How a Web Agency Grew to Serve Major Brands
April 9, 2009 :: Mia Vallo
Brooks Bell started designing websites as a junior in college with her then boyfriend (now her husband!). Their goal at that time was to build one website every six months to cover their expenses.
Fast forward several years later, she now works with major brands such as AOL®, AARP™, the Wall Street Journal®, NASCAR® and Condé Nast Publications.
Here’s how she did it.
Brooks was tasked with designing advertising creatives for AOL back in 2003, where she delivered better results than other agencies. Soon word spread within AOL, and more and more marketing teams at AOL used her services.
Getting referrals was how Brooks grew her business in the first 2 years, by “making clients totally ecstatic with results and providing outstanding customer service. We have no formal sales force and no marketing. That works because of the business that we’re in. In large companies, it’s about who you know and how they talk about you.”
She still gets word-of-mouth referrals, but she also goes to conferences to meet new clients and build relationships with industry professionals. She speaks at marketing events to establish herself as a thought leader. One of her recent speaking engagements was at MarketingSherpa Email Summit 2009, where she showcased lessons learned from an AARP e-newsletter program.
As many large companies cut travel budgets recently, she can no longer depend on going to conferences to grow her client base. So she changed her strategy. Instead of focusing on going to conferences, she now focuses on partnering with other agencies.
With more clients to cater to, Brooks grew her company to 18 people. She recently organized everyone into teams, where each team is assigned goals that are aligned to the revenue. To keep her employees motivated, she introduced a bonus structure that’s aligned with metrics. With this new strategy, she has seen some friendly competition and more leadership to achieve the company goals.
So how can you apply Brooks’ experience to your own business? Know who your customers are, make them your biggest fans by delivering results and excellent customer service and know how their system works. More importantly, be flexible — don’t be afraid to change how you grow and manage your business. That’s certainly how Brooks and her team have doubled their revenue goal so far this year.
Comments are moderated and will appear shortly. See terms.
