Loading...

Answers

Menu

Is it feasible to start a company that offers three services under one umbrella?

We're a company that has historically provided bleacher and stadium seating for sports venues of all sizes. The name of our company has the word "Sports" in it due to this profession. About a year and a half ago, we started a marketing campaign to create a brand around our name. Pictures of bleachers weren’t very exciting. So we filmed “hype” videos for high schools that have purchased our bleachers to showcase what a typical Friday night atmosphere is like at stadiums we helped construct. We got thousands of YouTube views within the first day. Schools we haven’t provided bleachers for started requesting our “hype” videos for their programs. We charge those schools a modest film fee to cover our costs as our goal was to still increase our name recognition and…

Answers

Joseph Peterson, Names, Domains, Sentences and Strategies answered:

I'd strongly advise splitting into 2 brands with separate websites and names. Both can advertise and link to one another; so you'd be losing none of the benefit of cross-promotion.

Obviously, you're offering 2 services that barely overlap. Installing stadium bleachers is very different from producing video ads for dentists and jewelers.

Today the overlap seems like a real connection because those dentists and jewelers had seen your earlier sports-themed videos. But once you begin promoting the video service itself, you will be marketing to people who don't know about your bleachers. Those new customers will have seen your later videos – the ones about dentistry and earrings. Coming from that angle, they'll find the connection to sports and bleachers to be bizarre, confusing, distracting.

Here are a few disadvantages to keeping 1 brand with 1 site:

1. If Jack or Jill wants to hire you for video, then finding "sports" in the brand name will harm your conversion rate online and offline. Don't give anybody an excuse to click away from your site, forget your name, or deem you less professional than the competition.

2. Some day, you might want to separate the 2 businesses – keeping 1 and selling the other. If you brand them separately and market distinct websites, then they're easier to disentangle. That way, each can thrive on its own.

3. Position yourself so that neither service gets in the way of the other. Suppose you get a negative review for the video service. (Disgruntled customers don't need to be right to make a stink.) If you've only got the 1 brand, then this negative review affects your stadium business. Better if they can be separated.

4. So you're dividing the screen. That may look OK on a laptop. However, more and more, consumers are viewing the internet on tiny mobile devices. Half of a tiny screen doesn't give you enough space to pitch EITHER of your services adequately. A phone is barely enough room for a small picture or video. Don't throw half of that away. Your competitors won't.

My own professional specialty is naming and domains, in case you'd like advice or feedback.

Good luck!

Anthony English, Impostor Syndrome Coach, Impostor Syndrome Coach answered:

This is a pretty awesome story!

Positioning your business with a narrow focus is, in fact, a way of marketing, but needn't restrict your whole business to that one product or service you're known for. Think of Coca Cola. They make a lot more than that one drink.

It seems, though, that you are targeting two very different markets: the school video market, and the stadium builders. Not much crossover there. You could have a single overarching brand, but that could be tricky, because you'll be tempted to be preaching the same message to two different audiences.

Mind you, if you took the video angle and told your story of how you became accidental heroes from what is (let's face it) a pretty boring product, I think there's a great story there. Even better that you're making the school children the heroes!

It would be great to see how you progress with this.

the startups.com platform

Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.