Posted by Tom Blue on October 22, 2009 under Companies, Profiles | 
Below is our recent eInterview with Sterizon founder, Subba Ayyagari.
1. What do you do?
Sterizon specializes in wireless data collection for the purpose of Customer Retention, Loyalty and Satisfaction using Email, Mobile and Social Media Marketing. Sterizon’s targets market is brick and mortar businesses in the Restaurant, Retail, Hospitality and Service industries.
2. Who are your competitors?
FishBowl, mUrgent, Total Loyalty Systems, Constant Contact
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
All our competitors in the Email Marketing space lack the capability to capture customer information electronically while the customer is at the place of business. We are the only ones in the space who has the handheld device that is not only used for builing email lists, but also used for Surveys, Rewards programs, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing etc making us a one stop shop solution for all their marketing and customer satisfaction needs.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
It’s been hiring the right sales people to do direct to business marketing. Being a company in the South East (based in Atlanta, GA), the resource pool interested in working for startups is virtually not there!
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company? E.G. A PR
We initially went with online only approach to reach our target restaurant industry. We did lot of press releases, good chunk on online content, blogging, twitter, facebook, restaurant community sites, etc. It certainly raised the awareness, and search engine rankings, but failed to lure customers for online orders.
The above techniques would have worked great if this was a software only product aiming at tech savvy audience. But, our product involves handheld device also. We still had to physically knock their doors, show the demo and then we were able to lock in the customer.
The cost of customer acqusition was very high with the knock on door approach. So, we decided to partner with our competitors, as our technology is complementing to their marketing platforms. We effectively filled the biggest gap in their solutions. We kicked off the reseller program with all the players in the email, mobile marketing space. In the last 30 days, we have 5 of the top 10 players in the space in our reseller program.
6. How long have you been in business?
We are 11 months old.
7. How many employees do you have?
2 full time.
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
We came out of beta in Apr-July timeframe in phases. We might end up with >20k in revenues this year. We are projecting ~600k in total revenues for next year.
1. What do you do?
Sterizon specializes in wireless data collection for the purpose of Customer Retention, Loyalty and Satisfaction using Email, Mobile and Social Media Marketing. Sterizon’s targets market is brick and mortar businesses in the Restaurant, Retail, Hospitality and Service industries.
2. Who are your competitors?
FishBowl, mUrgent, Total Loyalty Systems, Constant Contact
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
All our competitors in the Email Marketing space lack the capability to capture customer information electronically while the customer is at the place of business. We are the only ones in the space who has the handheld device that is not only used for builing email lists, but also used for Surveys, Rewards programs, Mobile Marketing, Social Media Marketing etc making us a one stop shop solution for all their marketing and customer satisfaction needs.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
It’s been hiring the right sales people to do direct to business marketing. Being a company in the South East (based in Atlanta, GA), the resource pool interested in working for startups is virtually not there!
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company? E.G. A PR
We initially went with online only approach to reach our target restaurant industry. We did lot of press releases, good chunk on online content, blogging, twitter, facebook, restaurant community sites, etc. It certainly raised the awareness, and search engine rankings, but failed to lure customers for online orders.
The above techniques would have worked great if this was a software only product aiming at tech savvy audience. But, our product involves handheld device also. We still had to physically knock their doors, show the demo and then we were able to lock in the customer.
The cost of customer acqusition was very high with the knock on door approach. So, we decided to partner with our competitors, as our technology is complementing to their marketing platforms. We effectively filled the biggest gap in their solutions. We kicked off the reseller program with all the players in the email, mobile marketing space. In the last 30 days, we have 5 of the top 10 players in the space in our reseller program.
6. How long have you been in business?
We are 11 months old.
7. How many employees do you have?
2 full time.
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
We came out of beta in Apr-July timeframe in phases. We might end up with >20k in revenues this year. We are projecting ~600k in total revenues for next year.
Posted by Tom Blue on October 14, 2009 under Companies |
Here is our latest eInterview with Steve Holand from CarryCasesPlus.
1. What do you do?
Carry Cases Plus manufactures and distributes carrying cases and shipping cases with custom foam in order to transport, protect or display your important items.
