Some things are so obvious they kind of just hit you in the face. I don’t know if I’ve ever thought about this strategy before in any depth (I may have. I have such a bad memory that I struggle with my own name most days).
I subscribe to a ton of magazines, newsletter and periodicals. All part of the effort to keep up to date with things – one of my favourite things to keep up to date is – Google Alerts – just enter what topic you want to be notified about and every bit of news that comes out about the subject will be sent your way in a neat little condensed email.
Anyway, one of the better magazines I receive is called ‘Australian Net Guide’. It’s a magazine devoted to all things Internet.
One of the regular features they run is what’s called “Web Makeover”.
Bit like ‘Queer Eye For The Straight Guy” except they makeover ugly web sites.
In the last issue the “Makeover Specialists” took an ugly and ineffective site and made it… well, they made it a different sort of ugly and a different sort of ineffective.
But that’s not the point of this story. The point was this:
Being the “Makeover Specialist” – writing about making bad web sites good – is the perfect gig for any person running a web design/development firm. It’s the perfect way to attract new customers.
- Demonstrates your expertise (your design/development skills)
- Credibility – you’re writer, so you must be good (please note: that’s true for me!! Trust me, I’m a man.)
Mentioned It Not To Be Offensive
And I mentioned that the “Makeover Specialists” in the magazine took an ugly and ineffective site and made it a different sort of ugly and a different sort of ineffective not to be offensive. But because I looked at what they had done and thought to myself – “That’s not good. I could do better than that.”
And if I can, then you can too.
In an old blog I talked about the 3 main marketing strategies being:
- Advertising
- Referral
- PR
Writing a feature article in a magazine covers all 3 of those aspects perfectly
- An article is like one enormous advertisement for your services
- Writing an article is hugely credible – it’s like the magazine saying “This person is the best at what they do and can be trusted.” That’s great ‘word of mouth’.
- PR – what’s better than writing about what you do and how you do it to an audience that perceives you as an expert.
My suggestion: any web designer or developer reading this should immediately go to their local Newsagent and buy every magazine or newspaper that remotely deals with the web. Ring up every editor and make a pitch for you to provide a feature article on “Super Web Makeovers”.
That’s a sure fire way to attract more clients (from the magazine readership) and increase the perception of your expertise.
I can’t believe I haven’t thought of this before!
Cheers
