It was the technology savvy of the region that brought Robert Rustici in March to Portsmouth to engage full time in what had been a part-time business, Sharper Selling.
And it was the business savvy and potential he saw at the Cooperative Venture Workspace that convinced him to become a member.
Sharper Selling is an internet marketing company that offers three main pillars of support for its clients: Paid search advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), and social media.
Bob, a marketing consultant, had done SEO/PPC work for agencies in the Boston area and did Sharper Selling on the side for about 12 years. In deciding to strike out on his own, his research about up and coming technology centers directed him to Portsmouth.
He’s now focused on it full-time, which is where he brought me in, said Jonathan Day, who is responsible for business development. It was a natural fit.
It’s a family business, noted Jonathan, who had served in the U.S. Air Force as a logistics and finance officer and who is still in the Air Force Reserves. Bob is my father-in-law.
Their job is to harness the power of Google for their clients. They point out that Google isn’t just about searching for stuff; it’s also about sales and marketing. “Even Google took a while to realize they were in the advertising business,” said Bob, a Certified Google Partner.
Any size business can benefit from the kind of services offered by Sharper Selling. “It’s illogical to say nobody uses the internet to find things,” said Bob.
Given that people use the internet to find just about anything these days, it means paid search ads can be fine tuned to very specific criteria, according to Jonathan.
For instance, a landscaper may want his business to come up in search only during a certain time during the season or when the temperature reaches a certain degree. It can be fine tuned to a certain geography or a particular inventory. “It really fits the gamut of just about anybody,” said Bob.
But it can be confusing to solo navigate the channels of keywords and search optimization, and do it in a way that’s economical and produces maximum results. “Which is why you should hire a professional,” said Bob, while Jonathan added: “It’s a science … you can find exactly what it costs to get a sale.”
Bob said he was immediately attracted to the Class A office space and the attendant amenities he found at the Cooperative Venture Workspace at 36 Maplewood Avenue in downtown Portsmouth, N.H.
“I’ve worked out of the house, and it’s lonely,” said Bob. The flexible use of space — from cubicles to rows of library tables to offices — gives Bob some future options as he seeks to grow the business from its current two to perhaps a half a dozen.
“You have ways to expand and contract easily,” he said of the space. “It really does fit the business model.”
The professional level of the space underscores a business’s own professionalism, according to Jonathan. “It’s far more professional to meet a client in a place like this than in a coffee shop,” he said.
As they look ahead, Bob and Jonathan want to do more work with non-profits, taking advantage of a Google program that provides up to $10,000 a month for a charitable organization to make itself more visible and viable online. “That’s a huge opportunity for non-profits,” said Jonathan.
The Cooperative Venture Workspace is evolution of the creative, shared workspace.
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