Social Connection Marketing is a digital marketing agency based in West Virginia. The company offers services for web design, videography, social media marketing, SEO, and more.
Even though the agency has only been around for a couple of years, they’ve already carved out a unique niche in West Virginia. Other local marketing agencies in the area focus on radio ads, print advertising, direct mail, and traditional forms of marketing. But Social Connection Marketing is strictly digital.
Social Connection Marketing works almost exclusively with small, local businesses. They aim to offer corporate-quality marketing at a fraction of the price to small businesses. The digital marketing services provided by Social Connection Marketing are a modern solution for the firm’s clientele.
While Social Connection Marketing offered a wide range of core services, it still wasn’t enough for the owner and founder, Moises Mendoza. He wanted to offer more to his current and prospective clients.
“I’ve always envisioned myself as a one-stop shop for local businesses in the area,” Moises explains. “App development is something that I’ve always wanted to do because I feel like it can separate me from all of the other marketing companies in the area.”
There was just one problem—Moises doesn’t know how to create mobile apps.
“The idea of building an app wasn’t feasible because it seemed way too complicated on the tech side, and trying to keep it up with Google and Apple standards. It just seemed like there would be no way I’d be able to do this.”
Moises decided to put his app development aspirations on the back burner, but everything changed when a client had a specific request.
One day a client reached out to Moises, saying they really wanted an app. They asked if he knew how to build one, to which Moises replied, “Yes I do.”
It was time for Social Connection Marketing to expand its services into app development.
With a promise made to a client, Moises needed to act fast. “I did a Google search on no-code app builders,” he explains. But he wasn’t very impressed with his initial findings. “I tried a few out and didn’t really love them.”
After lots of research and testing, Moises finally found a solution that could accommodate his needs—BuildFire.
Rather than using the app builder, he contacted the BuildFire sales team for assistance. After some consideration, he decided to have BuildFire build the app for him. He’d charge his client the exact same price, meaning he wouldn’t make any money on it. But Moises felt this was a good business decision so he could get his foot in the door with app development and use that app as a proof of concept for other clients.
He was thrilled with the results. “The app worked amazingly. It had a bunch of features that I wasn’t even aware you could do, and the client was so happy.”
After that, Moises decided that BuildFire was the platform he would move forward with. It was time for him to start selling app development services.
Within a year of that first app being built, Moises used BuildFire to create an additional ten apps for his clients. Rather than having BuildFire create the apps on his behalf, he signed up for the white label platform and built the apps on his own.
“A lot of local small businesses always felt like they could never afford an app. But BuildFire’s white label program has allowed me to offer that to my clients.”
One unique app created by Social Connection Marketing was an app for the county. The app includes coupons for local businesses, a business directory, locations of schools and libraries, and so much more. “That app really put me on the map to say we can build any type of app development that you’re looking for.”
The app received so much praise that other counties in West Virginia have already reached out to Social Connection Marketing because they want one too.
“App development is definitely something I’m pushing really heavily now. I want it to be a main framework for my business.”
This service has helped Moises achieve his dream of truly becoming a one-stop shop for local businesses. His clients are really happy that they don’t have to go to different agencies for different services. They can get everything they need, including app development, under one roof from Social Connection Marketing.
Moises attributes a significant portion of his success to BuildFire. He doesn’t know anything about maintaining apps or publishing them on the app store, but BuildFire handles all of this for his agency.
“I can send them an email, and they’ll send something back within an hour saying they’re on it. The response time from BuildFire has helped me assure my clients that their apps will never be down or if there’s a big update coming from the app store that we’ll be on top of it.”
In addition to creating apps for his clients, Moises is also using BuildFire to create apps of his own. He developed a wedding planning app to showcase different vendors in his area. Moving forward, he has plans to create an app that has marketing tips for businesses as well.
“If you’re looking to do mobile app development, just take a look at BuildFire. The team is really helpful. After you get past those first few apps, you’ll literally become an expert in the platform.”