Keeping Up With The Social Media Joneses

I am always looking for ways to better promote Web-dified Media, so I read a lot of articles about marketing. Through my readings I have notice a disturbing trend; there are too many articles saying that my business needs to be apart of all the social media sites out there. Truth be told unless you are willing to pay someone to keep all your social sites up to date it's an impossible task. How can one find time to tweet, write a blog, update facebook, and myspace  while running a business.

Truth is you can't spend hours maintaining the growing list of social media sites they say you must be apart of because that takes away your focus on your core day-to-day business. I have reached my social media break point and have decided to only maintain the social sites that I actually like!

I have given up trying to keep up with the Social Media Joneses...........
 

Champagne taste on a beer budget

Working with small businesses at Web-dified Media we get a few potential clients that have “Champagne taste on a beer budget.” It’s always difficult to bring potential clients expectations in line with their budget. If you come across this problem here are a few tips to help you manage client’s expectations.

Break down the price – When ever clients see a quote for work all they see is the price. They have no idea what lies behind that price. Explain to your client that they are paying for more than just the price of work. They are paying for the wealth of knowledge you have acquired over the years, as well as superior customer service you provide. Point out all the reasons why your service is superior. Many times at
Web-dified Media we get clients who paid a student $2,500 to build them a $15,000 website, and often they get what they pay for. The site was not delivered on time or work the way they wanted. The client never received a proper quote or handoff documentation on how the site works. These little things all add up. Your clients need to understand that they are getting more than an application in your price they are getting a company that will stand behind its quality of work.

Clients need to shop their project - Many times when clients challenge our price we will always encourage them to shop their job and compare quotes. At Web-dified we stand behind the quality of our work as well as our superior customer service. We pride ourselves in going the extra mile to make every job we do just right because we know it’s a reflection of our clients business as well as Web-dified. We always contact potential clients to get their feedback, after they have shopped around for a quote. We often get positive feedback on our professionalism and often we win the job in question. If we don’t win the job, we learn a bit more about our competition and ourselves.

Architect a solution that fits their budget – We never like turning away potential business and often times when a client has unrealistic expectations we will sit down with them and offer to walk them through alternative solutions. Many times we offer a phase approach to their website, where we will then re-draft a quote that will build their site in phases that co-exist with their budget.

Small Business and Marketing

I really can’t count how many times a potential client has come to me and said “I need a website”. My first question is “Why do you need a website?” It is very surprising how many times the client could not give me a straight answer. They have never taken the time to sit down and ask themselves the following questions. Why do I need a website, what message about my business do I want to convey through my website; who will see my website, and how will they see it? I do a lot of work with small businesses with small budgets, and I often ask them what their marketing goals are?

How will a website help you reach those goals? I am very honest with my clients and I tell them if they only have a $3,000.00 marketing budget maybe you should look at all your options before committing your entire budget to a website. A lot of the time they are caught in the field of dreams “if you build they will come” and that is really not true. Many of my potential clients believe that once they have a website it will automatically produce a return on their investment; and somehow their potential clients will just find it.

The truth about websites is you will not be automatically listed on Google’s first page and if you spend your entire marketing budget on a website you might not reach your marketing goals. A website is important to many businesses but it might not be the most important thing to an upstart business. I often tell clients write down their marketing goals first and we map out how a website will help them reach those goals.

Although my business is web I do want to see small businesses succeed and there are times I tell my clients that I think their marketing dollars might be better served elsewhere.

While having a website is important to all businesses it might not be the first thing a start-up business will need. If you are working with a limited budget it is very important that you clearly outline your marketing goals to get the most bang for your buck. Sometimes a website might not be the first thing your business needs and your money might be better spent in other areas to get your business off the ground.