Just QUIT my job, need some feedback

[Chatter Gear]

Hello All,

A long story short I have just quit my job as a digital media manager. I worked for a reputable agency in London managing digital marketing budgets for pretty big companies. I don't/didn't like working for other people so I have quit with some money in the bank and about to set up on my own. Instead of trying to do everything I am going to focus on social media management for small businesses with small budgets. I don't really like working with really big companies.

With that said I am looking for some advice, not on the above, on the below!

I am really in two minds about how to approach my market.

Option A) Build a fancy website with a strong brand and utilise PPC for online sales. Also approach local businesses as an agency and advertise myself as a company.

Option B) Build a more simple website as a freelancer. Spend no money on PPC and just built my business locally and through referrals etc.

Generally speaking I would prefer option B but I know that websites that use PPC as a freelancer have very little conversions - this I know for a fact. So that leaves me worried that I would not be able to rely on additional business via PPC that is not self-generated.

What are your thoughts? Would you prefer to be approached by a slick agency covering the nation or a local one-man-band guy working from his home office?

I would REALLY appreciate your ideas and feedback...

Thanks - Scott

 

[fisicx]

.....I am going to focus on social media management for small businesses with small budgets.

Aaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!

...I know that websites that use PPC as a freelancer have very little conversions - this I know for a fact.

Whoever told you that is talking out their bottom. PPC is very lucrative for freelancers.

Would you prefer to be approached by a slick agency covering the nation or a local one-man-band guy working from his home office?

Neither. I want someone who can generate more business for me. Don't care who

 

[Chatter Gear]

Aaaaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh!

Whoever told you that is talking out their bottom. PPC is very lucrative for freelancers.

Neither. I want someone who can generate more business for me. Don't care who

haha! I am liking this response fisicx!

I am not sure why the long aaarrghhh, could you elaborate a little more?

I told myself this, I have run PPC campaigns for businesses for over 4 years with budgets in excess of 10k per month. I speak to freelancers subcontracting for huge companies every single day and have done for over 3 years and there is next to no hope for anyone in digital advertising or digital marketing using PPC AS A FREELANCER unless it is within a radius of 10< miles. However, you then get no traffic because the demand is not there. So unless you are going to tell me you have been doing what I have you are 100% wrong.

Finally, thankyou for actually answering my questions (kinda). You feel that you don't mind either as long as they can do the job?

Ta

 

[chalkie99]

I have just quit my job as a digital media manager.

Past tense.

I am really in two minds about how to approach my market.

Surely you have jumped the gun quitting before you have thought through your ideas?

 

[silvermusic]

Shouldn't you have sorted out and decided on these kinds of things long before quitting? I hope you have enough money to tide you over for the next few months or you're going to be struggling.

 

[Chatter Gear]

I have been earning good money and flat sharing for 4 years so I have a sh*t load of money. The last two comments were not helpful at all. If anyone has actual input that would be great

 

[silvermusic]

You may think they're not helpful, but I've seen far too many people jump out of the frying pan into the fire. It's surprising how many people don't ever consider such things as cash flow either.

 

[fisicx]

Finally, thankyou for actually answering my questions (kinda). You feel that you don't mind either as long as they can do the job?

Nope, competence is all that matters - could be a bloke working in a shed for all I care.

Freelancing as a way of life for many people offering the type of service you intend to supply. How you used to do things in the past no longer apply. You need to start marketing yourself and get onto the many freelancer sites. What you are going to struggle with is finding enough business to make a living. Social Media Managment has been overrun with people on a race to the bottom. There are thousands of people offering to look after SM accounts, some for as little as $5 a month! And if you read the thread here (and on other business forums) you will find that most SME aren't interested in SM managment.

 

[The Byre]

Right, here we go -

Firstly, the World has gone social media mad, as if all other types of getting new business has somehow vanished and there is just the one way. OK, that's an exaggeration, but it really is bizarre to see the amounts of money being thrown at social media, when there are so many conventional avenues available. You need to reach customers who do not use social media and help them to integrate social media into their overall marketing strategy.

Right now, I am engaged in a MASSIVE local door-to-door flyer campaign, combined with knocking on said doors with survey cards. It is working magnificently! We combine this with an integrated MyFace and Twitter etc. campaign that supports the door-to-door work and keeps the 'buzz' going. You have to hit them from all sides! This is supported by local meetings and workshops in how to use a new product.

