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Thread: New Design Package/Annual Reassessment/Niche targeting/etc!

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    Gold Member Mark Atkinson's Avatar
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    Lightbulb New Design Package/Annual Reassessment/Niche targeting/etc!

    Novel Alert!

    Hi TFSA'ers,

    So now that I'm done with my exams, I am back to committing fully to my businesses! (Yep, holiday? What's that?! )

    During our annual reassessment of the direction in which we are heading with our businesses, we've decided to sort of "reinvent" our purpose and image within the web and corporate design market.

    Seeing as my passion is entrepreneurship and growing businesses, we've decided to realign ourselves with that niche/target market. We've adjusted our packages and marketing to better serve entrepreneurs such as ourselves. This change was inspired by a great book by Michael Port entitled "Book Yourself Solid", wherein he suggests working only with people who bring out the best in you, who share similar passions and interests and who don't rub you up the wrong way!

    Our biggest move in this "rebirth" of Site Fusion has been to introduce a design package targeting this niche which is almost certainly unmatched by any design company in the country.

    Our entrepreneurs/small business design package includes:

    1) Our standard corporate design package: A logo, letterhead and business card design.
    2) Our basic web design package (10 pages, designed in Joomla! to minimalise the need for the client to pay for extra labour from us in the long term)
    3) 1 hour free maintenance on the site per month for a year and a free domain, provided the client hosts with us at R65 per month.

    We offer this package (which, adding the individual value of each component of the package, totals R8900) for R4499.
    We think this is great incentive for new businesses to get their image/identity out there. A website these days is most certainly a must! We offer this package to any business (even old ones) who wish to reinvent themselves/their image.

    What I'd like to know from you guys is:


    1) What do you think of the package?
    2) Do you follow a similar process in your businesses, whereby you reassess where your business is going on a regular basis and adjust accordingly?
    3) Do you target niche markets and attempt to become the best in your niche?
    4) Do you think having one "special" such as ours at an unbelievably reduced price is a good method of driving in business in other areas too, via word of mouth etc?
    5) Do you think all the above is just a whole load of hogwash and that none of it has anything to do with the success of your business?


    The reason I ask these questions is to, firstly, organise things logically in my own mind while providing food for thought to other members of the forum and, secondly, gauge which of the information I've taken in recently is good and which of it is drivel (I try to read a lot of books/reports by "experts" in the various fields about which I am passionate).

    Please provide your opinions!

    (Also, Dave, at first this was meant to be merely a thread promoting our new package in the ads/spam *cough* forum, but I attempted to turn it into something informative and thought provoking instead. If you feel I failed miserably with that, please move it to the appropriate forum. )

  2. #2
    Moderator IanF's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Atkinson View Post
    Novel Alert!

    Our entrepreneurs/small business design package includes:

    1) Our standard corporate design package: A logo, letterhead and business card design.
    2) Our basic web design package (10 pages, designed in Joomla! to minimalise the need for the client to pay for extra labour from us in the long term)
    3) 1 hour free maintenance on the site per month for a year and a free domain, provided the client hosts with us at R65 per month.

    We offer this package (which, adding the individual value of each component of the package, totals R8900) for R4499.
    We think this is great incentive for new businesses to get their image/identity out there. A website these days is most certainly a must! We offer this package to any business (even old ones) who wish to reinvent themselves/their image.

    What I'd like to know from you guys is:


    1) What do you think of the package?
    2) Do you follow a similar process in your businesses, whereby you reassess where your business is going on a regular basis and adjust accordingly?
    3) Do you target niche markets and attempt to become the best in your niche?
    4) Do you think having one "special" such as ours at an unbelievably reduced price is a good method of driving in business in other areas too, via word of mouth etc?
    5) Do you think all the above is just a whole load of hogwash and that none of it has anything to do with the success of your business?
    Hi Mark
    I have never had any luck with putting together packages. I did one a few years ago were letterheads, business cards compliment slips, flyers and pads were offered. If more than one was chosen then a 10% discount if 2 chosen, 15% if 3 chosen etc. I had one sale and they have never bought from us again.
    Things that work are word of mouth and offer unusual products that your competitors think are a waste.
    One of our bestsellers are kwikfolders (presentation folders), why minimum order 10 and takes 1 working day. But to get there a lot of time was spent developing this and money spent on stock and equipment to be able to do this.
    So maybe look at something others steer clear of like shopping carts add a customised game or crossword.
    Go with your gut feel and remember it was only after testing thousands of filaments Edison got the light bulb to work.
    Only stress when you can change the outcome!

  3. #3
    Gold Member Mark Atkinson's Avatar
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    Thanks for your input, Ian

    Contrary to your experiences, we've found packages to be central to our business/marketing strategy. In the web design industry the most logical way to arrange services and products is in packages.

    Also, the Edison analogy is too true, it's how we learn and become successful. We are more than willing to try different things out. If they fail, no worries, it's just back to the drawing board.

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    I'm not surprised package deals work well in the new website business. Most folk of the older generation haven't a clue where to start when it comes to putting up their first website - and it still should be a big market.

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    Gold Member Mark Atkinson's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave A View Post
    I'm not surprised package deals work well in the new website business. Most folk of the older generation haven't a clue where to start when it comes to putting up their first website - and it still should be a big market.
    The problem is the web design market is saturated. We have to keep finding new and innovative ways to stay ahead of the game. This is one of the reasons for us moving towards the entrepreneurial niche and creating unbeatable offers for that segment of the market.

    If you try to target the whole web design market, your marketing efforts are diluted and we've found we don't see much success. Time will only tell whether this move will benefit us.

    One needs to do something to keep the customers coming through the doors.

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