New Business Aims to Bring 'Madison Avenue to Main Street'

PHILADELPHIA, March 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Recessions can hit small businesses
hard, especially those that had thrived on just a few customers. Suddenly
they have to market themselves, and often they don't know how. Since November,
small business owners in Philadelphia's western suburbs have found a new
solution.

Matt Cascarino, Managing Director of The Marketing
Departmenthttp://www.tmdworldwide.com, which opened in Villanova late last
year, says that in good economic times, "marketing is often overlooked by
small business because the need might not be pressing. But that leaves the
business owner without a well-defined strategy. The economy tightens and the
business owner suddenly faces a scramble to get customers."

With a goal of filling a marketing void for small businesses, The Marketing
Department is just that: a resource for entrepreneurs in a storefront
atmosphere offering "solutions that are personalized to each business," says
Cascarino.

"When a business person comes in, we meet with them to understand their
business, its strengths and challenges. From there we develop a detailed
marketing plan within a day or so, invite them back and offer our suggestions,
free of charge," Cascarino says.

"The small business owner can then decide if he/she wants to work with us,
prioritize aspects of the plan, or just do a little at a time. There's no
charge for our recommendations, just for the actual creative execution."

Often, that work consists of developing a logo, business cards, a website,
brochure and other materials. "We sometimes describe ourselves as 'bringing
Madison Avenue to Main Street' because we provide high quality work that fills
a marketing gap for small businesses," Cascarino says.

Marco DeCotiis, a South Philadelphia restaurateur, says he feels like his
dream for his newly-purchased LaStanza is coming true. "The design they
developed for our menus blew me away, they are far beyond what I expected.
Matt really listened to me, did his homework and the product reflects even
more than what I had in mind," DeCotiis says. "I'd put it against any Center
City restaurant," he adds.

The Marketing Department is actually the brainchild of John Cooley, a founder
of M, an Olde City advertising agency. On a train from New York one night,
Cooley said he was reading about a franchised legal document concept and was
aware of online legal services.

"Then I thought about H&R Block bringing accounting to Main Street, Kinko's
bringing printing to small businesses and Charles Schwab bringing investments
to a local level and I felt like I could bring marketing and advertising
services to small business by way of a similar retail environment."

"Big ad agencies and small businesses usually don't match up budget-wise, yet
most small businesses face similar marketing needs," Cooley says. "They don't
have a marketing department right down the hall like a big corporation might,
so we become the marketing department down the street."

The US Office of Advocacy identifies 28 million small businesses that employ
99 or fewer employees and 26 million people working independently out of their
homes. "That's a whole market that hasn't been tapped," Cooley points out.

Cooley sees national growth for his concept and expects to open 100 stores in
the next few years by launching the franchise this spring. "This is an
attractive opportunity for marketing professionals who are looking for
something new," Cooley says.

Cascarino himself joined The Marketing Department from the ad agency world.
"I enjoyed that, but here, I see first-hand the impact I can have on
businesses, and certainly enjoy the relationship development on which small
businesses often thrive."

SOURCE Ed Weirauch

Ed Weirauch, +1-302-528-8847, edweirauch@earthlink.net