Start Up Advice

[BNBusinessProtection]

Hi,

I have started a brand new investigation services business. Our clients would be solicitors and businesses looking for investigative services. We will also target brands that need assistance with counterfeit products and IP infringement. Does anyone have any advice as to how to target and 'get a foot in the door' with these companies? What sort of approach should we be taking? What sort of marketing should we be doing?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[Mr D]

Have you looked at advertising in the trade presses? Advertising with the trade bodies?

 

[webprojectuk]

Start cold calling and knocking on some doors. Also, google adwords will give you results if you have the budget and knowledge.

 

[KindaichiShota]

Google adwords is much better to give you more options. If you your business is a service or a platform then you can start collecting email address of your targeted companies and can start sending them emails or you can also use sms marketing process.

 

[WithinSocial]

I think decision makers in legal sectors are too busy to look at Google themselves what you need is a direct mail addressed confidential to the owner or decision maker of your target companies but make sure this material offers some value for their attention such as reducing their administration in what relates to your business within their business and probably a quick turn around time is of prime importance in their profession pm me for more

 

[Harry Boyd]

LinkedIn Marketing and also Facebook Ads could be useful. You can target specific sectors and job roles which will make the ad extremely targeted. This is only useful if you have some money to spend. Facebook ads are a lot cheaper than LinkedIn.

Another option would be to email local companies in the sector you want to target, introducing your company and getting your name out there. The more people know you, the better.

Hope this helps!

 

[ethical PR]

Hi,

I have started a brand new investigation services business. Our clients would be solicitors and businesses looking for investigative services. We will also target brands that need assistance with counterfeit products and IP infringement. Does anyone have any advice as to how to target and 'get a foot in the door' with these companies? What sort of approach should we be taking? What sort of marketing should we be doing?

Any advice is much appreciated!

Thanks

What research have you done on how your competitors market their services?

The best way to target these companies is to have a clear idea of who your target customers are and then market your services using communications channels they use and selling benefits you know that they want.

 

[ethical PR]

I think decision makers in legal sectors are too busy to look at Google themselves what you need is a direct mail addressed confidential to the owner or decision maker of your target companies but make sure this material offers some value for their attention such as reducing their administration in what relates to your business within their business and probably a quick turn around time is of prime importance in their profession pm me for more

Why do you think direct mail would reach solicitors and business owners - it would never get past whoever opens the post.

 

[saythisinstead.co.uk]

Some of the advice given here has me totally baffled.

One person says Google Adwords is the way.
Are we to assume that advice comes from someone who has tested Adwords
with a similar target and product/service?

Someone else says a direct mail would never get past the person who opens it.
Are we to assume that is what actually happens?

I can tell you that both adwords and direct mail work with this target. Direct mail
works better than adwords in my experience...but of course results depend on the ad you use
and how you use direct mail.

The real answer to this type of question is...go test.

Monitor the results, tweak and test again and again and again and never stop trying to beat your 'control'

 

[BNBusinessProtection]

Thanks for all the advice. Very much appreciated.

 

[ashleyjane]

I would recommend you to do some research on your competitors what type of Clients they have where are they advertising and what are they talking about if they are active on social media.

Doing Adwords is not the solution you should know What you are targeting and Where you actually want to target if you are advertising blindly for some random categories then its of no use.

Do some research plan it down and your budget and then i would suggest you to go for adwords and social media promotions.

 

[Gecko001]

Solicitors usually go by recommendation, i.e. word of mouth. Start with who you know. You could start with your own solicitor.

 

[Lee Oakley]

Hi,

I have started a brand new investigation services business. Our clients would be solicitors and businesses looking for investigative services. We will also target brands that need assistance with counterfeit products and IP infringement. Does anyone have any advice as to how to target and 'get a foot in the door' with these companies? What sort of approach should we be taking? What sort of marketing should we be doing?

Re counterfeit product protection I would be keen to learn more about what you offer as I am involved in a business that has developed a patented technology for the printing and packaging sector and I know a ton of print companies around the world that are always looking to bolster their anti-counterfeiting measures so I would be happy to share some insight with you.

Secondly, re any marketing, one point that seems to be the consensus is that whatever medium you choose, you need to target decision makers but without knowing your website, if you have brochures or PDF versions to show decision makers etc etc, I cant determine if you have enough to convey your message adequately.

Getting your foot in the door is one thing, keeping it there long enough to get your point across is another....

