So Much To Do

With both the Identity Suite Project and the Company Website Project nearly complete, it’s time to go to work! I write that for my lovely wife, Dana. Without her support this level of effort wouldn’t be possible. I write that because I’ve worked harder in the last two months than I have my entire life.

While that could be viewed as a negative, I’m actually having a blast. I miss sleeping eight hours every night, but Milestone Marketing Associates is just about ready to open for business. Some days it’s like becoming a father, lately it’s more like Dr. Frankenstein shouting, “It’s alive!”

Final artwork for the Identity Suite Project is off to Coastal Printing this morning. We hope everything will be ready-to-go by the end of the week.

A placeholder page for the company website will go live on October 1^st with phase one rolling out by mid-month. We figured out our design direction and have most of the content written. Over the next two weeks we will finish writing and editing the website copy and finalize the design and layout for each page.

Now that Milestone Marketing Associates has a corporate brand identity and is building a web presence, “time to go to work” means finding some business. The marketing plan outlines a number of internal projects and local business development efforts over the next 90 days.

The internal projects will produce a variety of sales tools and establish our business processes. Company brochures, sales literature, case studies, presentations, the list goes on. We even plan to make a video before the end of the year. There’s certainly no lack of things to do when starting from scratch. But alas, these too represent expenses rather than revenues.

Local business development activities will focus on getting involved with the local business community in new and exciting ways. In addition to continuing my volunteer efforts with the Mighty Siesta Key Kiwanis Club, I recently joined The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce. I also plan to join a select few other organization and committing a portion of my time to each in order to widen our network.

The primary objective of an ever-increasing number of contacts is, of course, referrals. I am counting on each and every one of you reading my weekly updates to spread the word. As a matter of fact, many of you already are, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support.

Of the half-dozen leads that are currently in the funnel, each was a referral. Two weeks ago I thanked Craig Hawkins from Coastal Printing for putting me in touch with Mark Bruce from Play Golf Sarasota. This week I’d like to thank Jessica Sowers from Anexio. Jessica emailed four referrals a few weeks ago and another one on Friday! I am so grateful for your support, Jessica, thank you so much!

For those of you who don’t know, Jessica heads up sales for Anexio, a local managed IT services business. If you or anyone you know might be interested in learning more about Anexio let me know, and I’ll put you in touch with Jessica.

Looking ahead the marketing plan calls for a number of events, online marketing and public relations, as well as a direct mail campaign, many of which are geared towards our primary market which is software companies nationwide. However, it is referrals more than anything else that will grow this business.

In the coming weeks, as business cards and company literature becomes available and our website goes live, please take a moment to write down a list of people you know that you think might need some help with marketing. Let me know who you think we should contact. We have the talent, and we’re ready to go to work.

Until next week,

Matthew Anderson, President Milestone Marketing Associates, Inc.