Digineer has approached its marketing in much the same way. “Being a consulting business, it’s very much a face-to-face business,” Lacey says. “We typically are referred to customers by prior customers we’ve done good work for. We don’t really advertise on billboards and the like. So when it comes to marketing in our business, what we really invest in is the tools and the collateral that our sales team has at their disposal, so they can make the most of their [sales] meetings. Now this year, we’re actually really going to invest in increasing the visibility of our brand. Our Web site is a couple of years old, and it’s looking its age.”
In both cases, these companies put strong priorities in place and followed them, despite the conventional wisdom. At every juncture, they asked: Where should we be spending our time? What should we be doing? In these cases, for a while the answer was “Get out and talk to people” rather than “Create a sophisticated Web presence.”
But of course the same strategy won’t work for every comp-any, and it certainly won’t work at every stage of a company’s growth. Suzanne McGann, president of Voyageur I.T. in St. Paul, specializes in online branding and Web development. She points out that the Web has the power to add presence to a tiny company with big aspirations.
“You can be any size organization, and you can look any size organization,” she says. “I love the power of the small company to fight with the big company because of Internet presence.”
So when should a growing firm set aside time and resources to work on online marketing? When the company itself exceeds its presence in the online marketplace—in other words, when the company is doing better than its modest Web site would have you believe. That can happen to even the largest, most successful firm, and it can hamper further expansion.
Another reason to rework your online marketing is a change of sales channel or a change of focus. Lacey says Digineer went through an in-depth strategic planning process a year and a half ago, and found that there were some additional areas it could compete in.
Though a growing company’s marketing effort might go in any direction, the one core principle is that it should be influenced by both short- and long-term strategy and planning. McGann says it’s surprising how many companies don’t have a strategic vision for their Web marketing.
“Take it in steps,” she says. “As you get more competitive, clearly define some set of strategies that will carry you through for at least a year. Then add a phase two, a phase three, and a phase four over time. You may never get through it all, but at least it’s starting to create that sense of flow. It’s something growing companies can really get into.”
