Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Interaction Technologies Ltd | Alive Water UK | Keith Bramall Hypnotherapy |
ISCA Therapies | Exceptional Thinking | Kilgallon Consulting Ltd |
Charles Emeka International | Almond House Publishing |
Wedding of the Year & Arrival of the Year | Davis Optometrists | The Congruency Group
Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Interaction Technologies Ltd.
After discovering from the SuccessTrack Business Bootcamp presenters the value in niche marketing and the way to use a company website to bring in new customers and make money, business owner Brad Meyer plans to overhaul his company’s web strategy.
Meyer and his business partner Jim Hood have operated Interaction Technologies Ltd. (ITL) for the past eight years. ITL specialises in “multi-sensory knowledge sharing”, which is capturing what people say during seminars and meetings and then providing that information in a variety of rich, searchable web-based formats so it can be shared by other people.
“I would like our website (www.i-t-l.com) to work a lot harder for us,” he says, explaining that until the SuccessTrack Business Bootcamp, the purpose of the ITL website was educational. Now, he wants the website to not only educate but also to operate as a lead generator and sales mechanism.
“In the past, I would say that none of our work has come through the website. Nearly all our work has come about because someone has seen what we have done for someone else and said, ‘Wow, I could use my stuff in that kind of framework. Where did you get it done?’ Or they have looked at it carefully and seen that it is supported by or powered by ITL and clicked on the link and found us.
“One of the things that stands out [from the SuccessTrack Business Bootcamp] is the great value in clearly identifying as minutely as possible the niche market or markets that will find value in what you have to offer. And once you have identified them then catering to each of them individually. Currently, we have a number of people in certain roles that can rapidly and easily benefit from what we are doing and we list all of them on the one home page. One of the things I will be discussing with Jim will be to create separate individual pages for each of the types of people who will most rapidly and easily benefit from what we offer. We do have pages that cater for each of them but at the moment, we have everyone land on our home page where we thought people could easily identify what they needed and navigate to a specific page easily.
“Listening to Guy Levine at the SuccessTrack Business Bootcamp, the thought occurred to me that it would be quite useful to create extremely individualistic pages. For example, a page that would capture someone like Jonathan Jay’s attention with the type of workshops and seminars that he organises and runs that would cause him to instantly see how valuable it would be to provide his clients with the fully text-searchable, highly indexed reproduction of his events. I know that the seminar was recorded and he’ll be sending us a DVD of the event. If he used our interface, those videos would be indexed so that you could type in a keyword or phrase like ‘niche marketing’ and find all the places on the video where ‘niche marketing’ was mentioned. It would come up like a Google hitlist, you could click on one and it would bounce you straight to that point.
“We need to make that instantly clear on our website so that people like Jonathan can easily find the information that is relevant to them.”
The SuccessTrack Business Bootcamp also confirmed Meyer and Hood’s decision to seek joint venture partnerships as well as people who could sell their technology. “It’s something that Peter Thomson spoke about during the weekend. We are looking for people who can see how their activities and our activities will combine nicely.” The company has a joint venture partnership with the NLP Academy and Meyer says it provides such a steady passive income stream that he and Hood hope to find the equivalent of “one hundred more NLP Academies”.
In the future, they want to create more bespoke products for multinational clients to use in-house, as well as to develop a portfolio of saleable consumer products (i.e., CD or DVD sets) and have partners and clients provide the specialised content and take responsibility for the sales, while ITL provides the technology. They can already provide multi-media e-book, audio book and video book downloadable packages. Now it’s about attracting the right business partners and clients niche-by-niche.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
Brad certainly took the right steps by attending one of our events – and I mean that seriously. So many business owners just moan that their marketing is either non-existent or not working and do nothing about it. Brad made a very smart move by investing his weekend in learning how to make his business more successful.
It looks like he has already created a strategy that he didn’t have before: to create more new enquiries from his website by focusing on the different types of clients he has and also to set up lots of joint venture relationships with companies that can recommend his product.
Reading about Brad’s company, I can’t ever recall coming across anything similar. Whether there is anything similar or not is irrelevant – Brad has my attention and if he can demonstrate his expertise to me and the real, tangible benefits of what he does, he might well have a new client.
