Simple Web Development Notes
I have long wanted to write an article about the state of affairs in the market and in studios. To this end, I have been recording in Evernote for the last few months all the thoughts that have come on my business in particular and of the studio business in general. There were many such notes on the margins, but in the end they turned out to be too scattered for the article. And there was no time for writing either.
Therefore, I decided to publish these thoughts in the form of simple notes. These are precisely unrelated notes and reflections, and not a textbook or an integral scientific study. But, perhaps, they will be simply interesting or even useful to someone.
At our web development events, including the recent RIFOKIBe, there were many issues discussed on the topic. They added thoughts and topics for new notes, I will gradually explain them here.
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Everything said below is my opinion, formed on the basis of studying the businesses of hundreds of studios from the Yumisoft affiliate network, with many of whose directors I am friends and talk a lot personally. I also took into account my personal experience of the owner of the St. Petersburg studio.
If these topics are interesting to you, like me, please become a contributing author. I will be glad to discuss new topics and notes in the comments.
The last six months, if you write or talk about business, it’s impossible to get around the topic of the crisis. In order not to promote the “Crisis” brand, I will allow myself to use a symbolic allegory of natural history - the Zimushka-winter, so familiar and beloved by the people.
We are used to changing seasons in nature. There is a summer when you can live in the fresh air and not think about food. There is winter, when for survival it is necessary to build a home, heat it, have a supply of food and clothing. Winter requires spending by orders of magnitude more resources and efforts to get the same result than summer. Even winter, as a rule, always begins for us suddenly.
So it is in economics. Whatever we called the last few years - “fat years”, “bubble” or something else, one thing is clear - the warm period is over, the cold one has begun. Now we need to work much more to get the previous result.
All those who have been in business for a long time can confirm that the current market situation (customer behavior, level of demand) was similar in 2001-2003 and lasted for several years.
There are two main strategies of behavior in the winter in order to survive and not to freeze - lie dormant until the arrival of spring or actively move in the cold to generate heat from the movement. There is another option to move to warm countries where there is no winter and a lot of fruit, but here I can’t say anything concrete.
The hibernation strategy requires the accumulation of fat and a lair over the summer. And she does not guarantee survival, if the fat supply is not enough for the whole winter. And then you still have to actively move. Or you wake up - and the world is different, and you have no place in it. And in general, hibernation is somehow unsportsmanlike.
But the second strategy of “running in the cold” is just what most of the market players are doing now with this or that success.
Theoretically, the Internet is an extremely effective source of customers for most businesses. The Internet provides both a low contact price, and the best targeting in the world, and clear statistics, and opportunities for interactive communication with the target audience. Sooner or later, all budgets will go to those tools where the effect can be calculated and where it is greatest.
It turned out a little differently. As expected, the demand for sites has not fallen significantly — quantitatively, most of the site customers have not gone anywhere. Recovering from the first shock, they again remembered what they were going to do or redo the site.
Although some quantitative drop in demand, of course, was. It was caused, firstly, by the departure from the market of the first wave of bankrupts, and secondly, by the rejection of investments in new Internet projects and start-ups. Thirdly, some customers allocated money for Internet marketing, and decided to wait a little to update the site.
In the famous studios are still ringing customers and come applications. There are as many as summer. The problem is that they do not place orders in the same quantity, the majority of customers only monitor the market. The reason is that the budgets of customers allocated to the network, as well as to other media, are significantly reduced.
Another root of the problem is that the costs of websites for different customers are attributed differently - somewhere in the composition of the IT infrastructure development budget, and somewhere in the budget for advertising or marketing. Infrastructure budgets are usually reduced more and earlier.
As a result, coupled with the devaluation of the ruble, the decline in the solvency of the demand for sites is up to 2 or more times in dollar terms. For example, the clients of a studio in St. Petersburg I knew were ready to pay from 200 to 400 thousand rubles, or 8-16 thousand dollars, for a good corporate website last summer. And now the same customers are trying to portray the shock of 150 thousand rubles. or less than 5 thousand dollars for the same amount of work.
Some clients have become poorer, some have cut budgets “just in case” or simply take advantage of the situation, believing that now you need to buy everything on the cheap. They cannot be blamed for this, we ourselves are the same when we are in the role of clients.