In other words, selling just a social media package is a chocolate teapot - it has to be an integral part of an overall advertising and marketing strategy. That means that you would need to get together with other advertising professionals (photographers, layout artists, copy writers and other creatives) and build up an agency. You do not need to be formal partners, just invoice one another according to the workload and keep it flexible.

You mission Jim, should you accept it, is now to read the book 'Ogilvy on Advertising'. I keep a copy on my desk at all times and read a few words out of it every day, just to remind myself of what is and is not important in marketing. I think it costs about £12 with P&P from Amazon.

 

[Chatter Gear]

Basically this thread has been a waste of time because not one person has answered my question and simply given their uneducated opinion as to whether this will work or not. I am not asking if this will work, I know it will because I receive invoices every day from people providing the service! Huge amounts of money!

But, thanks anyway.... UKBF is definitely on the dive.

 

[Chatter Gear]

Nope, competence is all that matters - could be a bloke working in a shed for all I care.

Freelancing as a way of life for many people offering the type of service you intend to supply. How you used to do things in the past no longer apply. You need to start marketing yourself and get onto the many freelancer sites. What you are going to struggle with is finding enough business to make a living. Social Media Managment has been overrun with people on a race to the bottom. There are thousands of people offering to look after SM accounts, some for as little as $5 a month! And if you read the thread here (and on other business forums) you will find that most SME aren't interested in SM managment.

Strangely I do agree with you here in some respects. SME's aren't interested in SM management because they are SME's and dont have the budget for something that they cant really measure. To measure it, you would be looking at a lot of money and investment in time, probably £300 per month.

But, SME's would certainly look at SM if it was an affordable way to keep their account consistently updated - and this will be my approach to the market.

 

[bluedreamer]

I'd go for option B and push yourself as a specialist freelancer/consultant. You've obviously had some experience in your field so that's really the sort of service you might be best starting with, you can always branch out as and when.

The "design" of a site doesn't matter so much, all it has to do is encourage potential clients to contact you. Experimentation is the key until you find what works.

PPC I've never done, word of mouth and referrals are your best friend so do some networking, get involved with local business groups and get your name out there. It's not what you know but who you know.

 

[Naive citizen]

The obvious answer to your question is to do both at the same time.

You only require one webspace contract to host multiple sites. Telephone systems and numbers are available rent for very reasonable money meaning you can have your calls presented to you in a way which identifies which company you are answering the phone for so you use the correct name when answering. With modern phone systems you can even have a short announcement as the customer connects saying thank you for calling xyz and then you can simply answer with a 'hello'

You can even operate as a single limited company with two trading names but bear in mind that anyone doing their due-diligence may find the complexity in your arrangements off-putting. You never know how experienced the investigator may be and how your background information will be presented to the decision maker so you have to consider that when structuring your arrangements. 2 completely separate companies would be better so long as you can handle the administration.

Both approaches have their own benefits and at the outset it's impossible to know 3 or 4 years down the line which is going to work better for you. I suppose the other benefit of running two entirely separate enterprises is that you can easily kill off the least successful of the two if that becomes necessary.

 

[NickGrogan]

Hello All,


Option A) Build a fancy website with a strong brand and utilise PPC for online sales. Also approach local businesses as an agency and advertise myself as a company.

Option B) Build a more simple website as a freelancer. Spend no money on PPC and just built my business locally and through referrals etc.

What are your thoughts? Would you prefer to be approached by a slick agency covering the nation or a local one-man-band guy working from his home office?

Neither. A fancy website suggests fancy fees, which like most SMEs I don't want to spend on social media. Nor do I want a one man band, who is going to be busy chasing business and helping other clients when he could/should be helping me. A happy medium between the two would be better.

I noticed that in your own marketing approach, you haven't mentioned Social Media, but you want to offer me a service to manage my Social Media - is that right?

Perhaps I've misunderstood, what exactly are you offering to do for companies?

 

[ethical PR]

I think your focus should be on thinking about what sort of services you can offer that businesses want and need. As has been said above you are entering an incredibly crowded market place with those with little knowledge or experience branding themselves as social media specialists. Asking smaller businesses to invest in this area is always going to difficult. Why not offer yourself as a freelance to some of the larger social media agencies. This way you can build up a portfolio and take the time to research and develop your offer so that when you do set up on your own it's on the basis of having a clear offer, understanding your market place, customers and how best to reach them. And your communications whichever model you choose should be the best that they can be regardless of whether you go for a freelance or agency model.

 

[SwissChris]

Slick operators make me nervous.

Kind of un-related but I'll use it as a comparison anyway.

