In these times it is imperative that we get our brand out and that we have name recognition for the type of work or product we produce. There are a myriad of PR and Advertising firms that are willing to offer their services and expertise, for a fee, to help you do this. But! I wonder how a small company can achieve this on it's own.
We build web pages and do blogs like this one and a dozen other web related things to try to draw attention to ourselves, to try to lift us in ranking on sites like Google, Bing or Yahoo, but does that really help or are we just trapped in an ever changing technology where the rules of play are subject to change on a daily basis and the things you create for this media become obsolete as you write and apply them. A challenging question don't you think?
I believe that the advent of the "cold call" is coming to an end. I don't make them because I don't want to intrude on a person's time with an unexpected call and sales pitch that was unsolicited and 99.9% of the time unwanted. We can send postcards, letters, invitations; do television or radio commercials, print ads in the newspaper, offer coupons for discounts, erect billboards and signs and do any other type of publicity stunt the human mind can think of to get your product or company noticed. But all of these seem to be fleeting, no soul or substance to them. So what do we do?
To date, the best method of keeping our name in perpetuity seems to be in servicing the customers we have and through their satisfaction in the product and service we perform they recommend us to other companies who might have value in what we do. There is warmth, substance and a camaraderie between people because there is familiarity between you and your client and your client and his referral.
So maybe we should try a non technological method called talking to people. Contacting our current customers and asking for referrals, seeing if they are satisfied with the job we are doing and giving them the knowledge that we care, we are here and we appreciate the business they give us. The best source we have is the people who trust and count on us.
Give it a try, you may be surprised in what you accomplish.
We build web pages and do blogs like this one and a dozen other web related things to try to draw attention to ourselves, to try to lift us in ranking on sites like Google, Bing or Yahoo, but does that really help or are we just trapped in an ever changing technology where the rules of play are subject to change on a daily basis and the things you create for this media become obsolete as you write and apply them. A challenging question don't you think?
I believe that the advent of the "cold call" is coming to an end. I don't make them because I don't want to intrude on a person's time with an unexpected call and sales pitch that was unsolicited and 99.9% of the time unwanted. We can send postcards, letters, invitations; do television or radio commercials, print ads in the newspaper, offer coupons for discounts, erect billboards and signs and do any other type of publicity stunt the human mind can think of to get your product or company noticed. But all of these seem to be fleeting, no soul or substance to them. So what do we do?
To date, the best method of keeping our name in perpetuity seems to be in servicing the customers we have and through their satisfaction in the product and service we perform they recommend us to other companies who might have value in what we do. There is warmth, substance and a camaraderie between people because there is familiarity between you and your client and your client and his referral.
So maybe we should try a non technological method called talking to people. Contacting our current customers and asking for referrals, seeing if they are satisfied with the job we are doing and giving them the knowledge that we care, we are here and we appreciate the business they give us. The best source we have is the people who trust and count on us.
Give it a try, you may be surprised in what you accomplish.
