Dave Meyer credits working in his father's remodeling business with helping him build BizzyWeb from a side gig into a growing digital marketing firm marking 20 years in business.
After helping his dad install patio doors on the coldest day of the year and dig deck postholes on the hottest, Meyer "has never been afraid of actual work."
Meyer also inherited his father's philosophy to avoid relying on one big client. That's why Meyer started his side venture in 1999 even as he began working as a U.S. Bank internal communications manager.
"I looked across the sea of cubicles and decided at that moment that, yes, I'm going to be fully committed to U.S. Bank," Meyer said. "But I also need to do something for myself."
That something was BizzyWeb, a name combining "business" and the web.
BizzyWeb started small, with Meyer working solo at home with companies averaging less than $1 million in revenue.
Meyer went full time with BizzyWeb in 2008. He was confident his numerous clients would generate a steady income despite the Great Recession.
Meyer's first hire was in 2010. His wife, Jen Meyer, joined BizzyWeb as chief operating officer and vice president of marketing in 2013. The company soon moved from their home to a 2,500-square-foot building in Champlin.
Today BizzyWeb specializes in business-to-business marketing for companies in manufacturing and senior housing with revenue of $5 million to $50 million, Meyer said. It has 15 employees, 10 of them full time. Meyer anticipates growing to 20 to 50 employees and a possible nonmetro location in five years.
Meyer, who has an MBA from the University St. Thomas, travels widely, giving presentations and workshops to small-business owners and marketers as a contractor for Google and HubSpot.
BizzyWeb's services include inbound marketing, lead generation, content marketing and strategy, web design and advertising.
Q: Why should a company hire BizzyWeb?
A: We are an entire agency for the price of a hire. Businesses that are able to invest a sensible amount in growing their business in a dedicated way, to bring on the equivalent of a person, that $5,000, $6,000 or $10,000 a month will help drive business results. We turn websites into their best salespeople.
Q: What's inbound marketing?
A: Traditional marketing generates as much attention as possible in the hope that leads will magically fall to you. Inbound is more of a conversation with a customer where your job is to be as useful as possible to the people that are looking for you so that when they do their research they realize, "Yes, this is the company for me and they're already answering my questions before I pick up the phone." As purchases get larger the research gets longer on any B2B purchase. Unless you're building that value, it's hard to stand out and get people to respond.
Q: What marketing trend can you share?
A: Reshaping business funnels into flywheels. A funnel, you dump as much stuff into the top and a couple of leads run out the bottom. Once they're your customers you forget about them. With a flywheel, you're continually re-engaging your customers so no one gets lost or forgotten. There are three feeders: attract, engage and delight. Once you delight that person they will refer more business to you or do more business with you, and that leads right back into attract.
Todd Nelson is a freelance writer in Lake Elmo. His e-mail is todd_nelson@mac.com.
