Oliver Brooke explains why his web design company, Cloud Concepts, which could easily market itself to a global audience, has chosen a local focus in Port Macquarie NSW, Australia.
Why This NSW Tech Company Has Announced a Focus on Local Business
NSW, October 2018
According to Gallup surveys, up to 70 percent of consumers prefer local businesses. Now, high-tech is going with the trend. Oliver Brooke explains why his web design company, Cloud Concepts, which could easily market itself to a global audience, has chosen a local focus.
We may think of farm stores and corner hardware stores when people talk about local business, but Brooke says that local is better, no matter how technologically-oriented your business may be. “Unless you’re very much in a niche market, working locally makes sense for you and your customers.”
Admittedly, there are no transport costs or complex logistics involved in exporting website design services, but Brooke says that personal contact is what makes the difference. No matter how happy you are with Skype meetings, there’s no more effective way to communicate than in person says Brooke.
Effective website design begins with communication. Clients know what their website will be about, the audience they’re hoping to attract, and the impression they want to create. The website designer knows how to make it happen - and the best communication is still the old-fashioned chat between two or more people without a computer screen as intermediary.
“Frame of reference is also important,” says Brooke. “When you work with locals you know you’re on the same page. There’s less room for misunderstanding caused by cultural differences.”
But the biggest reason why Brooke has chosen to work locally despite having gained widespread recognition for his work is his love of smaller businesses. He found the Gallup survey interesting because the reasons for consumers preferring small businesses that it uncovered match his own.
According to Gallup, consumers feel that smaller, local businesses are more accountable, more invested in what they do, and more determined to get things right than bigger firms are. There is also an element of sentiment. Customers respect local businesses because they from the backbone of the community and the local economy.
“I’m not averse to working with larger concerns, but it’s invariably a more impersonal experience,” says Brooke. “Small and medium enterprises seem to be more passionate, more personal, and easier to build lasting relationships with.”
Brooke points out that website development and design is, in fact, not a once-off initiative. Even when clients are able to update their own websites with fresh content, they often find that they or their clients identify a need for tweaks they didn’t think of when first specifying their requirements.
Analytics might show the need for slight changes to the site map to allow website visitors easier access to the information they want, the business might decide to rebrand, or it might simply be a matter of changing the site to suit a more up-to-date aesthetic.
“That’s why I think lasting relationships with local businesses are so important. I go out of my way to get to know my customers’ businesses. That saves them a lot of time and effort when they decide it’s time for a tweak or an update. We’ve been through the orientation learning-curve. I already know a lot about the business and its customers.”
Cloud Concepts is based in Port Macquarie, NSW and Oliver Brooke, it’s founder and proprietor, has been developing websites since the 1990s. To find out more about this NSW company, contact Brooke at tel +61432362637 or via the Great Websites For Small Businesses | Cloud Concepts website.
Written & Syndicated by Baxton Media.
