We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brenton Wright. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brenton below.

Hi Brenton, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

So, what’s the heart of Dealsby’s mission?
Dealsby’s Mission: It’s all about empowering small businesses, enriching communities, and energizing economies through strategic customer acquisition and retention. I imagine an economy where Dealsby becomes synonymous with community growth and economic vitality. My company is on a mission to reshape the small business marketplace—one referral at a time.

So, why is your mission important to you?
My mission is important to me because I remember my parents being small business owners when I was in college, and they constantly struggled with customer acquisition and finding that next new customer. I see the same customer acquisition challenges & pain point experienced by today’s small business owners. That constant struggle put a lot of pressure on my parents and unfortunately, they failed in the end. That “what keeps me up at night” problem motivated me to create a “must-have” tech-based marketing solution that can directly help today’s small business owners better connect with consumers in their community more efficiently and effectively while also reducing their business marketing costs. My parents didn’t have the technology available now, back then, so once I was able to validate the Dealsby proof of concept through hypothesis development, customer discovery, customer interviews, and finding a solid product market fit. I began to build the Dealsby technology in earnest after I was confident that this could help small businesses solve their customer acquisition dilemma.

Dealsby’s Vision: Picture a future where the marketplace is balanced, consumers save more, and local businesses thrive. Dealsby’s cutting-edge, hyperlocal, community-centric referral marketing platform is tailor-made for the unique needs of small businesses, especially those in the restaurant, retail, and professional services sectors. These are highly referral dependent industries. With Dealsby, businesses can effortlessly create, launch, and manage viral web and app-based customer referral programs, leveraging geolocation technology to draw in more customers and boost local engagement.

In essence, Dealsby isn’t just about deals; it’s about fostering community connections, supporting local economies, and creating win-win scenarios for businesses and their communities.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a tech entrepreneur who has passion for helping small business owners succeed. I set out to transform the way small businesses connect with their communities. My journey began with a personal experience close to my heart: growing up, my parents ran a small business that grappled with the challenges of customer retention and acquisition. That struggle left a lasting impression on me, and it became the seed for what would eventually become Dealsby.

While pursuing my MBA, I decided to pursue the graduate degree concentration of Entrepreneurship and Small Business. That focus gave me the foundation, knowledge, and skill set needed to create a tech company of my own. I had an epiphany during the initial Covid pandemic: customer acquisition ranked as the second most significant pain point for small businesses, right after cash flow. Armed with this insight, I set out to create a marketing solution that would directly address this critical issue. And thus, Dealsby was born.

At its core, Dealsby is an innovative SaaS marketing technology (MarTech) platform designed to connect small businesses with consumers through referral-and geolocation-based marketing. Here’s how it works:

Referral Links and QR Codes: Dealsby member business owners can seamlessly integrate web and app-based referral links and QR codes into their marketing efforts. These links and codes can be easily shared via SMS, email, or social media in just a few clicks. This is truly a frictionless transaction.

Win-Win Scenario: When someone refers from their social circle to a Dealsby member business using these links, both the referrer and their referrals all receive rewards, discounts, or promotions. The business owner is notified via app message and email of their new referral(s). It’s a win-win scenario that encourages word-of-mouth marketing.

Automated Marketing and Reminders: Dealsby truly automates the marketing process and sends referral reminders. This not only increases brand awareness but also reduces customer acquisition costs for businesses. We also send periodically app-based messages to our consumer subscribers reminding them to refer our member businesses. Many businesses forget or feel uncomfortable asking for referrals, Dealsby does it for them. Offering a great customer experience makes asking for and receiving customer referrals easily and more frequent by consumers.

Hyperlocal and Community-Centric Approach: What sets Dealsby apart is its hyperlocal and community-centric focus. Unlike the many individual referral marketing software solutions, Dealsby fosters a collective approach to growth instead of a “Go It Alone” individual approach. Small businesses unite on one easy-to-use community-based referral marketing platform, creating a vibrant referral network within their communities. This also helps reduce the carbon footprint by alert our consumer subscribers of great local small businesses that are in their immediate vicinity.

Industries Served: Dealsby primarily targets industries heavily reliant on referrals, including restaurants, retail, and professional services. By focusing on these sectors, I aim to address the specific needs of small businesses that often thrive through local connections. Our product roadmap will include other industries and applications of the Dealsby technology in the future.

Dealsby isn’t just about transactions; it’s about building stronger communities—one referral at a time. This is what truly sets Dealsby apart from the current offerings on the market today.

What I want your readers to know about Dealsby:

Community-Centric Purpose: Dealsby isn’t just a business; it’s a mission. It’s about empowering local businesses and creating a positive impact in neighborhoods.