2. Who are your competitors? (just the names)
Cases by Source, AllCases.com
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
We do all of our own custom foam fabrication. Most of our competitors, come to foam fabricators like us to do their foam inserts. Because we have the technology and machinery, we are able to design and provide prototypes at no charge to customers.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
Moving from a small business mentality into a structured, smoothly running manufacturing facility has been difficult. We need to change our approach in every aspect of the business. Operating procedures, office procedures, production, marketing, warehouse design, purchasing, HR, all have to evolve. It is very challenging to get everyone in the company to understand the need and then implement the changes.
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company? E.G. A PR Campaign, Please be specific as our users want to know how to grow their own business.
The single biggest factor has been the Web Site with Google Adwords and SEO being most important. We have gone from a tiny local company to a national company with the help of a great web site and smart Adword marketing. You also don’t have to pay a heck of a lot of money (I did all of the work myself).
6. How long have you been in business?
Since 1986 – 23 years. My father started the foam fabricating business and I joined in 1993. In 2003, after years of making foam inserts for customer’s cases, I bought Carry Cases Plus, giving me the ability to sell the cases as well.
7. How many employees do you have?
We have 22 employees.
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
2009 looks like it will and up around 2.4 million dollars which is down from 2.8 million in 2008. The packaging foam part of the business took a big hit with the recession but the case part of the business is up 2%.
9. (Optional) Have you had any new press recently? E.G. Announced a partnership, a new big customer, etc.
Earlier this year we added a spectacular new piece of equipment to our factory. It is a dual head computerized CNC router and knife cutter. This allows us to automate the sample process and create samples and finished product in 1/3 of the time it took previously.
1. What do you do? 2 sentences max
Carry Cases Plus manufactures and distributes carrying cases and shipping cases with custom foam in order to transport, protect or display your important items.
2. Who are your competitors? (just the names)
Cases by Source, AllCases.com
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
We do all of our own custom foam fabrication. Most of our competitors, come to foam fabricators like us to do their foam inserts. Because we have the technology and machinery, we are able to design and provide prototypes at no charge to customers.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
Moving from a small business mentality into a structured, smoothly running manufacturing facility has been difficult. We need to change our approach in every aspect of the business. Operating procedures, office procedures, production, marketing, warehouse design, purchasing, HR, all have to evolve. It is very challenging to get everyone in the company to understand the need and then implement the changes.
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company? E.G. A PR Campaign, Please be specific as our users want to know how to grow their own business.
The single biggest factor has been the Web Site with Google Adwords and SEO being most important. We have gone from a tiny local company to a national company with the help of a great web site and smart Adword marketing. You also don’t have to pay a heck of a lot of money (I did all of the work myself).
6. How long have you been in business?
Since 1986 – 23 years. My father started the foam fabricating business and I joined in 1993. In 2003, after years of making foam inserts for customer’s cases, I bought Carry Cases Plus, giving me the ability to sell the cases as well.
7. How many employees do you have?
We have 22 employees.
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
2009 looks like it will and up around 2.4 million dollars which is down from 2.8 million in 2008. The packaging foam part of the business took a big hit with the recession but the case part of the business is up 2%.
9. (Optional) Have you had any new press recently? E.G. Announced a partnership, a new big customer, etc.
Earlier this year we added a spectacular new piece of equipment to our factory. It is a dual head computerized CNC router and knife cutter. This allows us to automate the sample process and create samples and finished product in 1/3 of the time it took previously.
Posted by Tom Blue on October 6, 2009 under Uncategorized |
We have another eInterview available… Thomas Lynch is the CEO of the Creditors Resource Group. They have grown quite a bit this year and it seems to be coming from their affiliate program. See below for the q&a.
1. What do you do?
CRG provides accounts receivable management software and debt collection programs
2. Who are your competitors?
There are over 10,000 collection agencies in the US. Trying to compete in such a crowded market place is challenging because if you’re not strategic about marketing efforts, your message can be lost in all the background noise created by your competitors.
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
In designing solutions for both vendors and debtors CRG takes a holistic approach to curing the underlying causes of delinquency. For example, CRG offers its clients a computer software solution that was specifically developed to help them manage and improve their internal collection efforts… speeding their cash flow and reducing their exposure to bad debt losses. Another is the CRG Debt-Fund which blends traditional collection efforts with commercial lending sources to help capitalize debtor companies struggling with cash flow problems.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
Each major innovation we bring to the market creates its own large-scale opportunity which often comes with significant infrastructure challenges. Scaling our organization to the level of our growth continues to be a major challenge.
