come by your store, they won’t call you, they’ll take a hard pass and go some where else instead. And you won’t even know it happened.

But, it’s an easy fix. Go to your Google Business Profile and update the hours, delete old photos or posts, upload new photos, update the description, check the contact info, add social profiles.

It will be the best twenty or thirty minutes of your time.

Go check it today and give it a bit of love. Then you can relax knowing that part of your online presence is giving off the right vibes and attracting customers.

Let me know what you find. Or if you have questions. I’m genuinely curious and here to help.

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Marketing Starts Here has been part of my life since 2015.

It started as something I did on the side — helping local businesses, realtors, photographers, community groups figure out their marketing. Then life took some turns. A corporate marketing role. A few years away from this kind of work. Then that role ended too.

Marketing Starts Here isn’t something new — it’s something I’ve been building on for a long time, decades really, since I got into this field back in 1990.

For me, it’s always been about the human side of marketing for small business.

This is where I’ll be sharing the real, practical side of marketing for small business owners — the stuff that actually matters when you’re running a business and marketing keeps landing at the bottom of your list. What to focus on. What to let go of. How to build something simple enough that you can actually keep up with it.

If you’re a small business owner who feels like your marketing is scattered, inconsistent, or always sitting on the back burner… you’re in the right place.

I’ll be writing about what I see, what works, and what I’m building alongside my own clients. No hype. No pressure. Just real, grounded marketing — one piece at a time.

A quick note on where to go next: the posts on this homepage aren’t necessarily in the order I’d suggest reading them. If you want the full picture, here’s the order that makes the most sense:

1. Scattered Looks Like This

2. Clear Looks Like This

3. How I Actually Work

4. A Real Win

Read them in that order and you’ll have the whole story — what gets in the way, what it looks like once it’s fixed, how I actually help, and proof that it works.

If that sounds like something you need, subscribe and stick around. Happy to have you here.

But content is not where I start.

Because content on its own isn’t a marketing plan. When you’re busy running a business, it’s easy to fall into the habit of creating something simply because you need something to post. And over time, your marketing can start to lose the voice and personality that made it yours in the first place.

That’s why I look at the business first. Your marketing needs to make sense for your business, your customers and what you’re actually trying to accomplish.

This is the thinking behind The Human Marketing Connection Method. Marketing is still about people. Your website, social media, emails and everything else you put out into the world are all ways your business communicates and connects with real people.

When there’s a plan behind it, those pieces can work together and still sound and feel like your business. Then the content has a purpose instead of being something you’re creating just because you need to post.

That human connection is what I don’t want businesses to lose. The tools we use to market a business will keep changing, but people still want to connect with businesses they know, like and trust.

I’m here to help you build a marketing plan that works for you.

If that’s you, I’d love to hear where you’re at.

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Your website, your socials, your email should all be consistent and sound like your business. They should sound like you. Not three different versions of your business depending on which platform someone is on.

Maybe it’s something as simple as creating a monthly newsletter. Something that can be sent to your email list regularly and that you can easily keep up with.

All the pieces working together instead of five different directions.

And when you’re not guessing about what to post or write about, because you have a plan and a content calendar, you already know what needs to go out and when.

It’s not about doing more. It’s about creating one simple marketing strategy, having one clear path that everything fits inside of. So you’re not starting over every week or second-guessing every post before you hit publish.

If this is the kind of clarity you’re after, I’d love to hear from you and what’s getting in your way

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Three different social platforms, and three different voices on each one. There’s no clear message tying it all together, so one post sounds casual, the next sounds formal, and none of it really sounds like the same business.

A website that’s still describing an older version of what you do.

Not knowing where to even begin. And just thinking about all of it eats up the time you don’t have to spare. So you post when you actually have time, and some weeks that’s never.

Here’s the thing though. None of this gets better by doing more of it. It gets better with one clear plan... something simple that brings all the pieces together. Once that’s in place, you’re not reinventing your marketing from scratch every single week.

You just know what’s next.

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We updated the bios, about sections, links, and other issues that needed attention. It may sound like a small thing, but small things do add up — and that inconsistency is something followers and customers feel.

Now customers are hearing from that business regularly and consistently, through emails, social media, and links that actually take them to the website.

We built simple templates and systems they could follow, and then we created the content.

There was no huge overhaul or complicated funnel — we brought the pieces together and created a plan they could actually keep up with.

The business didn’t need more marketing. It needed the marketing it was already doing to work together.

If your marketing feels scattered and you’re not sure what needs your attention or what to do next, that’s where I can help. We can look at the bigger picture and build a plan that makes sense for your business.

If you’d like to talk about where your marketing is at right now, I’d love to hear from you.

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