22 January 2006
Well no, but a large part of what we traditionally know as advertising may be heading towards life support.At Semantic we are proud of the fact that we've never advertised in eight and a half years... not once. The closest I ever got was sitting in a room with a yellow pages rep trying to design an ad for Twisted, the freelance precursor to Semantic. In the end I never placed the ad, it seemed obvious even then that the Yellow Pages was not going to be a good idea for a business like ours. Rightly (as it turned out) I felt we should be positioned above that kind of advertising.
Since then, by a combination of good fortune and quality of service, we have avoided the need to advertise. Our clients have come to us... first as a dribble, then a flow, and latterly as something of a flood. All without advertising... unless you count the numerous examples of our work that are out there.
In that sense 'advertisements' for our work are all over the web. We've certainly benefited from the fact that we have high-profile clients in many areas... and the subsequent referrals that have come thorough both the sites and the clients themselves. But we would never, for example, take on a client because their site might become a Semantic ad. It's not our way... too knowing.
And that's the problem I have with most ads... pitching for business just isn't Semantic's style. We want our clients to arrive already wanting to work with us. It's like asking someone out (yes I still remember those days)... it is easier to do if you already know she wants you to.
The other thing about advertising (the big thing) is that it doesn't work... at least not for us. At Semantic we are pretty picky about the kind of projects we want to do, and the clients we like to work with. Advertising would do a poor job of sorting out our slightly eccentric criteria. We are after:
- friendly clients
- with interesting projects
- and a proper respect for the quality of service we offer
- and realistic budgets to pay for it
- and the prospect of long-term business relationships
Now you can try writing an ad that captures those things (good luck), but where would you place it?
Exactly... I've never been able to think of a way that Semantic could advertise sensibly... until now. And next time I'll tell you why I am changing my mind.
Posted by Nick Warren at 10:29 PM
