Starting a Business in Ottawa

Starting a business in Ottawa?

Starting a business can be intimidating; depending on how you go about it. You’re giving up that secure paycheque every 2 weeks, you’re saying goodbye to all your work friends that bring you up when you’re down. You’re saying goodbye to your boss that pushes you to strive even when you don’t feel like it and you’re probably saying goodbye to any sort of office comfort for a while.

Week 1 of your new business

This is all worrisome, but you get over it as you pursue your dream. Once there, you’ve setup your books, you’ve purchased your equipment, you’ve called a few people from your industry to let them know you’ve setup shop.

Week 2 – things aren’t going too bad

You’ve convinced a few people to come over to you at a better rate and things go pretty well with these new clients except for a few organizational matters since you may not yet have your software setup to the same degree as you had at your old job. You start to realize how important all that little annoying stuff like formatting and filing is. So you clean that up to prevent the miscommunications from happening again.

Week 3 to 8 – Things are puttering along

You’re finally realizing that you’ve done it. You’re surviving on your own, without a boss and without your co-workers, and despite the nay-sayers around you, you’re still here. “Hey!” you think. “this isn’t so bad”

Then… WINTER

Whether a physical winter which in many businesses slows down business as people start to recluse or a sales winter hits you. BAM! No sales. You had a couple contracts lined up that fell through and the phone isn’t ringing. You make a few extra phone calls this week, but nothing comes of it. You start to worry and doubt whether all this was a good idea.

“why did I go into business at this time of year?”

“why did I think I could go out on my own?”

“why didn’t I listen to my friends and family; they were trying to save me from this?”

We’ve seen this happen over and over.

And if you’re lucky, you’ve come to this page at the right time so that we can help.

Why is marketing so important?

In big companies, when things slow down and it’s clear that they need to make some cut-backs, they always look at the Marketing Department – BIG MISTAKE. Due to the difficult nature of reporting in the marketing department, it isn’t always clear to management just how much the marketing department is really achieving. Management often believes they’ve done enough marketing and that most of their buyers are repeat buyers and they’ve become big enough that they no longer need to market. WRONG AGAIN!

Marketing never ends. Even when everybody on the planet knows about you (Coca-Cola), you have to keep marketing. Everybody has a list in their head for every topic, especially when it comes to brands.

“It is your job to make sure that your Brand is at the top of their list” – That’s marketing

Let’s bring it all back. You’re not Coca-Cola and you’re not Pepsi. You’re Sally’s nail salon, or Joe’s Maple leaf Landscaping. It doesn’t matter though. You’re still going to need to market. Maybe one day you can work strictly by referral, but you’re not there yet. And if you want to grow your company to more than just you and a partner, you’re going to have to market forever.

Who needs marketing?

You need marketing when you’re small
You use marketing to bring each new client in.

You need marketing when you’re bigYou use marketing, potentially to bring new clients in, but also to maintain brand awareness. Yup, like Coca-Cola or McDonalds. Maybe you’re going to need marketing to announce the release of a new product or service line.

Marketing is an investment - You’re buying clients

Either way, just know that you’re going to need to set 6 to 12% aside for marketing expenses. If you hire the right expert, these ad dollars will come back to you in spades. Never mind how many thousands are going out. They’re not really leaving you, they’re coming back, just like any good investment.

How we help our clients

Through the use of offline and Online Marketing, including google SEO in Ottawa, Pay per click, different social media ads and Video PeanutButter SEO Ottawa helps young and mature businesses alike create a flow-happy pipeline of constant leads. We help our clients get leads and then convert them into happy, paying customers that are dying for a reliable and dedicated company just like yours. A company that does amazing work, but nobody would know about it if it weren’t for their marketing.

Because Kijiji ads just don’t cut it when you’re looking for a consistency of quality clients to serve...