Built for the people
running the floor.

The story behind On/Special

On/Special started with a simple observation: small businesses have a lot going on that their customers would love to know about, but much of it never gets shared.

The idea came from founder Jill Inglis, who kept noticing this at some of her favorite local businesses. She'd follow their social media accounts and see occasional updates, only to stop in and discover they had live music coming up, a new menu item, or an event she would have loved to attend. The same thing happened with local classes, retail specials, and home service businesses. There were opportunities to bring customers in, but often nothing online letting people know about them.

Meanwhile, so much of the conversation around small-business social media seemed focused on viral Reels, trends, and perfectly produced content. Those things have their place, but what about simply keeping customers informed about what's happening?

Jill brought more than 20 years of marketing technology experience to that question, having worked with companies including Accenture, Salesforce, Hitachi, and Tata, along with startups and marketing industry organizations. She'd seen firsthand how larger companies use technology, data, and processes to make marketing work, and had long wondered how to bring some of those capabilities to smaller businesses without all the complexity.

With a background in industrial engineering and a focus on simplifying processes, she started exploring an idea: Could marketing technology do more of the work, while fitting into the way business owners and their teams already operate?

What started as a fun challenge became something much more promising as On/Special began taking shape. The possibilities went well beyond restaurants announcing specials or bars promoting live music. A salon could share a last-minute appointment. A contractor could show off a finished job. A retailer could announce new arrivals. All without interrupting the work of actually running the business.

That's the thinking behind On/Special. Bringing the technology and best practices of sophisticated marketing to everyday businesses, without bringing the complexity along with them.

Good marketing shouldn't require small-business owners to become marketers. It should fit into what they're already doing.

On/Special learns about your business during setup by reading your website, including your brand voice, visual style, and business details. It uses that information to create posts that reflect your business, using your real photos instead of AI-generated images.

You send a text about what's happening. On/Special writes the post, selects a photo from your library, and sends it back for approval. Want something changed? Just text back. Once you approve it, On/Special publishes to your connected channels.

That's the workflow. No app to open. No dashboard to manage.

Any business that has something worth sharing every day.