A marketing tip for small machine vision integrators

Most people I meet in the vision world are engineers; they have neither the time nor the inclination to market their business. But that’s a mistake, because if the world doesn’t know you exist they will not be beating a path to your door. Trouble is, marketing is expensive. Even Google AdWords can eat up your budget pretty fast, so what’s the alternative?

A very effective, and inexpensive, way to spread the word about your expertise and services is to make regular posts on relevant chat and discussion forums. The Cognex/DVT SmartList is one such, and National Instruments run something similar (though also searchable.) The LinkedIn machine vision groups are another such place, though you will need to be a member (it’s free.)

By answering questions in an intelligent and helpful way you can demonstrate your subject matter expertise, which will naturally entice people to check out your website. What you should avoid though is any blatant selling. Just be friendly and helpful and you’ll rapidly build an online reputation that will eventually translate into sales.