We just went through six very slow months. Being slow through the summer months isn't unusual for us, but we lost a good sized job in the late spring, making us idle earlier than usual this year. It was a little slow to start back up this fall as well.
During the slow times we tried marketing our old and new skills in a wide variety of ways. Our business is a bit tougher to market than most as our customers often come from far away. We are looking for that one in a thousand that wants a top end and outrageous product.
During our slow period I tried cold calling. I tried direct emailing to a targeted segment of the regional tourist market. I spruced up my portfolio and website. I did everything I could think of.
Now we are busy once again for the forseeable future.
So exactly which method of marketing worked for us??
ANSWER.... NONE of the above. I firmly believe our marketing efforts mentioned above were worth while and WILL pay off down the road. But that's not where our current jobs came from.
We also used our spare time to do a major amount of work on our building and also created many new samples to hang on the walls. This marketing effort did pay off immediately, but more as a way of encouraging our new clients to spend more money once they had found us.
We now have three major jobs underway or starting in the next weeks and another very major one in development for later in the year. All are new clients. So how did these new customers find us????
The first was referred to us by one of my suppliers. He has been to our shop many times and is very enthusiastic about what we do. He brought the new clients around personally for a tour of our facility. They were blown away by our shop and studio and were eager to do business with us in a big way. They previously had no idea we were here or what we did.
The second new client was referred to us by another customer we had done business with in the past four years. Once again a tour of our shop/studio was the clincher which convinced them to do business with us. They also had no idea we were here or what we did.
The last new client was actually a company bought out by another client we still occasionally do work for. We have done a major amount of work them over the last decade and built up a lot of trust and goodwill. The new job could also last years and will probably be the biggest we have very tackled.
Marketing is very, very important. No doubt about that. Even so, pretty much all of our clients come to us via a referral from someone we know or as a result of seeing some work we did.
It's about exceeding our customer's expectations EVERY time. Its also important to create landmark projects which will draw attention to our client and by extension to our own business. Its about providing a service that clients can get no where else.
Build it and they will come!
-grampa dan
[ December 10, 2005, 02:54 AM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
Posted by Dan White (Member # 5876) on :
Dan, First I have to say your business has got to be the coolest I have seen. I am a big fan of 3 Dimensional forms as well and have spent most of my career creating 3D stuff. Mostly in the form of consumer product design. I am sure you work very hard but I bet your having fun doing it. Everyone should strive for this.
I agree with your assessment above regarding going the extra mile on each project and the future referrals that it brings. One problem is that it you can not predict when the seeds that you have sowed will grow. This can lead to gaps in (good) work.
I think your business is taylor made for web marketing. For businesses, the web is about niches. The more unique or obscure your business, the easier it is to market on the web. Its also less costly than any other form of advertising that I have found (including the yellow pages).
I have spent 3 years (since I started my business) studying web marketing. I am not the worlds best expert but I have learned a great deal and would like to share my knowledge for the benefit of this forums user community. I think it would make a useful thread which all could share their experiences and we all could learn from. What do you think? Dan
Posted by bruce ward (Member # 1289) on :
i still do cold calling and it proves to be good. word of mouth is top of the list. i would say yard signs started we are doing works ranks second.
we have a brochure and cards of course.
these things in my opinion are a wasre of time: yellow pages and other advertising in hs school athletic books stuff like that radio and or tv
just pointless i think we are in a weird type buiness that you dont need us TODAY, RIGHT NOW! even though some customers act like it
Posted by Doug Downey (Member # 829) on :
Dan
to me the biggest bang for your dollar is still the vehicle lettering. We do absolutely no advertising for our company except our vehicle. this year we decided we were going to take it off the road when gas went crazy. I really noticed the drop in business. I am just working on starting a new website selling Canadian products online and we have designed a wrap for our truck and I am really interested to see what kind of response we get from it.
I remember one website I designed and the lady stated that when she was ready to start her business that she picked us because she had seen our vehicle. Maybe you can do some 3D images looking like they are trying to get out of the vehicle.
Posted by Dan Antonelli (Member # 86) on :
Web continues to be best advertising for us, aside from referrals.
Dan, I think your company would benefit from a more agressive search engine strategy for your web site. However, as it stands now, your site is not SEO friendly at all. This greatly inhibits the ability for people to find companies like yours, unless you were to go a paid SEO click strategy.
I continue to see many sign company sites with poor SEO strategies, or none at all. Site built in flash, sites without HTML copy, sites with useless intros, sites with no META, sites done in frames.
But some people think they can't afford to hire a pro. Truth is, you can't afford not to. Unless you like to pay for things twice. Once to the company who knows little about SEO, but is cheap, and the second time, to someone who truly understands the how to market and expand your business with a site. And of course, we see people who do it themselves. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but keep in mind - building a site and marketing a site are different concepts. As we near 200 built website to date, we're still learning.
You'll see some guys invest 30 or 40 grand for sales people, with commissions, benefits, etc. Irony is, for 5 grand, you're in the game with something selling 24/7. It never calls in sick either.
Posted by Bob Stephens (Member # 858) on :
Dan is dead right! I recently invested $5k into a site and expect to spend another $5k before its finished. Anyone can have a website, but not everyone has an effective, income producing website.