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
By far, our greatest successes have come from our affiliate marketing relationships. The strategy here is to find very large companies that have their own client list. Then you approach them with a joint marketing proposal that has a high perceived value to their customers and a new revenue stream for their own company. Instead of thinking WIN/WIN, you need to approach this from a WIN/WIN/WIN perspective (you win, they win, their customers win).
6. How long have you been in business?
2006
7. How many employees do you have?
10 currently, with plans to add 12-15 more in January 2010 when our new call center is complete in Tucson, AZ
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
2009 revenues estimated at $550,000, which represents a 69% increase over 2008 revenues
9. Have you had any new press recently?
In October 2009 CRG will be announcing two new affiliate joint-ventures that will change the face of the company going forward. First, CRG has entered into a multi-year contract to be the exclusive collection agency provider for business subscribers to CollectPro Software (collectprosoftware.com). In a similar deal, CRG will soon announce its new endorsement and partnership with iLumen and Sage Corp (makers of Peachtree and MAS accounting software platforms) which will promote CRG to approximately 500,000 Peachtree Analytics users monthly.
1. What do you do?
CRG provides accounts receivable management software and debt collection programs
2. Who are your competitors?
There are over 10,000 collection agencies in the US. Trying to compete in such a crowded market place is challenging because if you’re not strategic about marketing efforts, your message can be lost in all the background noise created by your competitors.
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
In designing solutions for both vendors and debtors CRG takes a holistic approach to curing the underlying causes of delinquency. For example, CRG offers its clients a computer software solution that was specifically developed to help them manage and improve their internal collection efforts… speeding their cash flow and reducing their exposure to bad debt losses. Another is the CRG Debt-Fund which blends traditional collection efforts with commercial lending sources to help capitalize debtor companies struggling with cash flow problems.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
Each major innovation we bring to the market creates its own large-scale opportunity which often comes with significant infrastructure challenges. Scaling our organization to the level of our growth continues to be a major challenge.
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
By far, our greatest successes have come from our affiliate marketing relationships. The strategy here is to find very large companies that have their own client list. Then you approach them with a joint marketing proposal that has a high perceived value to their customers and a new revenue stream for their own company. Instead of thinking WIN/WIN, you need to approach this from a WIN/WIN/WIN perspective (you win, they win, their customers win).
6. How long have you been in business?
2006
7. How many employees do you have?
10 currently, with plans to add 12-15 more in January 2010 when our new call center is complete in Tucson, AZ
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
2009 revenues estimated at $550,000, which represents a 69% increase over 2008 revenues
9. Have you had any new press recently?
In October 2009 CRG will be announcing two new affiliate joint-ventures that will change the face of the company going forward. First, CRG has entered into a multi-year contract to be the exclusive collection agency provider for business subscribers to CollectPro Software (collectprosoftware.com). In a similar deal, CRG will soon announce its new endorsement and partnership with iLumen and Sage Corp (makers of Peachtree and MAS accounting software platforms) which will promote CRG to approximately 500,000 Peachtree Analytics users monthly.
Posted by Tom Blue on September 28, 2009 under Companies, Profiles |
Below is a recent eInterview with Mike Stoll, the Director of Photofest…
1. What do you do? 2 sentences max – Photofest rents high-end digital point and shoot cameras as an eco-friendly replacement for disposable cameras. We offer nationwide service, and specialize in weddings, graduation parties, reunions and corporate events.
