A few days ago I was chatting with a friend about cell phones and whatnot, and I mentioned how I was impressed with Firefly Mobile, a mobile phone company that makes simple mobile phones for children. It's just a really great idea.
My friend remarked how he thought Firefly was really great too, and how it must be part of some really large company, and how they've probably been working on the thing for five years, because small companies just can't move that fast. Incidentally, my friend works for another popular phone manufacturer. He knows about this stuff.
But that's just not the case. Firefly isn't big. They haven't been around for five years. They're a private company in Chicago that just raised a second round of financing earlier this year. They're small, lean, and have moved quickly to occupy a space that no other phone manufacturer has toyed with. With most large companies, if somebody had the idea for a children's mobile phone, there's no telling how much red tape would need to be cut in order to flip a project like that. Firefly has done it fast, and they seem to have done it well.
While we're no Firefly, we realize the benefits of being small on a daily basis. Decisions are made quickly and efficiently. We're all in tune with the inner workings of our company, and we have a great feel for what's going on. Last month we redesigned our corporate website (the one you're on right now) in under three days. It's not quite finished yet, but you get the gist.
Two days ago we changed our corporate logotype to reflect a bit fresher look than our previous (classy, serif) font. These kinds of changes would take weeks, if not months, to accomplish in a larger company. You might pay a design agency tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to contemplate decisions like that. And then, after all that, if you wanted to change back (or change again), you'd be wary of it due to the time and money spent on previous change. Big ships take a lot of effort to move.
Is your company small and efficient? If so, what benefits do you derive because of this?
Jeff says
You guys been hanging out with the 37signals crew too much lately?
Brandon says
A great advantage is immediately seeing the results of your efforts. When I implement a change in marketing I can soon see if it is working or not. It's great being able to quickly implement new ideas and get that instant feedback.
Sam says
Brandon, my understanding and experience with marketing is that you never see immediate results. Not to say that it doesn't require constant tweaking, but if you don't have the committment or resources to see the results over a longer period of time the chances are that your marketing efforts and dollars are going to waste.
Sam says
Is your company small and efficient? If so, what benefits do you derive because of this?
Small and efficient don't always go together. When you're small, you're small and that creates a lot of constraints. Small prevents you from spending $80k for logo concepts like the dot-bomb I worked for did.
Efficiency on the other hand is something you really have to work at. Managing a business and collaborating on projects among the three of us has been a challenge and we're always finding better ways of wroking together.
Josh Williams says
I think it truly depends on the type of marketing. For instance, my father owns a small, successful high-end landscaping service. He knows that a typical direct mail piece sent to X people will yield X leads. Years ago he decided to try a new marketing approach. He was selling a new type of stone paver for patios, and felt that if people could actually see and feel the stone, that they would want to buy it. He rounded up a few hundred of these stones, attached a brochure to each stone, and press me and a couple friends into service for the weekend. We blanketed a single neighborhood, leaving a stone at each house. It cost my dad less than two days time, a bit of cash for the stones, and he knew that within 3-4 days he'd have an idea of the success of his plan.
He never got any responses. Ever. Not one. Needless to say, that was the last time he ever did that. It was easy to try, and easy to kill.
Jon says
What?! That stone was from your dad? Oh crap...