Business Marketing

[ICT Accomplished]

Hi guys, I was wondering has anybody got any good tips on how to promote an IT buisness. I have used business cards and covering letters, and our website is not yet complete. Any suggestions would be a great help. Is there anybody who works on local radio in the Liverpool area then please reply to this thread and maybe we can arrange something.


P.S.
If there is anybody in the Liverpool area that requires any IT services then feel free to give us a call. We offer completley FREE advice and guidance. If we think we can help you get more out of your IT equipment and set up then we will do all we can to make it happen.

Tel No: 07958913158 (Ask For Colin)

Many thanks

Colin Noon (Director and Secreatry of ICT Accomplished)

[Vertigo_Web_Design]

Firstly get your web site sorted (I'm a web designer myself not that I'm pitching for work :-), though I'm happy to offer you advice if you need any). By sorted I don't just mean a great site but get a company who'll market your site for you propertly. If you only thinkabout design you may end up having a great site but no-one will see it if it's not marketed properly. Search Engine Optimiastion is number 1, ask a company howl they'll market your site, they're are plenty of great free ways, if they can't rattle of a load they don't know what they're doing. Just as a note I wouldn't trust anyone IT related if there site wasn't up to scratch, just simply because it doesn't look good and it doesn't take much thinking about why, but then that goes for any company for me!

Secondly, focus on networking. Networking particularly works well for service based companies like ours. Join BNI if you can afford the cash. For the internet visit a site called ecademy.com, you can get free membership for a month, basic membership is if I remember correctly (?) about £5 a month. You basicly have a profile, here's mine (http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?userid=timhawkins), and you get to mix with people like yourself.

If your a start up get in contact with your local council, they will pay for you to get some free advice, which can be a chore but at the end of the process you get to apply for council grants - www.businesslinks.gov.uk is the place to find out more...

Traditional advertising works for products or traditional services best. It makes sense, if you can buy a product which is cheaper or better somewhere else it makes sense. With IT and Web Design it's much more complicated than that, it tends to be not what you know but who you know!

Hope that helps you.

Regards

Tim

[ICT Accomplished]

Hi Tim, Thanks for the advice it was a great help. We are already in the middle of receiving business advice from Knowlsey CBED (excellent advice and guidance may I add). We are in the process of deciding what to do with our website, in terms of designing our own or getting it designed for us. As we are only just starting up we are not the most financially blessed and would need a relativley cheap website if we go down that route. What would be an acceptable price for a website and possible maintenance?

Hope to hear from you soon

Colin Noon (ICT Accomplished)