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
Dan (the Sawatzky one),
Yes, I'm sure your shop plays an important part in clinching deals, but I think the real truth lays in the charming, little boy passion, that exudes from you. When your eyes light up with the magic you envision in a new project, who could not get carried away in the spell. You are like a Walt Disney Movie when you get on a roll and I'm sure your "castle" just magnifies that atmosphere.
I think almost all who have actually met you in person will agree with this.
Posted by Doug Downey (Member # 829) on :
Kelly, I thought he was more like Goofy after we gave him a few beers here in Ontario!
Posted by Kelly Thorson (Member # 2958) on :
Doug, All I've ever seen Dan fueled up on is Coke. I'd get a kick out of seeing him "Goofy". Posted by Curtis hammond (Member # 2170) on :
Dan S. Your whole life is one big marketing plan. No one has to see anything else to know you fit what they want.
Dan A said...
quote:many sign company sites with poor SEO strategies, or none at all. Site built in flash, sites without HTML copy, sites with useless intros, sites with no META
I 110% agree with Dan A. So many sites I see are broshure / vanity sites. They should be sales sites. A broshure vanity site has no calls to action, poor contact entries, difficult to surf, and worse, not compatible with the top 3 browsers.
Sales sites are constantly asking / telling the surfer to make that first contact via call, or email, or fax or snail mail..
How do I know.. Statistics tell me so.. Not my best friend, not my gut instinct, and not some wishfull thinking... Pure statistics..
[ December 10, 2005, 11:06 AM: Message edited by: Curtis hammond ]
Posted by Sheila Ferrell (Member # 3741) on :
I guess in a smaller town, (25,000+) word of mouth is the numero uno form of 'marketing'...but good referals don't happen from bad signs and/or bad service. . . they only come from puttin' out a good product, an' a smile.
This 'word-of-mouth also spreads to the surrounding smaller communities in a 30-40 mile radius.
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
I certainly hear what the experts on web marketing are saying. And I am taking it to heart.
What we currently have was designed with a specific purpose in mind. And it is doing its job in that regard.
We have designed our site to be a brochure/portfolio - nothing more. Up until now, I really have not cared in the least how many hits we have recieved or who comes across our site while searching.
We have used our web site very effectively to show clients who contact us just what it is we do. I refer them there for the most part. It gives us a professional presence and stature. It is a portfolio piece above all. The web site qualifies our potential clients to some degree. They either like what they see or they don't.
Our web site is purposely not CORPORATE or slick. I designed it to appear professional and yet still a bit homey and friendly. We ARE and definitely want to remain a small company. I want our website to reflect exactly what we are.
In our marketing efforts we have to take into account that our production is limited in our shop. We only handle a few clients each year and our projects can't be beyond a certain size. Generally 10 - 20 at most.
Creating a web site that is guaranteed to hit for people looking for a theme design and construction company may work for us. Or it may create a market we simply can't service. I'm not sure.
We looked at going into the major trade shows a few years ago. There is one that caters to the theme park industry. It sees an attendance of 20-30,000 buyers every year from around the world. In the end we decided NOT to make the jump. It would have been a $30-50,000 investment. I didn't have a problem with that. I know we could have put together one of the best booths in the industry which would have put us on the world stage instantly. The problem is that we would have at best made a few customers happy and simply frustrated the rest which we could not service.
It would also have instantly catapulted us into a world-wide market... and we want to be regional. It would have forced us to grow and we want to stay small. As it is, we do work that is spread out worldwide. I do design-only off continent and out of a 3,000 mile radius limit. We expand our services as we get closer to home.
Although we are beginning to change our business approach and market, it seems we will be in the theme park business for a few years yet, with projects on the board which will keep us more than busy over the next while (up to 5 years). In years to come I would like to narrow the focus of our company to smaller projects only (theme signs) which we can fabricate totally in the shop and then send out to wherever. When that happens I will happily make the entire world our market. And at that point I see a definite advantage to have a web site that SELLS!
I'd love to partake in a discussion here on the BB to learn more of what is possible via the web. It might just change the way we do business.
I certainly have lots to learn in this regard.
-grampa dan
[ December 10, 2005, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: Dan Sawatzky ]
Posted by jake snow (Member # 5889) on :
quote: It's about exceeding our customer's expectations EVERY time. Its also important to create landmark projects which will draw attention to our client and by extension to our own business. Its about providing a service that clients can get no where else.
Build it and they will come!
You said it all right there. Takes time, but "They will come"
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
I have found that the very best form of marketing is planning a vacation trip. Trying to get out of town never fails to inundate me.
Posted by Dan White (Member # 5876) on :
Dan S. I do not make web sites for anyone but my self,only relating my experience.
If you have more work (of the type you like) than you can handle while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction, then performing SEO (search engine optimization) may not need be high on your list of things to do.
However if you do want change your business approach towards projects that do not require site work and the associated travel as you suggest. A well designed web site with the proper marketing can allow you to test your new business ideas quickly and very inexpensively.
In the old days (few short years ago)I would come up with what I thought was a brilliant business idea, build prototypes, tool up, make brochures ect. only to find that no one would vote with their wallets.
Now in a fwe hours I can make some renderings, build a web page, put some marketing towards it and within a week or two I KNOW (not think) whether it is a winner or not(mesured in sales not opinions). Very powerful, an essential tool in every small business owners tool belt I think.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Razz]](tongue.gif)