Too many business owners say: “There are lots of people doing what I do.” They say it as though that discounts the value of their service and trying to compete is just too difficult. I would say that both points are irrelevant and wrong – the only person who matters is the company that’s marketing to me the moment I have a requirement for your product or service – and then, by virtue of the beautiful timing, you are properly positioned to grab my attention and take my order.
This is why a relationship with a prospect is just as important as a relationship with a client; maintaining an ongoing relationship with prospects positions you in such a way that when the need arises – you are there.
Coming back to Brad… it is testimony to his service that he has lots of word of mouth business, but that can be a very slow process. It can be speeded up with active marketing, but he may face the problem that what he does is not something that people are actively searching for; therefore he needs to identify the real problem his system solves and tap into the groups of people searching for that solution.
A good place to start would be to list all the benefits of his service and give examples – preferably case studies – of a company that has benefited from that specific part of the service.
I feel that Brad’s main problem is going to be attracting interest in the first place – when he has a client it looks like people are converted and recommend him highly. Perhaps an online webinar every week where invited prospects see the system in action…
I’m sure now that Brad knows what the problem is, he can come up with a solution.
Further Information
Alive Water UK – www.alivewater.co.uk
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Alive Water UK
Attracting new clients has been one of the biggest challenges facing business owner Gordon Jackson. While he’s exceeded his initial targets, goals and financial projections for his one-man business, the product he sells on behalf of a Canadian parent company is a one-off product – there are no opportunities for repeat orders, follow-ups or residual income. Therefore he needs a way of attracting a constant stream of new customers.
Gordon owns the sole UK distributor rights to sell a water purifying product known as the Original Water Revitalizer. It is fitted to the cold water supply in homes and then revitalises the water using a vortex effect that removes harmful substances.
Gordon has been in business for three years and during that time has used networking, fliers and his website (www.alivewater.co.uk) to promote his company. His website was supplied by the Canadian parent company but he does plan to revamp it soon.
He is considering some additional products that he can sell on a similar sole distributor basis.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
Ok – this is a very bad business model. Making one-off sales that require you to constantly seek out new clients is hard work as Gordon has found out.
It also costs so much more to get new clients than it does to market new products to existing clients.
Unless his contract prohibits this, I would suggest that Gordon obtain related products that he can sell to his customers. That way he can develop a range rather than a just having a single product. These can be products that he imports and they don’t necessarily need to be unique or original.
For example, someone who wants their water purified might buy an air purifier and other health-related products for the home.
People would appreciate the fact that they could buy a range of different healthy lifestyle products in one place rather than having to visit a load of websites or businesses for the products they wanted. It wouldn’t matter if the products were cheaper elsewhere – the benefit for his customers would be the time-saving they made by shopping in one place. He could make shopping on his website even more desirable by offering a special shipping (postage and handling) rate when they order a particular number of products at the same time. This would once again demonstrate the benefits of dealing with a one-stop shopping website like Gordon’s.
Perhaps Gordon can license individuals to sell the purifier to people in their area, so he develops a team of salespeople (this is NOT network marketing: it’s having a field sales team.) In this way he can multiply his income with the same amount – if not less – effort. Just an idea.
The Canadian website is dreadful and Gordon needs to develop his own identity as a company that promotes a healthy lifestyle – water filters, air purifiers, pet hair removers…anything to do with health around the home.
Further Information
Alive Water UK – www.alivewater.co.uk
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Keith Bramall Hypnotherapy
Like many owners of complementary therapy companies, Hypnotherapist and Master NLP Practitioner Keith Bramall finds his biggest challenge is attracting new clients. He relies heavily on word-of-mouth promotion at present to bring in new customers.
In the three years that he has owned his business, Keith has tried various ways to promote his business. He’s had some PR success in Sheffield and he has advertised group hypnotherapy sessions for specific issues like weight control and smoking cessation to reduce the cost for participants. He has also tried stage hypnosis but didn’t enjoy it. So far he has had no success in obtaining GP referrals and says the NHS’ decision to offer free smoking-cessation aids has dented his income from people wanting to give up smoking. He is considering setting up a website as another way to attract new clients.
His previous high profile as a successful decorator has also become a challenge. Locals find it hard to accept that Keith is now pursuing a different career path and this has meant Keith has been forced to look further afield for clients.
