Moving to the Next Level

[tmikiciuk]

I own a(hopefully) emerging web dev/marketing company on the east side.

The point we are at now is that the work is slowing down and we would like to take this to the next level and obtain some larger, guaranteed long-term clients. We are in the perfect location where great IT people are easy to find. We simply need the clients.

I am having troubling developing a B2B marketing campaign. In our industry, word of mouth is everything. I have considered PPC campaigns however I am predicting that people searching for "website design company" are not the type of clients we are targeting.

So for my hypothetical, when I see that a web dev company has done website work for Coca Cola, are they directly pursuing them? or is Coca Cola somehow finding the web dev company?
And if Coke is directly calling up that company, how do they determine that that specific company is the one that they may want to call up?

Any insight will be great!

[KDLA]

It's a little of both, being pursued, and being the pursuer.

Many times (here at least, because we contract so much stuff out), we look at websites, find the ones we like, then look for the credits at the bottom of the screen and contact that company for a consultation to inform them about our needs and find out what they can do for us.

One way to get a diverse client base is to look for contract possibilities with either web hosting or marketing companies. (A sort of affiliate program, where you promote each other's services.) If you get on their "recommended vendors" list, then it's highly likely you'll be sought out by their clients.

Another thing is to look for possibilities serving the government sector. Most governmental entities are required to post proposals for companies to respond to. Also, if you apply to be a governmental vendor, you'll be on a list to be considered for any governmental job based on your "niche" services. Also, governmental jobs tend to run on a contract basis, with optional renewal of services.

KDLA

[tmikiciuk]

Thanks for your quick reply.
The partnering will definitely end up being key for us in the future. We actually have one official partner right now from the Document Management industry which I can foresee directing many clients our way. As for the gov't sector, that's definitely something I am going to look more into after we narrow down what our niche services are.

In the case of partnering with companies in other industries, I would assume some industry combinations work better than others. It would be interesting to develop a partnership with a company that is in a complete opposite industry and somehow make it work.

So most people are finding their potential web dev companies by either:
1)----Word of Mouth
2)----The "Website designed/maintained by ....." type of link at the bottom of websites that they may like
3)----Referral via partner (which assumes that they are currently doing business with one of my partners)
4)----???Is this it?

[KDLA]

I wouldn't say that's it, but it's my experience based on my current employer, which is a quasi -government agency/non-profit organization.

Another thing I've done to get freelance jobs is to participate in community organizations, such as arts groups, clubs, churches, etc. These are the small organizations which will usually need a website for free at some point, but if you do a really good job, you can get "real" business or referrals from members who work for larger organizations/companies. You can make MANY connections just by attending meetings and being friendly. :)

KDLA

[tmikiciuk]

I'm not sure if you misunderstood me or not but the second sentence on the first post of this thread was "The point we are at now is that the work is slowing down and we would like to take this to the next level and obtain some larger, guaranteed long-term clients."
I am not a freelancer looking for small freelance work. We have many, many expert, experienced developers lined up and we need large, long term clients. We are way past the point of doing anything for free or for a small amount of money. The purpose of my post was to ultimately determine a campaign to get large clients via determining how a large company goes through the process of hiring a web dev firm to handle their rather large scale site.

[KDLA]

Yes, but large companies are made up of local folks, who are the best way to get the large company contracts. If you can make a presence in a community through its organizations, you get to know the people who work for these large companies and get leads on jobs. Perhaps this approach is a little too "grass roots" for you, but it's a legitimate way to get large work -- which some of my freelance jobs are.

KDLA