On The Web, March 2003

Volume IV, Issue XVI

This month’s OTW Job Shop Site of the Month is the column, and for many good reasons beyond the site itself.

CSM Manufacturing is a North Carolina precision manufacturer serving the automotive, transit and other aggregate industries. Co-founders Richard Shevlin and Scott Cobb started the business 2 years ago, and they currently employ five people total, including themselves.

CSM’s original site was up for about a year and a half and “wasn’t very impressive,” according to Scott.

Three months ago, CSM launched its new site at www.csm-mfg.com. “We hired someone to do this one, for a very reasonable cost,” says Scott. “We knew we needed a better image to represent what we do.”

This site is a fine, fine foundation upon which to grow. For that “very reasonable cost,” CSM has launched an impressive depiction of its facilities and a brief but effective portrayal of its shop, including a Request-For-Quote utility. Also featured are the company’s mission, access to contact information on every page of the site, and a Services page that describes some specialties of the business.

But the story doesn’t end with this shop’s Web site.

As Scott explains, “We are a relatively new, small business—not a lot of outside sales to this point—and our site helps to even the playing field. The Web site will allow us to compete with larger companies.”

Part of CSM’s aggressive, long-term marketing strategy takes into account what its site is for and how it can be used to communicate to prospects. “We’re going to use our brochures (and mailings) to get people to our site,” Scott says. CSM also participates in an online RFQ Marketplace for machining services.

CSM plans to work these various channels—Web, mail, RFQ—in ways and with an approach that belie its age and size. And, as Scott told me, the founders know that launching the site was only a beginning.

“We have business now from Ohio to Oklahoma,” he says. “So far, the attention we’ve got has been positive. But we know if you just throw it out there, it gets lost.”

Judging by this impressive start, and by the company’s strategy of working the channels, CSM is positioning itself to compete long-term, in ways that should inspire manufacturers of all sizes.

To have your site considered for OTW's Job Shop Site Of The Month, send your URL to otw@mmsonline.com.

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