At the moment, Keith has a limited selection of audio hypnosis products to offer clients.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
Keith isn’t alone: the hardest product to promote is yourself and it would be easy to believe from all the people I hear say the same as Keith that there really isn’t a future in this type of alternative therapy or that the market is saturated.
However, there are some hypnotherapists and other alternative practitioners who have great success, which means that it IS possible and you just have to figure out what they do and make it work for you.
From these brief notes about Keith’s business I would say:
1. Relying on word of mouth is the most passive a business owner could possibly be – you are relying on someone else to do your marketing for you and are giving up control in the process.
2. PR is not sustainable; you might have one good story every few months, but certainly not something a business owner can depend on.
3. Advertising group sessions ONLY as a method of reducing the fees suggests that everyone who wants to go to a hypnotherapist is broke, which is obviously not the case. If numbers are small, have high value clients and work with them instead.
4. Keith is considering setting up a website; he should have done this right at the start. It is no longer a new-fangled invention! It is a requirement of any and every business.
5. It does affect credibility as a hypnotist if Keith is known in a role that is very non-therapy and as hypnotherapy depends entirely on belief and credibility this might be a problem. But really, how many people is Keith likely to meet as a hypnotherapist who he has also met as a decorator?!
Overall, Keith needs to study how he can market what he does so that he positions himself at the high end of the market – that way he will need fewer clients, will increase his credibility and income at the same time.
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
ISCA Therapies
Henry Tang runs his complementary therapy clinic from home in Exeter and offers clients various manipulation and massage techniques around the themes of chronic pain relief and treatment for RSI.
His biggest challenge has been attracting an adequate flow of clients and he has tried a range of low-cost marketing activities to address that fact: he’s distributed printed leaflets, offered taster sessions, placed notices in his local library, used press releases and bought listings in various therapy-related directories and trade publications. Unfortunately, he has been unable to get referrals from GP clinics in the area.
Henry’s services are priced at the ‘upper end’ of what other therapists are charging in the area.
He’s developing a website to complement his listings in the various therapy-related directories.
Henry admits that his original goals were optimistic and he has missed most of them but this has not dented his enthusiasm.
He does not yet have any tangible products that could offer an additional income stream for his 100% service based activities.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
Everything Henry has done is straight out of the pages of every small business or business start up marketing book. It’s the hard way of doing things and usually the least productive.
Henry needs to decide exactly who his target market is – precisely. He needs to know their age group, their afflictions, their demographic, their income, their postcode, etc.
Then he needs to position himself as an expert in his subject and the fastest way of doing this is to write a book or at the very least, a book of tips on the subject. This will give him local PR and a very valuable marketing tool. The free marketing book SuccessTrack started giving away on July 23rd 2008 generated 14,100 enquiries in four months.
Advertising in directories is a little touch and go as it’s highly competitive – there are not many environments where you are next to a dozen of your competitors. Henry needs to stand out from the crowd and a free book offer in his ad will do just that.
Henry will be able to build up a list of enquiries that he can market to again and again and each time he does a certain number of people will have a button pushed, so to speak, and will be motivated to contact him.
So the key here is targeting and positioning.
Henry could also consider whether operating his massage business from his home is off-putting to clients, particularly women. Some women might be nervous about visiting a massage therapist anywhere but in a beauty or therapy clinic. If he discovers this is the case, he could approach local beauty therapy centres or therapy centres and rent a suite or space where he could conduct therapy sessions.
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Exceptional Thinking
For the past five years, Helen Dowling has run Exceptional Thinking, a niche marketing and business planning specialist. Helen started the company on her own and now has a team of four. She hires more consultants when they’re needed.
Exceptional Thinking helps start-ups and SME’s to develop, through the use of effective marketing strategies. These help the companies to set targets and stay on track. Helen is a great believer in goal setting as a way of achieving success: she achieved her first year target within six months. By April this year, she’d already achieved 50% of her full year goals.
The company holds regular seminars for a maximum of 12 delegates with the objective of signing them up for three or six month support programmes. Demand for the seminars is strong and the company’s next four have already sold out. This is due largely to setting daily marketing initiatives and using a strong telesales and internet marketing push this year.
