Would you use this start-up?

Free consultation for local businesses to help them form a marketing plan, give them options.

I've been doing sales & marketing in the Austin area for quite a while and now know the most cost effective ways to reach specific demographics.

At this point I have companies willing to pay me just for referring businesses over to them for advertising.

If you were a business owner in Austin, would you use the service? How could I convince you of the worth of it even thoguh I am giving it away free? Other feedback/ideas?

I REALLY want to keep this service free for local businesses since Austin is so locality oriented.

1) I have clients I have worked with hooking them up with individual companies. Now I have expanded my protfolio and will be makign an actual business instead of just being an "independent contractor" for the ad companies.

2) I DO get paid but not by the business I am advising. The companies who I send advertisers to pay me referral fees.

Whil I represent the local business, I do not have to be paid by whom I represent.

I know serveral small business groups and networks that you should be part of. Contact Scott at this link. Post a message in Craig's list Austin.

yes, i will.

First you would need to provide me with some success stories of known biz that you have worked with. A professional web site with tons of info helps.

People are very skeptical of anything free or cheap.

Why are you doing this for free? You should charge at least a little something for your time and effort. But if you insist on doing it for free, then yeah, that would be a great deal for the local businesses. Good luck!