Nine Lives: Keep it Simple

Another9.com - Newsletter

Rob Luria was an adman. An art director at Grey Advertising, one of the top ten agencies on the planet. Like any rising young star, he had to rise early, stay late, and serve up brilliance, talent, and resiliency hourly. After a long career, the Dobbs Ferry resident left Madison Ave. and went to join forces with his late father, Dick Luria, a big assignment photographer who shot for ad agencies, corporate clients, and magazines. “I needed a sabbatical, and Dad wanted help transitioning into the digital world,” Luria notes.

Below is a Q and A with Rob Luria, webmeister, e-marketer, and digital graphics savant. As we have noted in these pages in prior issues of this newsletter, there are no shortcuts with equipment; Rob Luria swears by making the investment in the right technology. Here is a tradesman who understands the merit in having the right tools, in a belt and suspenders kind of way.

Q: How does one hang out the “website” shingle from a standing still position?
A: Seven years ago we were doing the signage and display work for the 300+ franchisees of California Closets. We had to have an ordering website so the franchisees could order the printed materials. We were doing so much database and e-commerce work that it overtook the printing that was at the heart of this. A lot of my clients had seen what we do and wanedt the same thing for themselves. And we get referrals. Some want the complete suite of marketing, creative, database and web fulfillment. Others just want a web page.

Q: Technology means less overhead, right?
A: When I started with my Dad, there were 12 on staff. Now I have four designers, three programmers, and the work stays fresh because I’m not using the same talent over and over. My clients came to me for the creative, but they wanted me to have the appropriate storage and back-up capabilities. I handle a large wealth management firm, a research firm, medical, retail, non-profit—sixty clients in all. Everybody I house has a financial stake in everything I house for them. I have to make sure everything is working, working properly—
I contract Another9 to do all my Kaseya imaging of all my servers that gest stored on multiple arrays in my cabinet. The reason I have them do it is that they understand my stuff, the big picture, and that everything they touch affects my customer’s bottom line. With Another9 managing my $75,000+ investment, it’s one less thing I have to worry about.

Q: What future do you see in digital commerce now, in a bad economy?
A: We handle here everything beyond the cabinet. Another9 handles the cabinet—the depository of everything we do. Another9 ensures my company runs without a hitch. I always go there once a week to check my gear. This spot check is also done everyday via a Virtual Private Connection (VPN) between us here and them there. We monitor mail activity, web activity and bandwidth activity everyday. IBecause of the high data availability/total bandwidth access (via Another9) for me I can do more, handle more—bill more. This firepower is essential not just to compete, but to engender the trust with clients that’s needed.

Q: You provide blogging, data storage, email, web hosting. Do you work with IT departments?
A: I’m not an IT guy. It’s my marketing, communications, design customer, and the assignment in question. If there is something beyond the scope of our products or competencies, I bring in Another9.

Q: You must be obsessed with spam?
A: We have a Cisco Ironport™ spam blocker. It knocks out 95% of the spam, our mail is clean. No complaints. We moved to this because it was better for me to buy my own solution and have Another9 manage it for me, versus having them manage the mail.

Q: What concerns do you have working with clients who are new the web and e-commerce?
A: When people come to me and ask them to build them a web-business, I’m am usually dealing with existing brick-and-mortar companies that are established and are now looking for an on-line capability or hook. They ask me to figure the web out for them. We can reverse engineer them in a way that they don’t have to change the way they do business. A lot of businesses don’t want to change the way they are working just because they have to go to a different technology. My prospects don’t want to be told by some webguy how to run their business. They don’t want to deal with digital design firms, ad agencies—layers—the added costs; they want something seamless to what they’re doing off-line.

Q: What has contributed to your success; aren’t there quite a few web shops who do print work?
A: My business has multiple revenue streams, the hosting and management is just one approach. Design work in web and print is the other. Some clients want to buy the job and own it when I’m done. They want to handle it after we’re finished. But, if they need the whole package soup to nuts, we can provide that, sure. What seems to be missing is the story. Why should people come to a business? People are going to the web to kick tires before they make a purchase decision. What is the story that differentiates one company from its competitor? That’s what we try to add.

Q: What are the keys to your ongoing success?
A: Two things. Consistency. Turn down work if it doesn’t make sense. Mechanically, if I don’t understand what the customer wants to do. We have the connections, the resources to get it done. Everything we do is completely owned by the client. No middlemen. I’ve only lost three clients in seven years.

Q: Pricing must be tricky—any thoughts?
A: A client got an estimate for $100,000 for a job I did for $40,000. The technology and the price points have come down as have the labor costs. However, there is a lot of understanding out there that isn’t really an understanding. Instead of telling me what they want to be the outcome, some prospects tell me all the nuts and bolts a bid should contain. Those are the clients I do not want.