ETUNE was formed after I moved to Italy less than a year ago. I already held a small number of clients in the area as well as few freelance contacts so I figured would put together a website to showcase some of my recent work and so that I could start some targeted online marketing to test the proverbial waters. Thinking like anyone else experienced in the industry my expectation was that Google Adwords would probably bring in enough business to keep things afloat. In Italy alone there are some 160,000 local monthly searches for ‘web sites’ or similar terms – a fraction of those clients are enough to create growth in a studio of any size. Between myself and those that work with me we know enough about internet marketing to be able to charge for it as a service, but even with the exstensive research and very targeted ads we have been putting in place they are proving nowhere near as effective as they have in the past, particularly in my native Australia. Our click-through rates are embarrassingly low and conversions are equally as bad. A/B testing needs a C and a D and our landing pages may as well be written in Swedish.

Although I can’t be certain of the reasons yet, my only guess as to the cause of the comparative (although not complete)  ineffectiveness of our Adwords campaigns is the culture. Where as it is normal in Australian and American culture to  go to the Yellow Pages (vomit!) or to go to Google and find service providers yourself, in Italian and most European cultures it is far more common to go to a friend or colleague and ask for a recommendation. This is quite normal in everyday life and I do it myself on a regular basis and thus far it hasn’t failed me. When someone is recommended to me I tell them of the recommendation and I find them taking better care of me as a result, in turn making me go back to them in future. Social circles are born and trust is established. I doubt this is any different in the local design industry. I find this to be better for the consumer as customer service levels are actually a little higher, and it CAN also be better for businesses as retention rates are also maintain-ably high.

As Adwords is failing me like never before I am forced to rethink our strategy. In doing so I have outlined what we need as a business to overcome the business Adwords isn’t bringing.

Unquestionably the most important thing will be to have patience, because with time we can build more local relationships and our business will become known and respected for it’s outstanding prices and quality services. Time will also allow for a greater page ranking, perhaps even an organic one invariably leading to future business in a slowly progressing Italian digital culture. Patience may not cause the inbox to fill up for a while, but eventually it always pays off.

Second will be some old-school link building. Not the kind between websites but the kind between businesses. It doesn’t happen often but sometime clients need to be turned away (even by us) and it would be nice to be able to refer them to other designers and have them refer clients back to us. This is yet another extension of social referrals in a culture dominated by them. The only real concern here is that I will end up sending more than I receive, and as much as I believe in karma it’s yet to pay my mortgage.

In the short-term though we all need to eat, so the third thing we will do is to look at some old-school marketing. This really really sucks – I am too used to having statistics at my Logitech mouse-extended and having to actually do offline market research is potentially expensive, time consuming and it may not even yield the results to make it worthwhile. To counter the cons I figure we have already started by paying some teenagers minimum wage to take short simple surveys of local businesses so we can identify marketing points and locations. Helpful business owners also make for possible clients. Other marketing leads are actually very easy to come by in our industry. How? I recommend considering the following:

1. Any time you see a business advertised with a website, write it down. Businesses that advertise their website know the importance of it and actually care how it looks and works. Study the website and write down everything about it that needs updating or changing. Is there a serious coding error? Is the SEO done correctly? Is it dynamic? Outdated? Social media-tized? Are the colours influential? Is the client’s message clear? Most studios will miss something in the production of a website, so find out what it is!
2. Do a Google Local search of businesses and industries you know of and study which ones show up with and without websites. Cross reference this with a Google search and use it as a selling point to the businesses. To those without a website show them how much potential business they are losing to their competitors that do have one by giving them keyword search stats. To those that do have websites let them see how poorly they rank compared to their competitors and illustrate the need for a re-structure with a focus on SEO and guided calls-to-action. Competition always gets the blood boiling in business.
3. Check the portfolios of your competitors and draw leads from outdated websites in their portfolio. Although this won’t make you any friends in the industry, these sorts of clients are ideal because you know they will spend money on a website, they see the value in having one, and they are likely to want to embrace technology in the years to come. Although this is not something we are likely to put into practice, at least not in Italy’s business environment, this is perfectly acceptable in highly competitive business cultures such as that in the US. Generally speaking if it’s you or them who are you going to choose?

In the web design industry we are very blessed as the majority of what we say and sell is in fact true and necessary. The internet is taking over and having a relevant up to date website is becoming increasingly important. As I tell any clients that will listen – in five years it will be absolutely imperative that ALL businesses have a website. If you can convince your clients of the logic in this and the importance of getting started NOW sales will be made. Just be sure that you understand their needs and your own before you open your mouth.