We have marketed through all channels( twitter/fb/word of mouth) but have a fair bit of hiccups gaining new clients.
Being a startup in the space(ICUBEC INC. ), we lack the necessary funding to go through the 'Clarity call request system' at this point. So we were looking for alternatives to connect to you to gain advice on traction/obtaining new customers and we would be willing to spread the word through our Media/Connections.
Please suggest.
- Sean (Email - info@icubec.co)
CEO and Founder
www.icubec.co
Given that you are marketing your ability to build websites and mobile apps, your website lacks a lot of credibility as compared to other vendors offering similar services. A few specific examples:
Links to what might be apps that your firm has previously built, link to almost illegible screenshots of appstore listings. This shows poor design decisions and raises significant concerns about why you chose to do this.
Too much text that says nothing. There is a lot of text throughout your site that for all of its verbosity doesn't give much detail about what you do, why you're the best at it, and why you should be trusted.
No customer testimonials. This is a big red flag.
Generally, the website does nothing to inspire confidence that your firm is a quality provider of the services you are offering.
I would suggest you focus on simplifying your website significantly, emphasizing whatever recent projects you have done where your customers are willing to offer written testimonials, and link directly to the sites and/or mobile apps.
I'm afraid I must second Tom Williams's criticisms of the website. A high volume of small-font text acts as a deterrent on reading -- particularly online where people are skimming and very trigger happy when it comes to clicking that "back" button. Personally, I skimmed only for a few seconds before abandoning the reading. It seemed somewhat generic, vague, and impersonal. That last adjective is even more true due to the lack of pictures a visitor might identify with.
But your question was, "How do we obtain new clients for our startup at a fast pace in [the] consulting market?"
My answer would be this: Give away knowledge free or dirt cheap. That is, after all, what I'm doing now by writing to you on Clarity.fm. People are more inclined to trust a consultant who has steered them in the right direction already and who initially asks for nothing in return. Even if such "clients" don't pay you, they may recommend you. And that's how reputations are built -- through recommendations rather than through payments.
Criticisms are never pleasant, but they're often very useful. I'm a professional namer and domain investor. So the following little problem sticks out like a sore thumb to me:
ICUBEC INC
I'm sorry to say that this name is a bad choice. It will cause you grief, lose you clients, and cost you money.
Initially I read it as "ICE CUBE INC". Then I looked more closely and was puzzled to see "Eye Cue Beck". Literally, that's how I read it; and I sincerely wondered if it might be a typo for "ICE CUBE INC" due to dyslexia. Then I googled the name and found out it's not a typo -- but, in fact, is meant to be iCUBEc. That's slightly better ... but still non-intuitive and very hard to remember.
Also, the .CO won't do you any favors, since it's prone to confusion with the .COM. For .CO to have any chance of succeeding it must be based on a very familiar word. Your potential customers will have a hard time remembering iCUBEc.co in order to find you. When they get there, the domain name will probably scare them away. And even if they do hire you, they'll have a devil of a time remembering the name in order to recommend it to their acquaintances, who will subsequently forget it anyway.
For all those reasons, I would urge a name change. As hard as it might be now, it will be 10-100 times harder if you wait until your business is more established in order to rebrand.
Create content. Great content! Make yourself a reputation of being the best. Blogs, ebooks (see Hubspots ebooks, they are the best), video blogs answering your clients biggest doubts and concerns.
Share you content through the channels where your clients are and make them sign up before downloadong your content so you acquire them as potential customers.
Even doing meetups and inviting them to speak as "experts" or tell a case where they had an efperience doing x so you start bonding with them.
Hope it helps!
If you give me more details about what you do i could help more.
Note their account has now been deleted!
Create stick, awesomey content on your site. Do it regularly. Share it on social media.
SEO it so it ranks and drive traffic. Drive everyone to your email lists. Provide ever better content via email. Make offers to engage every 10th send. Send more value that you ask for sales. Make your list content incredible so it is highly valued. close 5% to 10% of your list.
