Technology; Exploration; Freedom
We get this question a lot, and the answer is surprisingly varied. Every business has a complicated mixture of needs based on it (and its owner’s) maturity + marketplace position + resources + experience. This is because a website is ultimately a tool, specialized to meet you and your professional needs.
A business tool like website is difficult to imagine (the pages you interact with are the tip of the iceberg; the tip of the tip), so we like to use the analogy of a building. All sorts of businesses need all sorts of buildings to function: a co-working startup needs offices, a landscaping company needs sheds, a shipping company warehouses, and an airline needs airport hangars.
Because there’s so many building types, it’s easier to group them by how complex they are to make.
Level 1 - Legos
Imagine an ambitious ten year old that wants to sell lemonade subscriptions to her neighborhood. Because her needs are very simple and she has very little business experience and money, she will do fine with a site builder with a built-in payment processor. At this level, your website is literally an “app” on someone else’s platform, and you have very little technical control over it.
It’s not even cookie-cutter; it’s drag-and-drop-and-pray with site builders like Wix, in that you use their site designer to create all the website’s pages, and then pray that the bank will work with one of the payment processors there. This inability to tailor the solution to meet complex business requirements, is why the price range is usually a subscription that goes from $17/mo to $159/mo.
Level 2 - Cookie-Cutter
Now consider a realtor in his mid-thirties, finally breaking out on his own. He knows the real-estate market, he knows branding, and generally knows what he wants. He already knows Wix won’t work with the real estate marketing databases he trusts, and that the plugin for his bank is outdated.
This is where a cookie-cutter solution like Wordpress comes in. In most cases, it has most of what he needs already baked in, and since the website doesn’t exist as an app inside Wix, his web developer has full control over it; that means they can work closely to create a design that’s completely on-brand, and then create or customize the plugins for his real estate database and bank.
Since developer must create customized work in Wordpress to meet specific business needs, this takes additional time and skilled labor and time—the same way creating an addition to an existing house’s blueprint demands a skilled contractor’s labor and materials. That’s why projects in this range are anywhere from $1,000-$5,000.
Level 3 - Custom
Now imagine you’re the Assistant Professor at College of Prestigious Business Management. Your boss, who thinks everything is a Human Resources problem because he got his Chair Professorship that way, now wants a unified and highly detailed database all jobs posted on hustle-culture sites like Fiverr and Upwork for all Professors to reference—current to the last 90 days in perpetuity. As the resident “Data Guy” on your boss’s team, you’re it!
As a “Data Guy” with an accredited Assistant Professorship to prove it, Wix doesn’t even cross your mind—or Wordpress for that matter. Instead you immediately spend the first couple of weeks studying job posts on both sites to design the database.
It’s very cool, and it makes your Assistant Professor heart proud….but now what? How do you actually get all those job posts from both sites into your cool database? This is where you pull the same trick your boss just did: turn around and stick that hot-potato on a custom web developer.
The specialist you hire then looks at your database design and techno-babbles that “your database design needs a few tweaks here and here to work in reality; we’ll spin up a 1x3 array of cloud VM running Chrome to host the front-end scrapers, with CodeIgniter 3 on the back-end. Oh and such-and-such asynchronously rotating IP pools and load balancers are a must to avoid bans. ”, and then hands you a bill for anywhere from $10,000 - $50,000+
Through the powers of your Assistant Professorship, you realize that you’re paying for near-peer levels of expertise for the developer to 1.) instantly lecture YOU on your database design at a glance, then 2.) ALREADY have a strategy to harvest the data, and then 3.) somehow already know that you’ll need async rotating IP pools and load balancers.
You immediately tell him to shut up and take your money—because you realize that this guy will do in a month what a team of 10 cheaper guys struggle will do in six months. At this level, what you’re paying for is equivalent a whole team of specialized developers, except they all live in one head, and don’t have to schedule Zoom meetings.
Every Developer is Unique
After five years of service, we’ve learned that building any piece of software is a lot like building a house—and when you’re building your dream home, you don’t hire a new general contractor every week. That’s because while every contractor can build your home, they all have a unique approach and their own network of suppliers to make that happen.