Ease of Use: The web and app-based platform is designed to be very user-friendly for both businesses and consumers. It’s all about simplicity and effectiveness.

Your Rewards Await: Whether you’re a business owner or a customer, Dealsby can help you both grow and save money. It’s not just about referrals; it’s about mutual benefit and improved engagement.

Additional Support: We also provide Dealsby table tents for store checkout counters and restaurant tables along with window cling stickers with the Dealsby QR code that allow consumers to easily find and sign up for Dealsby so that can quickly start referring our member businesses.

Tech Times recently named Dealsby a Top 5 Best Customer Advocacy Software of 2024.

Join the Movement: I invite everyone to be part of the Dealsby movement—to reshape the marketplace, support local businesses, and foster economic vitality. It’s all about supporting and growing your local economy.

What I am most proud of is Dealsby helps small businesses find that next customer through referrals faster and more efficiently. A referred customer is a more profitable customer, and they also tend to be more loyal because they were introduced to a business by someone they know and trust. Traditional word of mouth for referrals has always been effective but once you add the speed of technology and omni-channel communication, you can see exponential growth while also seeing a reduction in your overall marketing costs. Over 95% of U.S. adults own a smartphone and Dealsby will be utilized using those smartphones and other smart devices.

The integration of map-based geolocation technology into Dealsby helps small businesses better connect with consumers that are constantly navigating throughout the community. Since most businesses customers live within a 3-mile radius, Dealsby helps consumers easily find great local businesses that they didn’t know existed and also helps reduce the carbon footprint. Dealsby also allows you to search for and see many other member small businesses within a 50-mile radius based on your current location all on Google or Apple Maps integrated into the Dealsby application. If you are in another city, you will see Dealsby member businesses located in that city or nearby. One of our taglines is “The app that puts your business on the map”.

As a consumer, image being able to open up the Dealsby app-based solution and see Featured Small Businesses showcased a map that are offering special referral rewards and discounts. As a business owner, image just opening the Dealsby app to see the new referrals that have been made to your business. No more wondering if your business was referred. Dealsby notifies the business owner the moment it happens. The cherry on top is that our consumer subscribers can easily share those referral rewards with your social circle in just a few clicks using your SMS, email, and social media. Dealsby is a “Win-Win” solution for consumers and small businesses. Our consumer subscribers can also earn Dealsby Points that can be redeemed for premium items such as Dealsby hats, mugs, and tee shirts.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I have been very fortunate to have the resources to 100% fund my own venture. From the very beginning of Dealsby, I have been able to bootstrap my efforts from all of the labor, technology, intellectual property, marketing, and many other important aspects of getting a business established and operational. That is significant because I am able to control all the decisions that I will make as I continue to build Dealsby and the Dealsby brand. I have used personal funds and available Atlanta entrepreneurship ecosystem resources to build the Dealsby platform.

There are an unbelievable number of technologies involved in Dealsby and everything has to be designed, built, tested, and retested to ensure the platform operates at optimal levels and is an enjoyable user experience. I have a small, and outsourced development team, that is very effective.

Once Dealsby starts to grow and scale and I will need a much higher level of capital funding for expansion, I will pivot the traditional capital channels. Until then, I will continue to bootstrap the Dealsby venture and be more in control of the direction of my company.

I know that bootstrapping is used by many entrepreneurs and that provides for a certain level of decision freedom but also a lot of pressure. I am a solopreneur, so I make all the decisions for my company.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

There are a number of books that I have read over the past few years such as “Crossing the Chasm”, “Backable”, “The Mom Test”, “Traction” and “It’s Not About You” to name a few. I have written a white paper on Using SaaS Referral Marketing Technology & social media for Customer Acquisition to Grow Your Small Business. I also recently wrote an E-book named “Dealsby – Community-centric Referral Marketing Technology for Small Businesses: A Closer Look at Dealsby”. I produce a bi-monthly blog on customer acquisition and have created numerous on-demand webinars, 30 and 60 second commercials that educate users on customer acquisition and Dealsby. I will also be regularly offering events on Eventbrite educating users able customer acquisition and small business referral marketing as well as engaging with Chambers of Commerce and local business associations in order to help local economies grow using the Dealsby Referral Marketing and Customer Engagement Technology. I also plan to have Dealsby engage in community events to generate awareness and engagement on the Dealsby platform. Big things are in store for Dealsby so stay tuned!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dealsby.io
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dealsby.io/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DealsbyMarketingTechnology
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/b-wright-dealsby
• Twitter: https://x.com/VirelyReferral
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dealsbyreferralmarketing
• Other: https://simplebooklet.com/dealsbyebookjune2024https://dealsby.blog

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POql7ML7Y-E&t=490s