Lexington, KY - Many a business partnership succeeds when two people bring different sets of skills to the table while having a basic working knowledge of what the other does. Take sales and production, for example.
At WebMedley, a digital marketing company providing website design and service, co-owners Bill Dotson (sales) and Chad Hobson (production) have that synergistic working relationship.
"Bill brings the wood in, and I chop it," said software developer and programmer Hobson.
"I take care of the dollars and cents; Chad takes care of zeroes and ones," explained Dotson.
Dotson was a pre-med major at the University of Kentucky who wound up with a degree in Asian studies and philosophy in 1994. Today his specialty is sales and consulting. At 23, he started Dotson Consulting to build and manage websites. That grew into TransDigital, a company he sold to NetGain in 2005. As a solo consultant again, Dotson was working with a client in Lexington, Lightworks New Media, which was part of the Faith and Values Network in New York (later renamed Odyssey Network). WebMedley was also part of Faith and Values Network, and Dotson saw it as an underutilized brand. He teamed with Hobson, the chief information officer at Lightworks, on a proposal to purchase WebMedley from Odyssey Network. In the summer of 2008, the parent company accepted the duo's offer. By Oct. 1, 2008, Dotson and Hobson were the new owners.
Part of the purchase agreement included furniture and assets from the existing WebMedley building on Blazer Parkway. Dotson and Hobson had three days to find new office space, move in and be operational. They made it happen in Hamburg's Stonecrest Office Suites.
The two worked for six months to get the WebMedley data center cleaned up and let clients know about their new business policies. Dotson and Hobson agreed to integrate marketing services into the websites they provided for churches and other clients around the country.
"We doubled sales the first year (2009) from the previous company and more than doubled last year," said Dotson. WebMedley has 15 to 20 people in the Lexington office, along with teams in the Philippines and Dubai.
"We're able to take all these Internet things that seem confusing to people and make sense of it for them," said Dotson.
Building a website is the foundation; then they establish a social marketing presence and handle online advertising. WebMedley has worked on projects for national companies as large as BP and as prestigious as the Calipari Family Foundation for Children
and www.CoachCal.com.
The business model of WebMedley is to charge clients a monthly retainer instead of setup and delivery costs. Website development, maintenance, consulting and advertising are all built into a regular monthly cost. It's a win/win, providing regular cash flow for WebMedley and spreading out payments for clients who might otherwise have to dole out a huge chunk of money at one time for a website.
In any industry with a lot of competition, sometimes people have a tendency to think there are only so many customers to go around. Not Dotson and Hobson. "Our philosophy is not to shrink the pie, but enlarge the pie," said Dotson.
Each quarter, the WebMedley owners sit down to look at their annual plan and discuss any gaps and changes.
"It has helped us address some things a fast-growing company might otherwise ignore," said Dotson. They don't set goals beyond a year because theirs is an ever-changing industry.
On an annual basis, they ask people in their newsletter database about any online marketing plans they have, in order to help steer WebMedley in the direction of new services to offer.
"There's nothing scientifically valid," said Dotson. "It's more back-of-the-napkin information, but it's better than operating in the dark."
Dotson and Hobson use a project management system called Basecamp to put every document, report, form, file and piece of communication online.
"We seek out ways to automate as much as possible," said Dotson. "We're in an industry where software systems allow things to be automated, so we can provide high-level consulting."
For more information on WebMedley, visit www.webmedley.com.
Kathie Stamps posts grammar tips at www.facebook.stampscommunications.com