While I wasn't watching, something wonderful happened at 30dps—we went from being a local marketing and advertising agency/web design firm here in Colorado Springs, to being a national boutique marketing agency that specializes in inbound and content marketing, growth-driven website design, and HubSpot integration. While we still serve an occasional client here in Colorado Springs (and count ourselves fortunate to do so), increasingly our clients are in the Denver/Boulder area and cities all across the country.
I love people, so I'm still a sucker for face-to-face meetings. But the truth of the matter is that with tools like GoToMeeting and Webex, you can still have a lot of the personal touch you enjoy about meeting in person with your long-distance customers. With the convenience and reduction in cost associated with virtual meetings, they have become a very compelling way to conduct daily business. I have worried in the past that we might lose the human connection that comes from the face-to-face. But with an occasional use of video conferencing, we seem to maintain the personal, high-touch relationships that we so much believe in, and seem to lose very little in the process.
Something's Different
But as I thought about this shift, I wondered how we actually got here—where virtual meetings have become the norm. And how did we go national so quickly and seamlessly? From my days at FedEx decades ago, we worked at a remote location (our headquarters were in Memphis and our data center was in Colorado Springs), so many of us put in an enormous amount of flight time going back and forth to meetings (again, face-to-face). Even in those days, we had some state-of-the-art video conferencing equipment, but it just never seemed the same... and as a result, we had limited success with it. So what has changed? Why has this shift to virtual meetings and clients across the U.S. been so relatively pain-free?
Technology Advancements
The first reason is that most of us these days are tethered to our technology 24/7. Ten years ago I didn't know what texting was. Today, I text all day with family, friends, colleagues, and clients. With GoToMeeting, FaceTime, and Skype, I have face-to-face discussions with everyone. I even read a book to my grandsons (call-out to Caleb and William) every Sunday evening via FaceTime. The technology (including bandwidth) lacks the limitations and glitches that plagued it a decade ago, and the user interfaces continue to improve the overall experience. So, to be able to have a last-minute video or screen-sharing meeting with a client, simply by sending them a link in an email, is a luxury that makes it all seem worth whatever we may have lost in the process.
Inbound and Content Marketing Changes the Game
Secondly, while I think the technology (and our general comfort with it) has made the transition seem natural, 30dps has "gone national" in large part because of our inbound and content marketing efforts. We have clients that have long considered themselves to be a regional business that are now getting inquiries (and actual business) from thousands of miles away, almost entirely because of how well content marketing is performing at getting their name out there and their content in front of viable prospects who are eager to buy from them.
While we have had clients from around the globe our entire 27 years, the frequency of visitors and contacts coming in through HubSpot these days seem to bear only a slight resemblance to where we have staff located (Colorado, Missouri, and Washington state). While referrals worked for us in our early years—and still are one of our biggest lead sources—today, we are delighted to see leads coming in from across the country, driven almost entirely by our inbound and content marketing efforts. Best of all, we can now MEASURE the impact of our efforts, and begin to calculate ROI.
The Value of Niche
Like so many other small firms, especially agencies like ours, we were always tempted to jump on every new piece of business that crossed our path, and for that reason, we promoted ourselves as a full-service marketing and advertising agency for years... even though we clearly had our strengths in the digital marketing world. Since we have committed to establishing our niche as a boutique marketing agency specializing in inbound marketing, content marketing, and website design, the shift to becoming a national contender—almost overnight—became a painless reality. So if you are looking for a partner to help you roll out a digital marketing strategy, focusing on inbound marketing, content marketing, and custom website design that will help you go national or even global, we're your folks! And we'd love to chat with you (virtual or otherwise).
