Mark Wright, 25 has won The Apprentice 2014 on the back of his sales experience working for an online digital marketing agency that helps small and medium sized businesses improve their website rankings. Having over 13 years experience myself running such an agency I could not help seem a little confused at his business plan, his offering and the way The Apprentice filmed the last episode where he sent 2 untrained sales people out on their own landing a £3k per month contract.
Here are a few things we I noticed:
DOMAIN NAMES
The first thing any online savvy website marketeer would do whilst branding their company would be to check if the domain names are available. This has a huge significance in brand awareness / brand search.
Something that Mark seemed to understand “Being an online company, the website and logo are the most important functions of my business,”he stated. We checked...
climbonline.co.uk is a rock climbing website and the domain name was registered in Dec 2012
climbonline.com is a rock climbing photographic company and the domain name was registered in May 2001
Twitter was not impressed.
ACTUAL EXPERIENCE
When pitching to new clients regarding their online advertising the first thing any SME should asks is what is the ROI (return on investment), what have you done before and what are you likely to do for me? They expect clear and defined KPI's (key performance indicators) so you can show how their investment has benefited their business - be it extra sales, awareness or engagement. Winning a £3k contract on the back of 'we will look at your business, do a health check on your website, really understand what you want and come and see you once a month' would not convince anyone to part with any slice of a marketing budget.
OUTSOURCING TO OUTSOURCERS
This is a dangerous playing field and would not provide the personal service Mark describes as one of his USP's. Mark worked for a global advertising agency before going to the Apprentice, a huge company that is one of Googles main search partners - we know we met them at Googles offices a few months back. They have offices all over the country and work in partnership with lots of website agencies across the UK, they are also not cheap. If Mark wants to provide a personal service he would need to employ his own staff which in year one would wipe out his £250k budget.
TARGET AUDIENCE
With his minimum of £400 per month most local tradesmen would not be able to afford it. As a business level - outsourcing would take most of this money leaving little profit for Mark and Sir Alan Sugar. With our 13 years experience we know what you need to spend to make slight improvements, retain existing positions or make significant improvements on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) - it is simple to get high up on keywords that deliver no traffic but to create conversions and deliver new business takes time and skill as well a visit every month.
CLIENTS
Sir Alan Sugar did say that he would not be involved apart for the cash injections, it seems he may need to call on some business contact favours to sign up to CLIMB ONLINE as paying clients to get this business profitable. Without that help it seems Mark may be able to sell the service but would he be able to service the clients and turn the much needed profit Sir Alan Sugar will demand?
It may be a tight call - Seems Bianca Miller London had been given some good advice, her domain name is available: http://www.biancamillerlondon.com
Bianca if you're looking for some help promoting your business online with an established marketing agency please give us a call. We will even come out and see you once a month!