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How Do I Market My Small Web Development Company?
Posted By: KarlB* on 6/24/2004 4:32 AM (CST) 125 Points
Good morning,

I have a small web development company in the United Kingdom. My current plan is to target small business in my local area but I am not sure what is the best course of action to increase enquiries.

As I mentioned my target clients are to be small business, so I guess the development is likely to be 5 page websites and up.


Although there are other development companies in the area none (including myself) seem to have any local profile.

I wondered if someone could possibly suggest the best way of raising my profile. Do I network, place adverts in the local papers?

Any suggestions would be very welcome.

Thanks
Karl

Posted by: LittleWhacky Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 7:21 AM (CST)
Hi Karl

Speaking as someone also based in the UK, I would encourage you to market your business primarily through networking. It's both effective and low-cost.

As you plan to target other local SMEs, face-to-face networking is probably the more realistic choice (but I'll go into online networking in a minute!) Your local or regional BusinessLink will point you towards the relevant groups in your area - they're likely to include BNI, FSB, BRE, etc., plus the more traditional groups like Round Table/Rotary (depending on your age - I think the cut off to move from RT to Rotary is 40...)

And don't forget to join your local Chamber of Commerce. These days they certainly aren't groups of stuffy old f*rts as they perhaps once were! My local Chamber (Milton Keynes and North Bucks) is very lively, very modern, and well worth belonging to.

You say that neither you nor your competitors seem to have any local profile. I wonder if this is because of the way that with most online business, location is less important than it is with "bricks-and-mortar" businesses?

To develop local profile, I think you need to look not so much at your business as at yourself. By joining networking groups and putting yourself about, you (the person) will be building up a reputation for your expertise NOT so much in web development, but in SOLVING PROBLEMS connected with web presence, that affect your target prospects.

Many of these networking groups have regular meetings that include a shortish presentation, and they're often looking for new speakers. Volunteer to do a spot on web development and ensure that your material makes the audiences realize how well you understand what matters to them. Encourage feedback and Q&A sessions and of course, ensure you get contact details.

You might like to consider setting up an online newsletter once you get some names of prospects. Again, avoid talking about web development in the ordinary way. Go into issues that affect businesses in your area - little bits of news, tips, etc - and perhaps tips on how to get the best from their websites (or whatever element of web development is relevant to them and to you.) Include cordoned-off little "adverts" about your company, but don't advertise your wares in the editorial. That's how I structure my own business writing tipZine (TIPZ from SUZE) and I get very positive feedback, because it's a more open approach.

Also, keep your newsletter physically simple so it doesn't take up a huge file. If possible, avoid HTML and just use text creatively. And don't just trail little snippets to try to force people to link back to your site - it probably won't work. Instead make sure readers at least get the gist of something genuinely useful, right there in your newsletter, with the option of getting even more when they link to your site.

The whole idea is that you become everyone's favourite local expert on web development. Give after dinner speeches and talks at business events. (If you're a little unsure of public speaking, do a training course - they're available in most cities and larger towns in the UK.)

Try to talk your local newspaper into letting you write a column on web development on their business page or in their business supplement. (I can email you some articles of mine that go into how to DIY PR, and also about writing newsletters - go suze@suzanstmaur.com).

And finally, you might like to consider joining Ecademy, the UK-based social/business online networking group. Although ostensibly online they have numerous regional and local Ecademy groups who network F2F just like the others do. The extra benefit of Ecademy membership is that you have the online element as well, with opportunities not just for marketing but also for sharing information/tips/problems with people in the same business as you, all over the world. To check it out, go: http://www.ecademy.com.

Hope all this provides food for thought!

SUZE
 
Posted by: Nicolas Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 7:31 AM (CST)
Good afternoon Karl,

I would assume that you are starting to grow your business. First thing would be to determine your target market precisely. Small businesses is fine, but will you target specific sectors and specialize or will you go for small businesses in all industries? Do you have an idea of the size of the company (min. 10 employees, max. 50 for example)? What would be their average spending for a Web Site solution? Etc.

This information will help you tailor your offer and in a second phase better invest in effective and targeted promotion (especially if you rent mailing lists).

From my experience with SMBs I would assume they are looking for an inexpensive, hassle-free, all inclusive package (design, hosting, search engine positioning, e-commerce modules, yearly updates).

Regarding promotion, I would recommend:
- Search engine positioning (some might find you this way).
- Developing a simple non-technical brochure / leaflet about your offering.
- Sending a direct-mail shot to your target group and following up with phone calls.
- Take this opportunity also to gather data about your prospects and what they are looking for.
- Adjust your offering and do some PR (articles in the press, taking part in local events, etc.).
- Try approaching associations and offering a special deal to their members: A complete Web solution at a low cost if at least 5 or 10 companies from this association sign-up.

Just a few thoughts which I hope will help,

N.
 
Posted by: Jett* Member Response
6/24/2004 8:15 AM (CST)
Hi Karl,

Here is a link to my recipe for "a shot at Internet enterprising for under $1000". I hope it helps. If not, send me an email (click on my name) and we can talk.

