How to start a digital media company?

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JasonTexas

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hopefully, the title itself would have grabbed your attention. please excuse the poor grammar.

I've seen numerous posts on BHW about starting own SEO company for SMB.. so this is where the post was inspired from...

I want to start a digital media company, help local businesses with
  • web design
  • SEO
  • social media management
  • videos
  • photo editing
I know roughly how to do the basics on this all but I was wondering if anybody out there does this already and would or even could give me some tips on getting this done.
I plan on outsourcing most of the work so I can look at driving clients (not sure if that makes sense).

my questions to you...
How do you find and qualify the customers in your area? is it basic research or?
How do you determine the best people to outsource your work for?
If there is little competition around you how would you price?

I hope that you can contact me and give a newbie a helping hand and also gain some friends on here :)

JasonTexas
 
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First, you need to focus on potential clients that can pay you. Hint: those businesses that are selling higher end products or services. Businesses operating on small margins will be constantly shopping your prices or complaining that you are not generating enough business for you.

Second, be careful who you outsource to, you will lose what clients you do have very fast once it is apparent that the quality is not up to the same standards as a local provider who does the work themselves even if a slightly higher price.

Third, your prices need to in line with the prevailing rate of mid-level professionals in your area. Example, as a rule of thumb estimate number of hours involved in the task and multiply by something in the range of $25-$50 an hour.

At least that is what works for us and we do work all over Texas. I don't outsource this kind of work, it goes to my in-house staff.
 
IMTopgun said:
First, you need to focus on potential clients that can pay you. Hint: those businesses that are selling higher end products or services. Businesses operating on small margins will be constantly shopping your prices or complaining that you are not generating enough business for you.

Second, be careful who you outsource to, you will lose what clients you do have very fast once it is apparent that the quality is not up to the same standards as a local provider who does the work themselves even if a slightly higher price.

Third, your prices need to in line with the prevailing rate of mid-level professionals in your area. Example, as a rule of thumb estimate number of hours involved in the task and multiply by something in the range of $25-$50 an hour.

At least that is what works for us and we do work all over Texas. I don't outsource this kind of work, it goes to my in-house staff.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for this!
I was thinking of targeting car dealerships, accountants, lawyers, etc?

I've been searching the forum for the last few days (SEO packages) and I get sceptical sometimes if they can deliver regardless on a number of views they get.. am I over thinking this aha?

that makes so much sense with the pricing that has helped a lot!!! thank you. I plan to start the business in September because I'm actually going to work at a summer camp in texas (I'm from the UK) so I'm glad that a Texan has replied because I see it as a good sign with decisions I make :)
 
You have a good plan in place as long as you get good outsourcing services. Like @IMTopgun said, you have to be sure the people/company you outsource work to can deliver on what they say.

The one thing you will need to overcome is getting new clients. I'll tell you right now that lawyers get at least 5-10 solicitations per week - and they've been getting them for probably 5+ years now. You'll be lucky to even make it past the gate keeper. You'll have to come up with a creative approach in 2017 that will work. A lot of the methods here on cold calling/reaching out etc. are good but have been overplayed by everyone over the years. This will be your biggest hurdle.

If you're not going to start until September I'd try and put some feelers out there and start talking to people. Go to the local starbucks or somewhere and just start short conversations with people and pick their brains. Be clear up front you're not trying to sell them something but just doing research. They'll be more apt to open up and tell you what they think. A lot of them will be very defensive and not want to talk - if that's the case, this is what you'll have to deal with x1000 when you try to actually get them to open up their checkbook.

Another thing you can do now is start working on your own site. I love when IM people solicit my clients (I get their emails too) and they claim they can do this and that - I look them up and their metrics and ranking are trash. Granted, IM people would know more about metrics and what not but it gives you a little boost when you can confidently walk into a business and say "Google keyword" and your company pops up.

Good luck.
 
propipper said:
You have a good plan in place as long as you get good outsourcing services. Like @IMTopgun said, you have to be sure the people/company you outsource work to can deliver on what they say.

The one thing you will need to overcome is getting new clients. I'll tell you right now that lawyers get at least 5-10 solicitations per week - and they've been getting them for probably 5+ years now. You'll be lucky to even make it past the gate keeper. You'll have to come up with a creative approach in 2017 that will work. A lot of the methods here on cold calling/reaching out etc. are good but have been overplayed by everyone over the years. This will be your biggest hurdle.

If you're not going to start until September I'd try and put some feelers out there and start talking to people. Go to the local starbucks or somewhere and just start short conversations with people and pick their brains. Be clear up front you're not trying to sell them something but just doing research. They'll be more apt to open up and tell you what they think. A lot of them will be very defensive and not want to talk - if that's the case, this is what you'll have to deal with x1000 when you try to actually get them to open up their checkbook.

Another thing you can do now is start working on your own site. I love when IM people solicit my clients (I get their emails too) and they claim they can do this and that - I look them up and their metrics and ranking are trash. Granted, IM people would know more about metrics and what not but it gives you a little boost when you can confidently walk into a business and say "Google keyword" and your company pops up.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

WOW! thanks so much for this insight!! completely didn't think about how many people approach the lawyers around here!!
Would you know any idea how I can tell a good service from a bad one on BHW? or will i have to be ballsy and choose?
 
JasonTexas said:
WOW! thanks so much for this insight!! completely didn't think about how many people approach the lawyers around here!!
Would you know any idea how I can tell a good service from a bad one on BHW? or will i have to be ballsy and choose?
Click to expand...

No problem. As far as getting services from BHW the best thing you can do is do research and use common sense. I've gotten a few services here but haven't done so lately because we're now able to do everything ourselves. Check the history of the user, user feedback, how quickly they reply to communications (both here and on Skype, email, etc).

If you have a service that looks good but you're still not sure, get the service but direct it towards a Tier 1 site or different domain. Get the service, make sure everything was delivered as promise and then wait. Wait for a while to see how SERPs react, make sure the link(s) stays active, etc. If it's been a while and everything looks good, you can either 301 the domain or make that an additional money site. Nothing wrong with having 2 sites working for you at the same time. We do that for every niche - not only 2 sites but more because if one drops or you do something stupid, you have another already waiting to take its place.

Good luck and feel free to post questions in here once you start getting closer to pulling the trigger.
 
There's only one thing you NEED to start, a client. Everything else you can figure out as you go. Find a small business that needs a comprehensive digital marketing/sales solution (you'll have to be the low-cost leader for awhile, sorry that's the downside to bootstrapping) honestly this strategy hasn't changed in several hundred years -- only the output changes. -- good luck!

Regards,
Phoebe
 
Find an accountant or attorney who has business clients ...give them a coupon
and give them great refferal fees and you'll be flooded with business

This low cost leader mentality will have you broke and living like shit
 
cynic said:
Find an accountant or attorney who has business clients ...give them a coupon
and give them great refferal fees and you'll be flooded with business

This low cost leader mentality will have you broke and living like shit
Click to expand...

wow this is awsome!!! thanks do you mind if we connect on skype..?
 
If you have a long time 5+ projects also trusted clients you can start a small company with a limited budget. Once you started doing more you should establish your website as more.
 
If you don't know of an answer those questions you probably shouldn't attempt this. It's really difficult to get any business started. Iv seen a lot of seo postings on other forums and Craigslist but companies hire people that know what you are capable of. If you have someone else doing it there is a high chance that they could screw up an order or they also don't know what they are doing. It's too hard and too risky and it would be better to do something else
 
You might enjoy the article linked in my signature. I focus on sales and outsourcing vs. spending time on tedious tasks.
 
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