Creating a Marketing Company (continued)

This post will be a continuation of the previous post “How to Start a Marketing Company.”  Today I will dive a little more into the steps needs to be taken to form a marketing company.

I never touched the topic of education in the previous post and feel as though it needs to be mentioned. For me, many topics were studied before finally reaching my decision to become a graphic designer.  I studied business for a semester at Arizona State University, entrepreneurship for two years at the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC, two years of Architecture at the University of Arkansas and finally finished my degree in graphic design/web design.  Although it took me longer to finish my degree than most, I realize now how important each school and major were in my decision to start and operate a successful marketing company.  I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely necessary to earn your degree in marketing or graphic design, but by learning business first and applying it to design, I feel as though I have a great understanding of how to apply creative, artistic ideas to real-world business problems.  If you do follow a different route through college, or don’t take college courses at all, there are plenty of resources on-line that will teach you everything you need to know about business related design.

Since I got that out of the way and feel better that I at least touched the idea of education, I’ll get back to the facts about starting a business.  Word of mouth can go a long way in the business world.  In the beginning, and still to this day, referrals are my main source of new business.  Whether it be satisfied customers, family, friends, or colleagues referrals are the fuel to a growing business.  Unfortunately, there are so many business out there that don’t realize the importance of customer service.  With all the competition out there today, bending over backwards for your customer is essential.  It’s your job to treat your customer with as much respect as possible because, to be quite honest, they put the meal on your table and the shirt on your back.  With satisfied customers come referrals, treat these customers the same and with them you get more referrals and so on.  This method seems so simple, so basic, and for some reason, businesses fail to realize this time and time again.  The businesses have a short life span, a plan with a foreseeable end.  Therefore, if you’re looking to open up your own business, realize that superior customer service is absolutely, positively, essential.

Following these steps will have your business running and growing.  Keep marketing your business, even when business is booming.  Earn the customer’s respect and gain referrals from their satisfaction.  Spread the word about your business any way you can by attending seminars, meetings at your local chamber of commerce, networking events and so on.  Whatever method you choose to market, make sure you’re dominating that method, making sure your consistent with the target market you are reaching, the number of times you are hitting that market and that your providing an enticing, fresh call-to-action each time. I will return to this topic in the near future, but will beginning a discussion on web design next time.

Thanks