That Causes Switching Costs
Because of this, any time you switch a developer, the new developer has to first work backwards and see what the last one did, figure out what wasn’t done to their standards, and then plug their own best practices and procedures to build out the rest.
The time the new developer spends doing this, is time not spent building your project—time that you still pay for. This costs you not only with money, but also something you can’t recover: time. When you have a dedicated developer, there are no switching costs across your project.
Your Developer is Part of the Solution
The first step is deciding what the software will do for you. If you’re an established business, it can save you time and money by replacing several business processes or streamlining existing ones. For a new business, it can make that crucial link between your idea and its first customers.
Once you know the software’s mission, you then explain that to your developer, and they will break it down into one or several milestones, that altogether combine into a quote. Once you approve the quote, the developer will then create your software.
Your developer and the quote are all part of one thing—the solution.
Could the key to revolutionizing your business be as simple as implementing a few Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategies? The idea of AI-powered tools helping businesses become more efficient may seem impossible, but the truth is that AI can help automate certain processes and improve efficiency in ways you may have never imagined.
As a business leader, you’re always looking for ways to boost efficiency and maximize profits. You’ve likely explored countless strategies only to find that most are too costly or too complicated to implement. That’s why you may be tempted to dismiss the idea of using AI-powered strategies to revolutionize your business. But don’t be so quick to write it off. AI is becoming more and more accessible, and the strategies it offers have the potential to be incredibly effective.
AI-powered tools are able to take over mundane and repetitive tasks, allowing your employees to focus their energy on more important tasks. They can also provide data-driven insights to help you make better decisions. AI is becoming increasingly sophisticated and can even help identify customer needs and suggest the best course of action for customer service.
There are a number of AI-powered strategies you can implement to help revolutionize your business. At Marine Web, we offer a wide range of AI services to help you do just that. Our team of AI experts can work with you to create custom AI solutions that meet your specific business needs.
Here are 7 AI-powered strategies that can help revolutionize your business:
Automation: Automation is one of the most popular AI solutions. AI-powered automation tools can help streamline processes, reduce operational costs, and increase efficiency. With automation, you can also reduce the time your employees spend on manual tasks and free them up to focus on more important projects.
Data Analysis: AI-powered tools can also be used to analyze customer data and provide valuable insights. With AI-powered data analysis, you can gain a better understanding of customer behavior and preferences, which can help you make better decisions and develop more effective strategies.
Chatbots: AI-powered chatbots can be used to provide customer service. They can answer customer queries quickly and accurately and provide personalized customer service. AI-powered chatbots can also help automate customer communication, allowing your team to respond to customer inquiries more efficiently.
Analytics: AI-powered analytics can be used to track customer engagement, website visits, and other important metrics. With AI-powered analytics, you can gain a better understanding of customer behavior and preferences, which can help you develop more effective marketing strategies.
Image Recognition: AI-powered image recognition tools can be used to identify people, objects, and other elements in images. This can help you quickly identify and categorize images, which can improve the accuracy of your data. AI-powered image recognition can also be used to detect fraud and other security threats.
Predictive Analytics: AI-powered predictive analytics can be used to predict customer behavior and preferences. With predictive analytics, you can better anticipate customer needs and develop more effective strategies to meet those needs.
AI-powered Security: AI-powered security tools can help protect your business from cyber threats. AI-powered security tools can be used to detect and prevent malicious activities, protect customer data, and monitor for any suspicious activity.
As you can see, AI-powered strategies can help revolutionize your business and increase efficiency. If you’re interested in learning more about how AI can help, contact Marine Web today. Our team of AI experts can work with you to create custom AI solutions that meet your specific business needs.
AI-powered strategies are becoming increasingly accessible and offer the potential to revolutionize your business. With the right AI-powered strategies, you can increase efficiency, reduce operational costs, and make better decisions.
But...are you ready to embrace the power of AI?
Are you worried about how your business will weather a recession? Don't panic - there are steps you can take to help your business survive and even thrive during tough economic times.
Review and adjust your budget.
