Other Businesses & MODx

I don’t know if there is a recipe for successful marketing, Pete (might seem strange, from the marketing guy )

Indeed I would add my voice to Ryan’s : people, direct contact and referrals work the best... I have gone freelance just 9 months ago and half of my business if from people I already knew before I launched, about a third of my business is from my online activities (especially my being a well know figure on the biggest CMS french forum : 2 contracts are straight from my post there, people coming to me The fact that I am pretty active and part of the team at MODx also helps I confess), and the rest is my first referrals.

As you say, referrals are a big part of the game. My hope is, it will grow over time but I must say I am pretty surprised that my online activities only have gotten me two contracts, one of them being my biggest hit so far But the french market is not the british or american market : there is competition, but the competition is technologically not as up to date as it is on your side of the ocean. For instance web standards are gaining grounds, but only 15, maybe 20% professionnals are building standard compliant website thus it’s easy to add an advantage over competition on this one. Also, modern CMS are far less used by web agencies and freelance in France, it makes selling MODx quite easier for me

Anyway, Edge, I don’t know what traditionnal marketing is supposed to be, but I am not sure there are recipes aside from being a good communicator, a people’s person and a passionated pro. Business is trust, and people will trust you if you believe in what you do and you’re able to explain it in their language, understanding their perspective...

Quote from: davidm at Jan 24, 2007, 02:41 PM

aside from being a good communicator, a people’s person and a passionated pro. Business is trust, and people will trust you if you believe in what you do and you’re able to explain it in their language, understanding their perspective...

I think you’ve just described the most important elements there are in marketing your business there. Anything else is jsut window dressing

Yeah well, I kind of believe in "honnest marketing" so to speak.
If you want to be convincing, be really conviced first

Seems obvious, but...

Yup, there’s a vast multitude of businesses out there who believe too much in being formal and closed off. Being passionate about something you enjoy and believe in is more important in my book.

Keep in mind that your target audience may not be as up to speed and web savvy... in most cases in fact. It may be a business owner or someone within the business who has been tasked with the project of finding someone to develop, maintain, or modify the existing website. Most won’t know where to look or search, or more importantly, have any idea what they are looking at or searching for... so they rely on who they know who can either handle it or know someone who can. This may or may not mean they end up with someone who really knows what they are doing, which explains why there are still tons of bad sites being created everyday... on all sides of the ocean

Good points indeed.

Maybe it explains why I got quite a bit of business from a forum which is central point in the french CMS world, so much so that people in charge of finding a solution for their company’s website look there at some point or another... People will be attracted to the "up to speed" stuff if you constantly demonstrate why it’s simply better for business and from a business perspective... something I am pretty well prepared to do, my previous professionnal life being business processes optimization and Total Quality Management Kind of used to talk to managers and CEOs, understand their POV and it helps a great deal (can’t hurt to indulge in some bragging sometimes )

Quote from: identity at Jan 24, 2007, 05:02 PM

This may or may not mean they end up with someone who really knows what they are doing, which explains why there are still tons of bad sites being created everyday... on all sides of the ocean

I’ve noticed lately a few posts from people who got stuck with unfinished or broken sites because their developer is no longer available for one reason or another.

Quote from: sottwell at Jan 25, 2007, 12:25 AM

I’ve noticed lately a few posts from people who got stuck with unfinished or broken sites because their developer is no longer available for one reason or another.

Unfortunately, the ease at which one can become, or at least declare themselves, a web designer/developer is sometimes a negative on the industry. I think there are a lot of people who created their own site either out of interest, hobby, or need, or a site for their club or something, had fun and decide that they can do this as a business.

On one hand, the quality of work may be very low, and on the other hand, they may be juggling it with their real job and not have the vested interest or the professionalism that they should... so you end up with people dropping projects, no longer helping their clients, or just disappearing all together.

More unfortunate, clients don’t always think, "Well, maybe I shouldn’t have been looking for cheapest price around," or some other crazy thought, but instead, walk away believing that all designers/developers are like this.

I think a lot of this, and the reason that most look to referrals, is that this is all still very new to a lot of people outside the industry. They may be much more web savvy as users, but a lot of people are still very new when it comes to the making and operation of a website and don’t even know what questions to ask... and I think a lot of designers/developers prefer this... keeps it all a mystery, increases dependence, and if they aren’t using best practices, not a worry since the client doesn’t know the difference anyway.