Questions

We have marketed through all channels( twitter/fb/word of mouth) but have a fair bit of hiccups gaining new clients. Being a startup in the space(ICUBEC INC. ), we lack the necessary funding to go through the 'Clarity call request system' at this point. So we were looking for alternatives to connect to you to gain advice on traction/obtaining new customers and we would be willing to spread the word through our Media/Connections. Please suggest. - Sean (Email - info@icubec.co) CEO and Founder www.icubec.co

I'm afraid I must second Tom Williams's criticisms of the website. A high volume of small-font text acts as a deterrent on reading -- particularly online where people are skimming and very trigger happy when it comes to clicking that "back" button. Personally, I skimmed only for a few seconds before abandoning the reading. It seemed somewhat generic, vague, and impersonal. That last adjective is even more true due to the lack of pictures a visitor might identify with.

But your question was, "How do we obtain new clients for our startup at a fast pace in [the] consulting market?"

My answer would be this: Give away knowledge free or dirt cheap. That is, after all, what I'm doing now by writing to you on Clarity.fm. People are more inclined to trust a consultant who has steered them in the right direction already and who initially asks for nothing in return. Even if such "clients" don't pay you, they may recommend you. And that's how reputations are built -- through recommendations rather than through payments.

Criticisms are never pleasant, but they're often very useful. I'm a professional namer and domain investor. So the following little problem sticks out like a sore thumb to me:

ICUBEC INC

I'm sorry to say that this name is a bad choice. It will cause you grief, lose you clients, and cost you money.

Initially I read it as "ICE CUBE INC". Then I looked more closely and was puzzled to see "Eye Cue Beck". Literally, that's how I read it; and I sincerely wondered if it might be a typo for "ICE CUBE INC" due to dyslexia. Then I googled the name and found out it's not a typo -- but, in fact, is meant to be iCUBEc. That's slightly better ... but still non-intuitive and very hard to remember.

Also, the .CO won't do you any favors, since it's prone to confusion with the .COM. For .CO to have any chance of succeeding it must be based on a very familiar word. Your potential customers will have a hard time remembering iCUBEc.co in order to find you. When they get there, the domain name will probably scare them away. And even if they do hire you, they'll have a devil of a time remembering the name in order to recommend it to their acquaintances, who will subsequently forget it anyway.

For all those reasons, I would urge a name change. As hard as it might be now, it will be 10-100 times harder if you wait until your business is more established in order to rebrand.


Answered 10 years ago

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