One of the first things you should do during a recession is to take a close look at your budget and see where you can make cuts or adjustments. This might involve reducing or eliminating non-essential expenses, negotiating lower rates with suppliers, or finding ways to increase revenue.
Diversify your revenue streams.
Dependence on a single source of income can be risky, especially during a recession. Consider exploring new products or services, or finding ways to expand into new markets or customer segments. This can help to cushion the blow if one area of your business experiences a downturn.
Focus on customer retention.
Loyal customers are more likely to stick with you during a recession, so it's important to prioritize customer service and support. This might involve offering discounts or promotions, or finding creative ways to add value for your customers.
Look for opportunities to pivot or innovate.
A recession can be a time of opportunity, as it can force businesses to think creatively and explore new approaches. This might involve finding ways to adapt your products or services to meet changing customer needs, or finding new ways to reach and engage with your audience.
If you're looking for more ideas and guidance on how to weather a recession, our team of business strategists can help. We offer customized consulting
Every company needs a good story.
In fact, your company’s story is as important as the products or services you offer. To engage your employees, stakeholders and even customers your story needs to be compelling, attractive and clearly express your company’s core values.
I know, it sounds like an overstatement, right? But, the truth is that it has been proven to completely revolutionize the perception everyone has about your company. The story doesn’t need to tell every little detail from its birth but rather be able to define and give meaning to your business. This way, people can understand where you come from, where you’re heading and relate to your company’s ideas.
If you’re still unsure of the importance of a compelling story for your company, here are 6 reasons to write down your business story:
Yes, a well-established company needs a strategic vision, you’ve probably already have it written down. But, is it clear to everyone related to your business? A good company story allows your customers, employees, and stakeholders to better understand it through context and meaning.
When you share your company story, people will identify with your company, and it will make it easier for your employees and stakeholders to walk together towards your business’ goal.
Imagine working for a bureaucratic, faceless company where every task is fulfilled with the sole purpose of keeping your job. It might be enough to barely accomplish your professional goals, but there isn’t much more to it.
On the other hand, working for a company created by a family that had the idea to offer graphic design solutions for small and medium companies and help them grow, is way more meaningful and engaging.
If your employees understand your story, every little task they have at hand will be more meaningful and therefore more effective.
Writing down a corporate manual with a company’s core values in over 100 pages, won’t be so interesting or attractive for, well, let’s face it, anyone; there’s no point in having an extensive document that no one ever reads.
However, if you include your corporate values to your story: your suppliers, employees, and customers will respect your business and understand its values, knowing how important they are for you.
Digital transformation and social media have revolutionized the way companies communicate not only with their clients but also with leads, prospects, suppliers and even investors.
This revolution has set a new standard for marketing strategies and communications, making it necessary to go beyond simply offering your products and services. To engage users, you need to show them a compelling story that makes your brand stand out from the sea of similar businesses.
Having a strong company story will define the path for all communications you create; it becomes a guide to knowing exactly what you want to tell your audience.
When everyone in your team knows your story, your values and understands your struggles to get to your goal, It will be easier for them to be aligned with what you’re trying to accomplish.
When they focus on success, they’ll work together to find the most effective ways to reach the company’s goal by proposing new ideas and implementing new processes. innovation becomes then, an organic value in your employees to improve and grow together.
Corporate presentations are boring. Most of the time, neither the people giving the presentation nor the attendees feel engaged with it. If you present them with a bunch of figures and statistics, they will likely forget most of the information at the end of the presentation.
If your corporate presentation starts with an interesting story, you’ll get everyone’s genuine attention. Even if you need to include numbers and statistics, presenting them through a story will make a huge impact on the results.
Now that you know the reasons why your company needs a compelling story, it’s time to get to the action and start writing your story. Yes, i know, you’re probably thinking that you’re not a writer so this can be a challenge for you--but, don’t worry, i have great news for you!
You don’t have to do it by yourself; Marine Web offers you a solution.
When it comes to corporate storytelling, our professionals take great pride in helping clients to create and develop inspiring stories that define their businesses. Scroll down and get in touch to start writing your story!
Now that you’ve made it this far, you know what you need to do--so start by asking yourself...is your company story good enough?