1k to spend on marketing, but in what way

[Delta_Software_Services]

Hi,

For many years I have run a small software development company (web and software apps) with just a couple of employees. In all our years almost all work has been for a small number of long term customers and occasional new work from referral.

We have lost a few good customers recently due to the currect climate and for the first time are looking at marketing our services direct to other businesses.

I am curious to hear anyones opinion as to the best way to spend 1k on trying a method of business generation.

Thanks.

[directmarketingadvice]

A lot will depend on who you wish to market to.

Another important factor is what your sales pitch is - i.e. what are you going to do for them and why should they hire you to do it?

Steve

[Beachcomber]

Well for 1K I'll spend 2 weeks in the pub wearing your company logo on a t-shirt! :p

Seriously, it all depends on the product(s) offered, type of market you target (small business / multi-nationals etc) and type of client you wish to attract.

Look at your competitors - what are they doing, where are they advertising and are they successful?

[Steve Cool]

Delta, i am no marketing expert.....but i'm learning fast.

For £1000 i would take off two days to think about and write down a list of my most probable customer and their phone numbers.

Then i would spend three days ringing them up and introducing my company and it's services. Don't sell to them, don't mither them.

Ask to speak to the relevant person, the receptionist and the
owner/director will know you are not tele sales. They will be able to tell you are a man/woman on the make and they will speak to you and help you.
Get over the fear of rejection and get on the blower.

Success guarenteed.....you will get clients this way


Steve

[Delta_Software_Services]

Our ideal customer is small to medium size business in all but the IT sector.

Our selling point is the low cost of the service, we are all programmers and so provide an efficent service, often 20% less than other software development companies.

[LowcostPR]

Is this a one-off £1,000 or a regular sum?

[Steve Cool]

Our ideal customer is small to medium size business in all but the IT sector.

Our selling point is the low cost of the service, we are all programmers and so provide an efficent service, often 20% less than other software development companies.

Sorry to be blunt but not good enough. Basically you have just about said that about 90% of the companies in the UK could be your clients........ but these are not your most probable customers(please ignore if you wish, as i'm only learning myself)

You need to narrow it down more. What sector are your existing customers in? Which of them could you name drop in you phone calls?

If one of your clients makes shirts, ring up the company that supplies them the buttons and tell them you do work for the shirt maker...and that the shirt maker is happy with you. These are your most probable customers.

Steve

[directmarketingadvice]

Our ideal customer is small to medium size business in all but the IT sector.

As Steve Cool said, you've got to narrow it down.

Steve

[appointmentmakersuk]

I would be happy to do 5 days of Telemarketing for you to try and win you new business for 1K.

We are a results driven Telemarketing and Appointment Making Business and our clients include a training company who train The NHS, BUPA, ORANGE, VIRGIN MEDIA and others and a company who have a national contract with NOKIA.

We normally work on a daily rate which would provide you with a full day's calling around 100 calls with callbacks, emails and data cleansing and daily update.

I have 3 or 4 freelancers available to me also should you require to ramp up the calls etc.

I am booking the client I have who have NOKIA as one of their main clients 4 meetings a day and have done so every day for 16 days over the last two months.

We normally work from data supplied to us or we can source B2B data in a specific postcode area for you.

PM me your number and we can talk!

Regards

Rod Jones
Appointment Makers UK
(http://www.appointmentmakersuk.co.uk)

[Call Tracker]

Take a look at your existing clients. Learn about what they buy in terms of services and take this to other markets. Use testimonials and case studies, do a little local and trade PR, send a well designed email campaign to a pre-qualified list. In a nutshell:

1. Call a list to check they have a need and are happy to receive emails
2. Send out a well designed html email to the pre-qualified list
3. Identify some trade press in your target market
4. Contact the mags and ask if they have any forthcoming features you could help with, comment on or even if they need an article.

If you do most of the leg work yourself you'll get it done for 1k, if you outsource the calling and pr bit it will be more but the result may be better.

[Mark Pocock]

How good is your web site?

Does it convert visitors into inquiries?

If it does, I'd go for a targetted Adword
campaign.

[MyVoucherCodes]

Ever thought about Vouher Code advertising?

This would work if you can offer deals/discounts on your services.

We currently get around 8 million visits each month.

[Scott-CopyandDesign]

Ever thought about Vouher Code advertising?

This would work if you can offer deals/discounts on your services.

We currently get around 8 million visits each month.

Didn't you have a membership here a lot longer than may?

[MyVoucherCodes]

Potentially someone from the company did previously.

How come?

[Scott-CopyandDesign]

Potentially someone from the company did previously.

How come?

Just thought it might have been banned for spamming. If you keep posting in every thread advertising your services you're going to get into trouble, it's against the rules.

[MyVoucherCodes]

sound cheers for the info, although each post was relevant so should be ok

[SEO-Doctor]

SEO!! Give away some software for free on your site. Create a viral marketing campaign to promote it - generating a shed load of backlinks. This will shoot you to #1 google for your best converting keywords...bingo.

[Spiritas]

Quite simply while any tactic suggested might work, it might also not work. If you fire off without a plan you potentially don't know:

Who you are aiming at.
What you are going to consistently say to them.
How you will deliver the message.
How you will measure the results.

So if you are genuinely committed to marketing you better commit a few hundred pounds to a planning exercise which will stand you in good stead as you move forward.

It will reduce wasted budget, assure consistency and allow you to concentrate on your core business activity.

Good luck with your deliberations.

[mediadog]

How good is your web site?

Does it convert visitors into inquiries?

If it does, I'd go for a targetted Adword
campaign.

Couldn't agree more. I wasn't sure how good Adwords was until I suggested it to a Fruit Farm I did the website for. They were looking for workers for the next season and set their monthly budget at £150... within a few weeks they had to turn it off because they had all the workers they needed! I don't think they even used the whole £150.

They chose a few cheap keywords (4p per click) and 1 more expensive one (38p per click). Obviously the cost of keywords depends on the product, but you can't argue with the results Adwords produces. A couple fo years ago I worked on a mobile phone website and the adwords cost for that was upto £15 (yes fifteen POUNDS) per click. Check the adwords site for a quick reference to prices for certain keywords.... and think about it from a users perspective - what would they actually type into the search?

[Scott-CopyandDesign]

How good is your web site?

Does it convert visitors into inquiries?

If it does, I'd go for a targetted Adword
campaign.

If it DOESN'T, then I'd highly recommend re-written sales copy. To be honest before you (delta) does any marketing I'd recommend that you get your website converting sales at a consistently high rate. Once this is done, then drive targeted traffic towards it.