Last year was a bit of a transition year for SmartFinds Internet Marketing.
The 27-year-old firm has moved to a new home, hired a handful of people and started to sharpen its aim on the services it provides.
"We have been focusing our message to our clients that we are marketeers more than a technology company," says Melih Oztalay, CEO of
SmartFinds Internet Marketing. He further explains that in his experience that tech companies are more "order takers" while marketing firms work more collaboratively with their clients to shape messages in digital worlds.
SmartFinds Internet Marketing has been based in downtown Birmingham for most of its existence. Last year it moved into a bigger space, which measures about 1,000 square feet in more elbow room, on the other side of Old Woodward Avenue above Jos A Bank.
SmartFinds Internet Marketing has also hired four people in the last year, mostly account managers. Those were replacement hires for the company that currently employs 15 people but is aiming to grow that number in 2014.
To do that, Oztalay is turning the firm so it can provide more responsive web design. It is also looking to better keep up with Google searches.
"It's no longer about keyword searches," Oztalay says. "It's going to be about optimizing conversation."
Source: Melih Oztalay, CEO of SmartFinds Internet Marketing
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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