2. Who are your competitors? (just the names) – Camerarenter.com and YouShoot.com.
3. What makes you different than your competitors? – Three major differences: 1) We offer package rentals (5, 10, 15 or 20 cameras) and don’t charge for the “extras”. We don’t nickle and dime our customers – and our customers really like this. 2) We’ve managed to set up price points that are significantly cheaper than our competition, while still providing outstanding customer service and a first-rate, professional product. 3) While all three of our businesses are eco-friendly (using digital cameras instead of disposable cameras results in less waste), I feel that we’ve taken a few extra steps to offer our customers an even more environmentally friendly option. Just a few examples: we reuse our shipping containers for several events (then recycle them once their service life is met), utilize rechargeable batteries for our cameras and have camera lanyards manufactured from recycled plastic bottles.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges? – Marketing, marketing, marketing. We provide a service that most folks don’t even know exists, so it’s very challenging to utilize online search to drive customers to our website. And though there are hundreds of sites on the internet that would help us target particular verticals (weddings, reunions, party rentals, etc), most of them aren’t set up to support nationwide businesses, and all of them are relatively expensive. Very difficult to adequately fund enough advertising to determine which sites provide the best ROI.
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company? E.G. A PR Campaign, Please be specific as our users want to know how to grow their own business. – Despite the above, Google Adwords continues to drive the most leads to our website, but mostly from customers who are familiar with our particular service. Second to that is word of mouth referrals. I know that sounds cliche, but once folks see our service at a friend’s or family member’s wedding, they immediately “get it”. To tap into this customer base, we utilize small, branded information cards that are attached to each camera lanyard. Event attendees are encouraged to take these cards home with them, so they can view the photos taken at the particular event they are attending. We’ve had some success converting these types of leads into booked jobs, and I expect that success to grow as we do more and more events.
6. How long have you been in business? – We just celebrated our first year in business this past August.
7. How many employees do you have? – This is a family run business, so there are only four of us. Myself, my business partner Eric, and both of our wives.
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008? – 2008 gross revenue was $2,300. 2009 gross revenue is estimated to be $6,600.
1. What do you do?
Photofest rents high-end digital point and shoot cameras as an eco-friendly replacement for disposable cameras. We offer nationwide service, and specialize in weddings, graduation parties, reunions and corporate events.
2. Who are your competitors?
Camerarenter.com and YouShoot.com.
3. What makes you different than your competitors?
Three major differences: 1) We offer package rentals (5, 10, 15 or 20 cameras) and don’t charge for the “extras”. We don’t nickle and dime our customers – and our customers really like this. 2) We’ve managed to set up price points that are significantly cheaper than our competition, while still providing outstanding customer service and a first-rate, professional product. 3) While all three of our businesses are eco-friendly (using digital cameras instead of disposable cameras results in less waste), I feel that we’ve taken a few extra steps to offer our customers an even more environmentally friendly option. Just a few examples: we reuse our shipping containers for several events (then recycle them once their service life is met), utilize rechargeable batteries for our cameras and have camera lanyards manufactured from recycled plastic bottles.
4. What are your or your ceo’s biggest challenges?
Marketing, marketing, marketing. We provide a service that most folks don’t even know exists, so it’s very challenging to utilize online search to drive customers to our website. And though there are hundreds of sites on the internet that would help us target particular verticals (weddings, reunions, party rentals, etc), most of them aren’t set up to support nationwide businesses, and all of them are relatively expensive. Very difficult to adequately fund enough advertising to determine which sites provide the best ROI.
5. Which marketing tactic/strategy has produced the most leads/revenue for your company?
Despite the above, Google Adwords continues to drive the most leads to our website, but mostly from customers who are familiar with our particular service. Second to that is word of mouth referrals. I know that sounds cliche, but once folks see our service at a friend’s or family member’s wedding, they immediately “get it”. To tap into this customer base, we utilize small, branded information cards that are attached to each camera lanyard. Event attendees are encouraged to take these cards home with them, so they can view the photos taken at the particular event they are attending. We’ve had some success converting these types of leads into booked jobs, and I expect that success to grow as we do more and more events.
6. How long have you been in business?
We just celebrated our first year in business this past August.
7. How many employees do you have?
This is a family run business, so there are only four of us. Myself, my business partner Eric, and both of our wives.
8. What are your revenue estimates for 2009? Is that an increase from 2008?
2008 gross revenue was $2,300. 2009 gross revenue is estimated to be $6,600.
Posted by Tom Blue on September 22, 2009 under Marketing |
I have been doing some testing with different search terms at CompareGoogle and have noticed that many of the rankings for terms we, Lead411, are included in, have been changed. Not all, but plenty have been. It seems Google has been implementing the Caffeine update. I don’t think it is 100% live, but it is getting there.