OK..Well I was going to post it but i can't find the question where I posted it a few weeks ago! LOL..I'll look for it and get back to you!
 
Posted by: telemoxie Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 8:44 AM (CST)
In addition to small business -

Don't forget about marketing departments at large businesses in your local area. The sales cycles can be longer, and the projects can be more complex, but the dollar amounts can be much larger...

... my experience has been that web development companies have traditionally focused so much on internet related advertising, word of mouth, networking, and working on immediate projects that there are few companies with a long term, persistent plan to identify, penetrate, and sell key accounts. Therefore, such a program can uniquely position you in the minds of your target market.

Also, don't forget about vertical markets. Another approach would be to identify some projects you did a great job on, for which you have technology on-the-shelf, build a list of similar companies, and contact those companies. Most of them are interested in hearing about what their competitors are up to, and will welcome the call.

Regarding networking - I've always wondered how much that costs. It's easy to calculate the costs of membership fees, dues, etc. - but if you are a small business and fully booked, time you spend at networking events takes away from billable time. If you were to spend that time serving your clients, would you build your referral base faster, and have extra money to spend on other lead generation activities? I'm not an active networker (other that this forum) but everyone I have met who attends those meetings is looking to SELL something rather than to BUY something - and so it may be that you can find excellent teaming partners / birddogs / complementarty companies through these organizations.

Regarding complementary companies - in the States, many companies look to their lawyers and accountants for business advice. Could it help to prepare a small fact sheet describing your capabilities to these companies, so that they can reccomend you to their clients?

Another potential source of business for a web development firm (especially a program or integration related firm) is advertising agencies. In the States, these agencies have a culture of outsourcing many activities - they will want to hande the graphics / etc. themselves, but may want someone to handle back end programming or overflow.

Cheers -

(p.s. - I'd love to make some calls to the UK...)
 
Posted by: SRyan ;] Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 11:19 AM (CST)
Karl, you can find other ideas by using the Search Questions link on the right side of this page. For example, I searched there on "web design" and got results like these:


Web design service marketing


Advertising for a web design company


What more can I say about this?


What Are the Steps I Have To Follow

Thank you for adding sufficient detail to your question, by the way. Your time and thought paid off -- you've already gotten some top-quality responses!

- Shelley
 
Posted by: mjklanac* Accepted Answer
6/24/2004 11:24 AM (CST)
Walk to the local strip with a nice suit, a laptop, and contracts ready to go. Alot of small business's like helping out another. Be prepared to detail exactly why each shop, restuarant, bookstore etc. needs a website. You may also want to consider taking on a backend/database engineer to your business to expand your services logically. Finally, develop a network of similar business's in the area to bounce projects back and forth.

PS. Steer clear of formal advertising. Getting ten projects at once can do far more detriment then good if you can't take them all on.
 
Posted by: telemoxie Member Response
6/24/2004 12:38 PM (CST)
Great idea mjklanac - of course you will also want to take with you business cards and flyers or other "leave behinds" in case the business owner is not there.

Two of your greatest competitive advantages (e.g. vs offshore development companies and larger organizations) are your location and your personal involvement (as President) in their project - and nothing demonstrates this better than your personal presence.

Don't forget to capture data on the business, and key it into ACT! or some form of contact managment software.
 
Posted by: myabigail* Accepted Answer
7/5/2004 6:40 PM (CST)
Have you considered doing some work for free for local non-profits or government agencies?

It's a good way to build a local profile, get some positive press and make business contacts (often non-profit board members are local business people).

Good luck!
 
Posted by: The Consultant ™* Accepted Answer
7/8/2004 9:02 AM (CST)
Hi Karl,
I would suggest that since you are targeting smal businesse and that too locally, you should first find out about all the businesses in your area, the best way to start would be to make alist of all the businesses which could use your services. This list can be derived from the database of your local chambers of commerce or even the yellow pages.
Once you have a list of the people who you wish to target, identify the benefits that your service can provide to them. Try and customize your benefits based on the types of businesses.
Next, start by sending direct mailers to these businesse with a standard body copy of the benefits that you can provide to that particular business type along with a personal message addressed to the business owner. Show them your past work along with details about how it helped your clients. Give numbers instead of just mentioning that the sales increased tremendously. Say that the sales increased by 50% or whatever number is applicable.
The more personal your marketing message is, the better is your brand awareness and brand perception. Personalizing may be time consuming but the returns are worth it.
 
Posted by: jsutton* Accepted Answer
7/8/2004 3:07 PM (CST)
BY market it , I'll assume you mean bring in new customers. And at reasonable costs since you're a small business.

First idea: Approach a site with good traffic numbers that caters to tech savvy business clientelle and work out a TRADE OUT of development services for high visibility referral placement on their site. Try same in different sectors to test effectiveness. You have the spare time now until business picks up so what's to lose.

www.wirelesstechradio.com needs some help if you want to approach them.

Second: there are a number of web development outsource bidding sites on the web you can investigate. Most projects are cost conscious but if you drive near term revenue and develop credibility for that site and others (portfolio of work).

www.elance.com
www.rentacoder.com

are some well known sites, there must be many more.
 


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