We write this blog post whilst on the train following a successful meeting with a prestigious new client and our preferred SEO services supplier. Today has proved our belief in the power of strong working relationships with a trusted network of complementary service providers.
Maroon Balloon HQ is a shared creative studio in Chichester where we provide web design and web development alongside an SEO and digital marketing company, graphic designers and branding experts. This afternoon’s meeting in Brighton was in a vibrant shared meeting space similar to ours, where likeminded companies and freelancers can collaborate, share clients and bounce ideas around.
We’re hearing about more and more of these communal working environments (digital hubs); there is currently one under development in Bognor Regis.
Our client today remarked, as have others, that they find the appeal of working with a collaborative team of small companies important. This normally works out at better value for the client in that they are not paying a single large company higher rates for all the services under one roof. Indeed, in this case all those services are under one roof, just without the traditional costs.
Perhaps this is the appeal – focused expertise, high quality output and value for money in a dynamic working space, where we, the service suppliers, don’t have large overheads to pass on. It’s kind of the Uber Effect, which we predicted some time ago, whereby the price of services is driven down through healthy competition and a levelling out of the online playing field while the quality remains the same (see also the rapid growth of the ‘Gig Economy’).
We’re certainly finding that more and more larger clients are opting to use freelancers and small companies. Perhaps they’re looking to review their budgets and spending in light of political austerity and pre/post-Brexit uncertainty. Why pay more for your website, design or branding?
If you would like to discuss web or SEO requirements then we’d be happy to chat – send us an enquiry or call us on 07766 70 60 49.
