We spent the first year understanding exactly what the market needs. We collected results and looked for usefulness even in answers like: "Why should we hire you to send my emails when we have Outlook?" We made every effort so that in 2004 we could take a step forwards, and give up on the software we had used before and offer our customers a software we had created and developed ourselves.
After about one year of operational development, the software went online and brought in Romania functionalities which otherwise formidable competitors started using only much later. What was our offer to new clients? An application that gave almost total control, which they could use to stay in a permanent contact with the results of their own campaigns and, perhaps most importantly, which tried to understand their needs, so that we could upgrade and meet their expectations.
At the same time, we published two studies on the Romanian market: "Email usage habits in Romania" and “Analysis of corporate communication via emails in Romania". What was the purpose? To increase confidence in the communication channel we proposed, and to demonstrate that it was able to deliver almost incredible results.
The White Image portfolio took baby steps towards the growth area, therefore our conversations with potential clients started to change too. We were able to showcase actual situations, so that prospects started to become more receptive to what we could offer. So, in our first year, we would only promote emailing and the actions were governed by whatever the client wanted; and the first projects involved designing and implementing websites. Afterwards, the balance shifted slowly but surely, and emailing gained ground.
Challenges continued to appear, and that is what we will talk about in our post that covers 2005.