Not knowing how your services would fit with your target market and whether they use such a service I would hope you perhaps know more about this then I do so I would be happy to hear more and advise accordingly

PM me and I'll share my contact info with you if you want a more meaningful chat

 

[Agarwood]

Getting into and in front of solicitors is difficult.

Getting them to sell you in is even harder. But doable with persistance - its a long game.

You best bet is to start networking ASAP.

Start with your local BNI groups - they always have one or two solicitors and they're weekly so you can get infront of people quickly.

Up to you whether you decide to join a group, its marmite, but I`ve found in the past that for niche services like yours you can join a group and then get out to all the groups in a region.

Its worth a year or two just for that.

Also a good way to hone your pitch to other businesses.

From there you'll get invites to other things.

For businesses maybe partnering with some accountancy firms would be a way forward.

Joint seminars that sort of thing - if you can set it up they can bring there clients.

 

[Leonardo Gonzalez Dellan]

According to me, SEO can be the best solution to get more leads for your business. SEO takes time but, once your keywords get the good rankings then it will be really easy for you to improve the sales of your website.

 

[bellpackaging]

i think leonardo say good idea keep follow guys

 

[lazypbx]

Your sales strategy has to reflect the value and complexity of the product and sale you are making. If you have a high value product which is complex then you will need to knock on doors and build trust with your target market, trade shows and events can be a good place to open doors. If you are looking at a product that's less complex and lower value that needs volume then online strategies work best.

From your business description it sounds like the first, so I'd go door knocking and try to build an initial client base.

 

[bmt Promotions]

Google adwords will give you results if you have the budget and knowledge.

 

[Karllacey]

I gotta go against all the people who say SEO is the way forward here, it absolutely is not the way forward. Litigation / Solicitors in many ways is still a backward industry and I have worked in enough of them.

It is going to take reaching out and letters for this with follow up calls. Cannot say it is going to be easy but I cannot see a solicitor logging on to find an investigative source. This is not to say I do not think you should have a website; I do. This is for the purposes of the shopfront, nothing more.

Networking might be a decent idea as a fair few solicitors/legal individuals tend to stalk these areas. Personally, was not for me, but I am a different market.

Agarwood has pretty much nailed that tbf

 

[bmt Promotions]

Google Adwords can be the best solution to get more leads for your business.

 

[ClaireMJ]

I think you really need to think about your target market and break it down into segments. For example, solicitors, is it fair to assume they already have a provider for the services you offer? If so where is your opportunity? Is it the decision makers who think their current providers are too expensive, not doing the job well enough, not acting quickly enough, communicating well enough? Could you do a campaign that gets a message in front of them to sow or capitalise on that seed of doubt. Then start to think through the others in your target market, do they have a provider you need to compete against or do they not use services like yours, if not why not and why would they need you? What are there wants, needs, what is the problem they have that you can solve?

Once you have a good idea of the different types of people you need to reach and what's gonna make them want to engage with you, you can then start to determine the best ways to reach them and the best way to word your Web copy, seo, direct emails, phone calls, adwords etc.

Seo is an affordable solution that you can do a reasonable job of yourself with a bit of research and some savvy. Adwords is targeted and low cost. Facebook allows you to lazer target and achieve very low costs per click. You can also create lookalike audience modelled against the people who have previously interacted with you. Networking is always recomended, especially where you need to surplant an existing supplier! If people are happy with a supplier it can sometimes be hard to get them to engage with you, but if you come with a personal recommendation...

Sorry about the long ramble, but hopefully there might be something useful in there!

 

[omicloud]

You need a perfect website and Facebook Ads only.

 

[Ginger Egg]

Alongside your paid search campaign you should work on your search engine optimisation.

 

[Breffni Potter]

This thread feels like a myriad of one liners without much substance behind them.

Regardless of which method you use (there are many) - In order to help you, I need to understand who you most want to speak to inside one of those organisations. Identify who you most want to reach with your sales or marketing, Are solicitors the right person or is there an admin manager in the back office who sources potential investigators for them? If you do want solicitors, can you narrow it down more, what size firm, any specialities in law? Etc.

 

[Ginger Egg]

Linkedin marketing is a good shout

 

[Wood Flooring Guy]

Facebook might not be a bad place to try, you can target specific backgrounds and jobs etc…

We do it for our wood flooring business and we can set radius for locals…..quiet good, as it really does generate more enquiries for us.

You can try with a small budget of £100 and see if it works for you. Someone in your business network should be able to set it up for you, or know someone who can.


Regards
Dave