EightBlack.

We took a “time-out” about 90 days ago. To think. To try and understand what we really do.

I think all businesses should do this.

Originally, when I set off down the consulting practice road, I thought it made sense to focus on what the rest of the industry was doing, after all that was what we had invested a lot in learning about.

Things like Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and to a degree, web development (ie design and building).

But if I look back at the last 6 months or so, what we “really” work on and what we said we’re good at is poles apart.

Let me explain.

For the most part, we have a great relationship with our clients. I’d like to think we understand their business.

I think good marketers - and good “vendors” - (I actually hate that term, but it will do for now), good “partners” are actually are able to hone in quickly at what the current problems the clients business is facing.

You only have to ask and the client will normally go on for hours - if you’ll let them.

The stuff we’re working on now is viral marketing, application development and a major SEO project.

The first 2 things are things we dont even reference in our credentials (maybe we should).

Thats one of the reasons I tore down our old website and engaged Greg Marshall from The Marshall Group to completely overhaul our branding and positioning.

Could I do this myself? Perhaps.

Could I do it as well as Greg. Definitely not.

But back to the original thread of this story.

We’re working on stuff now that I never thought we would. And you know what. We’re enjoying the projects more, they’re more profitable and the client sees real value.

The SMS application we’ve built for Hutchison has been going on now for some 18 months and shows no sign of abating. I’m pleased to say that the technical team at Hutchison see us as integration and technology partners, not web developers or online consultants.

Sometimes your clients will know what you do better than you.

More importantly, the sooner you get away from commodity marketing, the better you will be.

We’ve got an up and coming Technology Workshop for Australia Post this month. And you can be sure we wont be going in there telling them what we are good at and showcasing our credentials or abilities.

I think the smartest thing we can do is to go and to listen what the senior managers at Aussie Post percieve their problems are, where they think the pain is and what threats they feel the business is facing.

Because if you can get to this point in a commercial relationship and marketing, you rarely have to worry about competing on price or being treated as a commodity player.

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 2nd, 2006 at 8:52 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.