As for the methods of competition, the price wars of studios with each other begin again to the delight of customers. This is bad, and conscious market participants call on irresponsible market participants not to churn prices, but irresponsible market participants do not listen to conscious ones.
Summarizing the situation on the market, we can say that the demand for websites has not decreased quantitatively much, and the price of effective demand has fallen markedly. The classic phenomenon of deflation.
It should be noted that the specificity of the “Russian way” of the economy now is that we have deflation in the b2b markets simultaneously with inflation in the consumer goods markets. Sites are cheaper, more expensive cowards. In short, we are special here, and the rest of the countries envy us.
Smart people admit that in the second half of the year, together with a new round of macroeconomic problems, another devaluation of the ruble is likely. Moreover, this time is sharp. Therefore, it is desirable for studios to introduce protection against jumps of the course into the contract whenever possible.
Unfortunately, in most cases the clients do not agree with the currency binding of the contract (their budgets for the site are in rubles). But it is advisable to try to make a clause about joint sharing of currency risks and recalculation of the budget at a rate jump of more than 15-20% over the period of the contract.
There is a standard set of magic anti-crisis marketing techniques that almost everyone began to use. Probably, these mantras really work, since they are used so often.
For example, every second person writes on his website an anti-crisis text about the Chinese character “crisis”, which consists of two parts - “danger” + “opportunities”. Simple, but strong.
Many companies with regular workshops regularly updated their titles by adding the phrase “in a crisis” at the end. For example, if earlier there was a seminar “Development and Promotion of a Website”, now it is called “Development and Promotion of a Website in Crisis Conditions”. The content of the seminar itself does not change one iota, but the people are pushing for information about anti-crisis measures. Also simple and strong.
By the way, I will be glad to replenish this set of banal techniques of anti-crisis shamanism in the comments, we will collect.
More notes follow ...
Therefore, I decided to publish these thoughts in the form of simple notes. These are precisely unrelated notes and reflections, and not a textbook or an integral scientific study. But, perhaps, they will be simply interesting or even useful to someone.
At our web development events, including the recent RIFOKIBe, there were many issues discussed on the topic. They added thoughts and topics for new notes, I will gradually explain them here.
')
Everything said below is my opinion, formed on the basis of studying the businesses of hundreds of studios from the Yumisoft affiliate network, with many of whose directors I am friends and talk a lot personally. I also took into account my personal experience of the owner of the St. Petersburg studio.
If these topics are interesting to you, like me, please become a contributing author. I will be glad to discuss new topics and notes in the comments.
Addiction to the inevitable or concept of Zimushki-winter
The last six months, if you write or talk about business, it’s impossible to get around the topic of the crisis. In order not to promote the “Crisis” brand, I will allow myself to use a symbolic allegory of natural history - the Zimushka-winter, so familiar and beloved by the people.
We are used to changing seasons in nature. There is a summer when you can live in the fresh air and not think about food. There is winter, when for survival it is necessary to build a home, heat it, have a supply of food and clothing. Winter requires spending by orders of magnitude more resources and efforts to get the same result than summer. Even winter, as a rule, always begins for us suddenly.
So it is in economics. Whatever we called the last few years - “fat years”, “bubble” or something else, one thing is clear - the warm period is over, the cold one has begun. Now we need to work much more to get the previous result.
All those who have been in business for a long time can confirm that the current market situation (customer behavior, level of demand) was similar in 2001-2003 and lasted for several years.
Running in the frost or in hibernation?
There are two main strategies of behavior in the winter in order to survive and not to freeze - lie dormant until the arrival of spring or actively move in the cold to generate heat from the movement. There is another option to move to warm countries where there is no winter and a lot of fruit, but here I can’t say anything concrete.
The hibernation strategy requires the accumulation of fat and a lair over the summer. And she does not guarantee survival, if the fat supply is not enough for the whole winter. And then you still have to actively move. Or you wake up - and the world is different, and you have no place in it. And in general, hibernation is somehow unsportsmanlike.
But the second strategy of “running in the cold” is just what most of the market players are doing now with this or that success.