The Exceptional Thinking website can be found at www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk
Helen’s greatest challenge is to become more proactive instead of reactive. Although she believes that she and her team are well organised there ‘never seems time to do what we want to do’.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
Helen and her company are certainly best placed to practice what they preach but sometimes it is a little difficult to see the wood from the trees.
The most worrying thing on the Exceptional Thinking website is that Helen is the one doing free consultations for prospective clients. She should immediately train someone to do this on her behalf.
In fact, Helen should be systemising and process creating for every activity in the business (to the point of writing operational manuals and scripts). She’ll know that she’s done it effectively when she goes on holiday for two weeks and knows that everything will run as smoothly as if she was there.
However, an ever-changing and busy environment is what being an entrepreneurial company is all about: a quiet, organized office should cause concern! That buzz is what turns staff from automatons into an initiative-driven team striving to meet goals and then exceeding them.
Helen should give up her desk in the office and visit only for staff meetings. The rest of the time she should be away from the office – at home or in a café for example, strategising the growth of the business, which only she can do. She should delegate everything else. It will be a culture shock for staff and also for Helen, but the business will really take off. Helen can then start to be proactive rather than reactive.
Further Information
Exceptional Thinking – www.exceptionalthinking.co.uk
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Kilgallon Consulting Ltd
For the past 14 years, Brenda Kilgallon has run a management consultancy and training company in Newcastle. She helps clients with cultural change management, training managers and supervisory staff in strategic responsibilities, highlighting and correcting weaknesses and building their strengths.
Most of her assignments come via word-of-mouth recommendations and some from her website (www.kilgallonconsulting.com).
Brenda would like to take her business beyond Newcastle (where she is already well-regarded). She would also like to break through the price barrier to make serious money. She is presently writing a book but would like to be able to offer customers a range of products (and a way of marketing and selling them). As a sole operator, she’s also keen to find a way to get over the fact her income is dependent upon the number of days she can work.
Brenda also has a licensing arrangement with an American internet-based attitude survey programme to facilitate teamwork and encourage leadership and wants to be able to develop that into a saleable product.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
Brenda is about to make the big jump from being self-employed to having a business and she seems to have a good idea how to do this. Many people think that being self-employed is in itself being a business owner but when your business’ ability to expand is determined by the hours you put in and your earning ability is limited by the number of hours you work, that’s closer to having a job, even though it might be well paid!
Word of mouth is a great way of building any business but it can be very slow and very local. In the early years of a business, there is an invisible ‘word of mouth barrier’. However, that barrier eventually comes down and word of mouth suddenly provides a cascade of new customers. That threshold is usually several years into a company’s development.
Brenda will find that publishing a book is an amazing way to build her database, her credibility and the perception of her expertise. She should be able to write it quickly (an epic is not required!) have a designer lay it out and then get it printed within a few weeks. She could either charge for it and get highly qualified leads or give it away free and get more leads (although they will probably be less qualified leads). Brenda can then promote it to people, organisations and groups who fall into her target market. Word of mouth about a free book in a niche market DOES spread fast.
Targeted Google Adwords will bring the right traffic to Brenda’s website and her free book offer will help to capture their details. Once she has prospects’ details, she or her staff can follow-up with a phone call. It’s an easy system that will multiply Brenda’s business a hundred times within a year.
Brenda can promote her book 24 hours a day online. With an effective follow-up process, she can outsource work to other trainers. That way, she will have a business which is not dependent on her and which can create an income while she’s on holiday!
Further Information
Kilgallon Consulting Ltd – www.kilgallonconsulting.com
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Charles Emeka International
Charles Emeka specialises in public speaking and public speaking training. His company Charles Emeka International regularly provides keynote speeches or moderating services, as well as seminars and training programmes.
Charles has been heavily involved in youth work – helping teenagers to lead productive lives and to avoid getting into trouble. However, he is concerned that now that he’s in his thirties, he will soon become too old to engage credibly with teenagers. For that reason, he hopes to expand his corporate speaking business. He expects this will be best achieved via the internet and is considering using the services of a company that specialises in search engine optimization to develop his website – www.charlesemeka.com.