I was recently cold approached by a local small accounting firm who wanted to win my business. I liked the fact they took the initiative and did that. I'm frequently solicited by out of town faceless accounting companies. I don't even bother reading the letter once I realise what it is.

So to be approached by a local firm was quite refreshing. It quickly fell apart from there though. They were trying to be too slick. Professional and slick are two different sides of the coin to me.

There is no need to call the accountant that owns the firm as the senior managing director. He's just a bloke that does sums and knows his way around HMRC guidelines working out of a small office. The senior managing director couldn't be bothered to sign his template letter. He's pitching for several grands worth of work every year for until either one of us meet our demise. At least make an effort to show you care about the work you're pitching for. If you are too busy to be able to care, don't put your name to it - use one of your staff. It's a mixed message. Will the senior managing director be bothered to return my calls or answer my emails?

They assumed I was a start up business and didn't know anything. I'm not nervous, scared or excited about anything - they were working from a script. Once the caller figured out i wasn't a new start up she was quickly out of her depth and became flustered. Again mixed messages. Do they want my business or are they just farming it out to a call center to fish for leads?

It was all very slick but just didn't work on so many levels. Slick has it's place in the B2C wold where punters must be treated like princesses but B2B is a bit more spit and sawdust - we appreciate straight talking.

 

[Naive citizen]

Sometimes it is more sensible to draw a line under it and look at ways you can use your existing experience to your own benefit in some alternative venture. Most of my experience is in IT, so when I started a non-IT business I had the benefit of commercial grade IT infrastructure from day-1 with my website, email, phone lines all working for next to nothing.

So can you think of a business which benefits greatly from the services you previously provided and if you were to start a business like that, could your experience make you like one of those?

 

[ethical PR]

Slick operators make me nervous.Professional and slick are two different sides of the coin to me.

There is no need to call the accountant that owns the firm as the senior managing director. He's just a bloke that does sums and knows his way around HMRC guidelines working out of a small office.

I don't know probably better than calling yourself 'Self Proclaimed Small Business Guru & All Round Great Guy' .

 

[Naive citizen]

As one who knows how to deliver with passion, I'd suggest more than most, you would know anything which is obviously bullship looks exactly like that to anybody who reads it! It's much better to put forward a straight-worded simple proposition. If it has any value you will get customers. If not, try something else.

 

[ethical PR]

Sorry????

 

[Naive citizen]

Sorry what?

 

[ethical PR]

Sorry I did not understand your previous post content which I am presuming was aimed at myself.

 

[fisicx]

But, SME's would certainly look at SM if it was an affordable way to keep their account consistently updated

No they won't. The ROI in social media or social networking for business is very poor to most SME won't be paying you a penny. Certainly not £300 when they can get the same service from PPH for $50.

 

[Naive citizen]

Sorry I did not understand your previous post content which I am presuming was aimed at myself.

And wasn't your previous comment aimed at the person posting just before you?

 

[ethical PR]

And? Your point is ... ?

 

[fisicx]

And wasn't your previous comment aimed at the person posting just before you?

Which was you. I didn't understand your post either

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Social media is a way to promote your brand to people who are not looking to buy at that point of the day, if its catchy they may remember and visit your site / shop at a future date but in most instances not right now.

This therefore is of limited interest to most small companies

SEO and PPC on the other hand are seen to work as customers are looking for that particular item or service

More hype is spoken or written about the social media than any other subject and from what i can see any company with a fairly large marketing budget can afford to speculate a small part of it to see what happens in the long run, but spend the vast majority of their budget on proven methods of getting customers

 

[iconic]

Basically this thread has been a waste of time because not one person has answered my question and simply given their uneducated opinion as to whether this will work or not. I am not asking if this will work, I know it will because I receive invoices every day from people providing the service! Huge amounts of money!

But, thanks anyway.... UKBF is definitely on the dive.

Nice attitude.

To be honest you should have had your questions answered before you quit your job.

You might have £££ spare at the moment, and you might know how to "do the job" - but do you know how to run a business? It will be a lot more work than you think, and will eat a lot more of your £££ up than you think.

 

[fisicx]

I know it will because I receive invoices every day from people providing the service! Huge amounts of money!

This was your old job - working for with large companies which means buckets of money. You are proposing to work with small companies who don't have buckets of money. It doesn't scale down, you are going have to work your socks off to drum up business and you are going to have to compete with every other SMM who are trying to get their own slice of the pie.

Nobody is saying it won't work, everybody is just saying it's not going to be as easy as you think.