Demand or "Light but not warm"
Theoretically, the Internet is an extremely effective source of customers for most businesses. The Internet provides both a low contact price, and the best targeting in the world, and clear statistics, and opportunities for interactive communication with the target audience. Sooner or later, all budgets will go to those tools where the effect can be calculated and where it is greatest.
In theory, against the background of the crisis, all businesses should cut their advertising budgets offline and send money to a new effective website and its promotion. And site developers had to continue to enjoy life, looking at the crisis suffering of officials, metallurgists and bankers.
It turned out a little differently. As expected, the demand for sites has not fallen significantly — quantitatively, most of the site customers have not gone anywhere. Recovering from the first shock, they again remembered what they were going to do or redo the site.
Although some quantitative drop in demand, of course, was. It was caused, firstly, by the departure from the market of the first wave of bankrupts, and secondly, by the rejection of investments in new Internet projects and start-ups. Thirdly, some customers allocated money for Internet marketing, and decided to wait a little to update the site.
In the famous studios are still ringing customers and come applications. There are as many as summer. The problem is that they do not place orders in the same quantity, the majority of customers only monitor the market. The reason is that the budgets of customers allocated to the network, as well as to other media, are significantly reduced.
Another root of the problem is that the costs of websites for different customers are attributed differently - somewhere in the composition of the IT infrastructure development budget, and somewhere in the budget for advertising or marketing. Infrastructure budgets are usually reduced more and earlier.
Deflation
As a result, coupled with the devaluation of the ruble, the decline in the solvency of the demand for sites is up to 2 or more times in dollar terms. For example, the clients of a studio in St. Petersburg I knew were ready to pay from 200 to 400 thousand rubles, or 8-16 thousand dollars, for a good corporate website last summer. And now the same customers are trying to portray the shock of 150 thousand rubles. or less than 5 thousand dollars for the same amount of work.
Some clients have become poorer, some have cut budgets “just in case” or simply take advantage of the situation, believing that now you need to buy everything on the cheap. They cannot be blamed for this, we ourselves are the same when we are in the role of clients.
As for the methods of competition, the price wars of studios with each other begin again to the delight of customers. This is bad, and conscious market participants call on irresponsible market participants not to churn prices, but irresponsible market participants do not listen to conscious ones.
Summarizing the situation on the market, we can say that the demand for websites has not decreased quantitatively much, and the price of effective demand has fallen markedly. The classic phenomenon of deflation.
At the beginning of the crisis, I made a vote , where I asked market participants to predict its conjuncture for a “winter” period. Interestingly, only 7% of voters chose such a scenario, it was the least popular forecast. Prophets are always in the minority ...
It should be noted that the specificity of the “Russian way” of the economy now is that we have deflation in the b2b markets simultaneously with inflation in the consumer goods markets. Sites are cheaper, more expensive cowards. In short, we are special here, and the rest of the countries envy us.
Currency risks
Smart people admit that in the second half of the year, together with a new round of macroeconomic problems, another devaluation of the ruble is likely. Moreover, this time is sharp. Therefore, it is desirable for studios to introduce protection against jumps of the course into the contract whenever possible.
Unfortunately, in most cases the clients do not agree with the currency binding of the contract (their budgets for the site are in rubles). But it is advisable to try to make a clause about joint sharing of currency risks and recalculation of the budget at a rate jump of more than 15-20% over the period of the contract.
Anti-crisis marketing and magic standards
There is a standard set of magic anti-crisis marketing techniques that almost everyone began to use. Probably, these mantras really work, since they are used so often.
For example, every second person writes on his website an anti-crisis text about the Chinese character “crisis”, which consists of two parts - “danger” + “opportunities”. Simple, but strong.
Many companies with regular workshops regularly updated their titles by adding the phrase “in a crisis” at the end. For example, if earlier there was a seminar “Development and Promotion of a Website”, now it is called “Development and Promotion of a Website in Crisis Conditions”. The content of the seminar itself does not change one iota, but the people are pushing for information about anti-crisis measures. Also simple and strong.
I saw the best title of the seminar back in 1999. Then there was a crisis too. That seminar was called “Tools for the survival of a financial company in the face of the accumulation of a critical mass of adverse economic factors.”
By the way, I will be glad to replenish this set of banal techniques of anti-crisis shamanism in the comments, we will collect.
More notes follow ...
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/58545/
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