EcuadorSBMarketing - Responsibly Promoting Business in Cuenca Ecuador

Please allow me to tell you a little bit about us. As the name of the company implies, we are an Ecuador-based company providing marketing services (primarily Internet marketing services) to small businesses and professionals in Ecuador. The company was founded in 2012 by three gringos with a lot of experience in Internet marketing, information technology, business and logistics.

Now you may be wondering what qualifies three techies from the USA to provide marketing services to small businesses and professionals in South America. Actually, there are some real good reasons for this. All three of us have been involved in the North American evolution of the Internet from lab curiosity to the core of business and marketing. Between us, we've run IT departments, managed Marketing departments for numerous startups, and implemented cutting-edge Internet technology at US Air Force bases around the world. So we know this stuff.

But more importantly, we've all observed the effects of this technology on people, businesses, the country as a whole. While overall the explosion of the Internet into our lives has greatly improved them, the technology has had some ugly side effects too. Perhaps the worst of these side effects has been the destruction of small-scale businesses across the USA.

We've all seen how mom and pop bookstores, for example, have been wiped out by the convenience and affordability of Amazon.com. The Internet makes it possible for huge, efficient organizations like Amazon to reach into every corner of a country. Suddenly, Ma and Pa Johnson aren't just competing against another small-scale, local shop. They're competing against a behemoths from all around the world. The results were the empty storefronts we saw all over small tow
USA.

What does that have to do with Ecuador? A lot.

The Internet revolution is just really kicking into gear here. In our home base of Cuenca, very few of the businesses have a website, or even an email address. In this respect, the situation is similar to what it was in the United States 15 or so years ago. But this is the 21st century, and there are two major groups here in Ecuador for whom the Internet is a big part of their lives: the young, and the growing North American and European expat community.

Both of these growing communities look first to the Internet for news and information. And what do they find? Not much. Some of the big businesses have websites but that's about it. The exact thing you are looking for might be for sale at the little tienda on the next block, but they have no website and are hence invisible. The same goes for professionals here, doctors, dentists, lawyers, and more. Virtually any professional service you want is available here, but good luck finding them online.

Here's a personal example: I have shoulder problems that required frequent trips to a massage therapist in the US. So when I arrived here, I tried to find a massage therapist online. Well, I did eventually find the name of one. She was mentioned in a couple of old blog posts by other expats who had used her services in the past. But I wanted some information, minor details like the types of massages, what she charges, when the shop is open etc. None of that information is available online. I gave up.

Instead, there were the blogger's remembered instructions to walk down a certain street, peering through fences and looking for the sign that indicated you were in the right place. I'm not criticizing the blogger here. That's just the way the woman runs her business. And that's fine, until someone else starts a massage business with a website containing directions, business hours, and
other information. Guess who will get the lion's share of the new business.

This is where EcuadorSBMarketing comes in. We're not interested in driving the local businesses under. Instead, we're here to help the local businesses avoid the fate of Ma and Pa Johnson and the tens of thousands of small businesses that got wiped out in the US when marketing shifted to the Internet.