Small companies face big marketing hurdles

Small companies often find themselves in a quandary, says Web entrepreneur Robert Thornton.

Either they're doing their work but not selling themselves, or ''if you're selling your services, you're not doing your work," says Thornton, a former stock broker who has developed websites since 1995.

That's the dilemma Thornton, of Stoughton, found himself in when trying to build his business, Web Global Net, selling website development services to small- and medium-sized businesses. For a monthly fee, he designs and hosts websites and provides updates and a domain name. For $10 a month more, he adds e-commerce capabilities.

Thornton sees the Internet as the Yellow Pages of the 21st century. Every small business should have its own Web page, he said. But he has found attracting customers slow going.

Thornton began enlisting printing companies in early January, asking them to distribute his flier and help sell his services as part of their product line -- ''because everyone at some point goes to a printer." Printers would receive a commission for customers they helped sign up.

Persuading printers to be resellers has been tough. Four printers signed up out of 30 in the first month Thornton made his rounds in communities south of Boston. Since then he has signed up 12 more, in Georgia and California. He estimates he needs 440 printers to meet his goal of bringing in 166 customers a month.

Thornton and his business partner, Aron Blume of Newton, met with graduate business students at Babson College and Julian Lange, a professor of entrepreneurship at Babson, in a discussion arranged by the Globe in mid-February.

Students said they thought Thornton should play up the personal aspect of his service over lower-cost competitors, but they also worried that an intimate level of service would become more challenging as his business grew.

Student Todd Connor said the personal touch might be difficult to scale up. ''The thing that's differentiating him from Yahoo is also going to hold him back when he gets too big," Connor said.

Angela Han suggested providing online forums for his customers, so that they could share their experiences. Thornton said he has just started that feature, which has ''probably 50 posts on it now" on topics like marketing and sales.

''What do people think about printers?" asked Lange.

''You want the printers to be your sales force," student Jason Moura said. ''Why would I push a product that could eventually push me out of business?"

But Thornton said he didn't see himself as a threat. ''Stop right there," he said to Moura. ''There's more printing now than ever."

Thornton isn't sure why he's encountering push-back from the printers, but he guesses it is because they hail from an older generation.

''Forty-nine, 50, and over have no clue. Forty-five and under, they grasp the concept quickly," he said.

The class continued to express skepticism over Thornton's strategy. Both Lange and student Josh Lubov said Thornton needs to clarify what he is offering.

''Web development will eventually be a commodity business" in which there is little difference among competitors, Lubov said. ''You want to make sure you have that customer in the second year."