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I recently (read: last week) started the following business:

[Business Name] is a small business IT consulting firm. We specialize in the use of Open Source Software by small businesses. Open Source Software allows a small business to lower their IT costs, while keeping their productivity the same. In fact, in some cases the change to Open Source Software can actually increase a businesses productivity.

You may be asking "What is Open Source Software though?". This is what The Open Source Initiative (OSI) has to say on the subject:

"Open source is a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in."

~ The Open Source Initiative (OSI)

As you may have noticed, this is a local, niche business... At the moment, no one in Austin, TX (our location) knows this business exists.

How do I change that on a shoe-string budget? I already tried posting to Craigslist, but the post was buried in less than an hour, and I didn't get any calls/emails.

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How do I pick just one answer as "correct"? They all have useful information... – Kevin Soviero Sep 30 '11 at 4:35
So you're a software consultant specializing in open source software solutions? Maybe explaining it in a way that businesses will understand. – DustinDavis Oct 8 '11 at 17:35
It seems like you're a hacker who's missing the marketing gene. Try marketingforhackers.com – Hartley Brody Dec 13 '11 at 22:52

3 Answers

up vote 5 down vote accepted

Not to be sarcastic, but what else have you tried? You really need to initiate personal contacts (and a lot of them) in order to market a business like this locally and you need to market the "crap" out of your business and your value proposition. Figure out exactly how you help your clients, what makes you the best choice, and then really push it.

Chamber of Commerce networking, Rotary, and business lead sharing networks like Le Tip and BNI are all appropriate to drum up local small business clientele.

Plus, I searched for your business with your apparent tagline "We specialize in the use of Open Source Software by small businesses" in quotes and I found absolutely nothing. Do you have a website with your mission stated clearly on the home page?

For local marketing of a B2B type business catering to general business I would favor the meatspace marketing tactics of talking to lots and lots of locals, over putting a lot of time and effort into internet marketing. Every geek thinks they're going to win business by hiding behind a screen and enhancing their SEO. This works for long tail stuff that can be sold remotely and for products, but not for personally delivered services.

To go after the small business market you probably need to market very aggressively, with standard package pricing that makes your services look like a sort of product. IE: so much per business and per employee to put the company on FOSS office tools, train the workers, integrate everything, and migrate data over from whatever the place is using now.

Just some ideas.

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+1 Not a bad list and I agree about the meeting space over the internet marketing ... though you need something when people go looking to qualify you. – Robin Vessey Sep 30 '11 at 3:52
+1 for "Packages". Packages are popular because you can roll up a bunch of "non sense" into a laser focused solution that solves XYZ for $ABC – DustinDavis Oct 8 '11 at 17:36
There's pros and cons. A package price is really a fixed bid, which reassures the prospect that costs will not run away. But packages always feel "transactional" - similar to product sales, or like one shot deals - as though once you are done, there is no more working relationship. It would be best if the package "got your foot in the door" with particular clients, and you developed referrals and business down stream from those new relationships. In the instance of selling a FOSS migration you could provide support and service after the fact. – user2757 Oct 9 '11 at 18:35
up vote 2 down vote

There is potentially a very long list which summerises as "find prospects who are local and put your pitch to them".

Working out who is going to be interested ... thats a big one and another set of questions from you, the rest assumes you know who your target market actually is ...

Some ways to go about finding local prospects:

If you are on LinkedIn their advanced search allows you to specify "within 50 miles(80 kms) of me". You can put in job titles and some other "qualifiers". This will give you a starting hit list, which you can use to start with. If you save the search LinkedIn will email you any new people within your 3 degrees of seperation. For each real candidate create a semi-personalised spam (i mean message) and either email (cheap) or mail (generally more effective). Part of the message is that you will give them a followup call next week ... you ring, you ask for the person by name, you get a chance to book a meeting. (Don't try to sell over the phone it won't work, your local, be local).

Networking

  • Have a look on MeetUp.com for networking events in your city, turn up, talk to people, hand out lots of business cards. If there isn't one try starting one.
  • Ask on Twitter for events and meetings in the local area, they will start to show up for you.
  • Local councils often have events that you can attend, as do universities.
  • There area a lot of startup events springing up everywhere, these usually cost the non-presenter but they are a good source of leads.

Tell all of your friends (but not constantly), a bit about what you do but more who you are looking for ... it might trigger something for someone.

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The Twitter point might not work for him because that would take him longer to get customers. His first focus should be getting some customers first! Also, startup events might not be a worth it. Everything else however is very applicable. – BhargavPatel Sep 30 '11 at 3:58
Very good advice about leveraging LinkedIn. LinkedIn is always useful as a research tool to identify key players. However, my own experience is that very few people check their LinkedIn messages regularly, so its usefulness as a messaging platform is questionable. – user2757 Sep 30 '11 at 17:07
I wasn't using it as a messaging platform, just the starting point for who to target. The advanced search tells you enough so you can take it from there outside of linked in – Robin Vessey Oct 1 '11 at 1:56
up vote 1 down vote

You are a consulting firm? Why are you scared of meeting people in person? You should meet your potential customers in person. Goto their office and pitch what you have to offer.

Do some research, study case studies how other companies profited from switching to open source. Collect some data, present it in a visual way.

THIS IS A LOCAL BUSINESS, YOU SHOULD START LOCALLY! You don't even need to have a website like a user said when you get your first couple of clients. Make your website when you have something to display..

If you decide to make a website even though you have no clients, put the presentation and the data I was talking about on the website.

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