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Let’s face it. Not everyone needs a fancy website. And when I say “fancy”, I really mean a custom-designed and coded website, with a lot of strategy and planning behind. While, of course, there’s a huge brand value in all of that, however, sometimes you just need to get the word out about your business and start rolling with it.
You may be a start up or perhaps you are testing a new business idea. So, what do you do then? You don’t want to put all of your (marketing) eggs into one basket, right? You have many priorities, and website design may not be one of them. (Not the fancy one. anyhow.) Here are a few ideas to get you started while you are growing. I know this may sounds counter productive, why I would send you away from Cucumber and encourage you not to build a custom website. The thing is, there’re many things you can (and should) do when growing a business, and website design may not be the priority at a certain stage of the growth. Perhaps, marketing strategy or branding is more important?
Let’s see when this rule applies, and when it’s more of an exception. The truth is, it all goes down to your marketing budget. So, let’s see what you can do and where you should put your eggs… I mean priorities as your company grows.
If your marketing budget is under $7,000
There’re many cool crowd-sourcing design and marketing solutions, where you will be offered web design and branding help – quick and easy, to get things started. I’ve heard good things (for this purpose) about sites such as Design Pickle (I know! 🙂 and Fiverr. While you won’t get custom work, nevertheless these folks will get your show on the road.
If your marketing budget is over $10,000
Now, you definitely want to look at the most important pieces of your marketing arsenal – your website and your brand’s representation. Ask yourself – do you have a modern logo, do you have consistency in how your brand is represented? And does your website really work for your business? If the answer is no, then this is where you want to get started. I don’t want to sound contradicting, but your website is your most important “marketing portal”. Get it all in order, and have your website working, supporting your business’s objectives today.
You get what you pay for, so if you have the budget, this will be well worth it.
If your marketing budget is $30,000 and up
At this point you can start thinking of marketing and online advertising. As always, go from your business objectives and find the most profitable marketing channel for you. Make sure you can track the results. Setup conversions, so you can have a solid data to back up all of your marketing moves. Google AdWords and AdRoll (as well as Social Paid Advertising) are our some of our favourites.
Depending on your current conversion rate and your sales cycle – you should be able to find the perfect solution for your industry.
If your budget is $60,000 and up, now you can start adding social media into the mix to get your brand known and loved. Social media is amazing for brand reach and brand awareness, however it doesn’t necessarily result in direct sales right away, so if you are not looking at building a brand, don’t worry about social media (for now).
As you see, “there’s an app for that”… there’re different marketing solutions for different stages of business growth.
Curious what we would prescribe your growing business for most nutritious ROI? Give us a shout or stop by our (Marketing) Greenhouse in the heart of Vancouver.
P.S. We always have chocolate!
Happy Growing!