He would also like to develop a range of products that he can sell ‘at the back of the room’.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
First, there is a belief amongst some business owners that hiring a search engine optimization (SEO) company will be the answers to their prayers. Charles can improve the ranking of his website by removing the flash opening, which is a little pretentious anyway and letting the home page be the first page the prospective client sees.
Second, Charles seems to be able to do a lot (and has lots of different shirt and tie combos to prove it) and as a result I’m not sure what he excels at. Surely he can’t be good at everything…! Each area of his business should have its own website so he can target different types of clients. When he improves that focus, not only will individual enquiries increase but the search engine rankings will too.
Thirdly, creating a range of products is easy and fun – and highly profitable. Charles should record all of his live appearances and turn them into home study versions of the live events. He can then sell these at the live events and to all the people who don’t come but have registered their interest in him and what he does on his suite of websites. His sites should be designed to capture visitors’ data. It’s easy to do this if you provide something that visitors will consider to be of value. For example, on his coaching site, Charles could offer visitors a free downloadable recording of him speaking about coaching to a business group. To receive the download, visitors provide their name and email address. The people who sign up are the ones who are likely to buy his coaching related products.
Further Information
Charles Emeka International – www.charlesemeka.com
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Almond House Publishing
Entrepreneurial publisher Simon Beck set up his company Almond House Publishing Ltd. two years ago to provide manuals and information websites. Initially, he was involved in selling manuals and CDs aimed at helping people to discover the hottest selling products on the internet. He found competing in this overcrowded market very challenging and has been looking for ways to expand into other easier markets.
He is now expanding his product offering and will provide targeted information to specific industries. He has just launched www.carehomemarketingexpect.com, ahead of changes to the way carehome funding is allocated. He expects to launch further marketingexpect.com products aimed at niche markets in the future.
The biggest challenges now for Simon are direct marketing and public relations.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
Simon says that one of his challenges is public relations (PR) – getting positive stories about his company in the media. This can be problematic for many companies – they don’t know how to frame what they are doing in a way that is regarded as newsworthy by journalists. In Simon’s case however it should be easier because he has very cleverly decided to niche his products. He can reach his target market – in the first case, care homes – through the trade press.
A fast way of getting yourself noticed by the trade press in your industry is to contact the editor or publisher of the magazine/journal and ask to interview them for your customers on the latest trends in their marketplace. Not only will you end up with a cracking interview with someone who is held in high esteem by the profession, but you will have a personal relationship with the editor of the magazine… during which you will no doubt tell them about your service. Perhaps you will be invited to write an article for the publication!
Simon’s website has been created using blog software, which is usually free and can be set up by anyone – not necessarily a web designer. The best things about creating a website this way is that you, the website owner, can update the site in seconds – no technical knowledge is required and Google typically ranks blog sites over and above regular sites so you can get higher up in the Google rankings faster.
The site has (or will have once other articles are loaded onto it) lots of content, which is also good for search engines. I would recommend that Simon hires the services of a professional writer or journalist to polish the language on his website… it needs to flow a little more than it does.
Simon is very wise to have chosen to niche his products. By doing so, he can tailor-make his products to solve the problems within each niche. He can have multiple niches with 80% of his product – a marketing kit – remaining the same and the other 20% tailored to the niche. Excellent!
If by ‘direct marketing’, Simon means ‘direct mail’ this is easy enough to accomplish. It’s possible to rent databases of just about anything, so he can rent a list of all care homes in the UK then create a letter that pitches his marketing product. He can include an offer to send more information on his marketing product. This two-step sale process is covered in more detail on the SuccessTrack blog but in a nutshell it’s the most profitable methodology. When Simon has an approach that is profitable he can then rent similar lists in other countries. Since his manual is sold via mail order, he can post it to customers around the world.
Further Information
Almond House Publishing Ltd www.CareHomeMarketingExpert.com
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Wedding of the Year & Arrival of the Year
Katrina Blunt and her partner set up the internet-based Wedding of the Year six months ago and based on its success have recently launched an additional product, Arrival of the Year. The Wedding of the Year allows wedding guests to upload their digital photographs of the wedding day to a dedicated site using specially created and easy to use software. The bride and bridegroom can then decide which pictures they wish to share with friends and family in a password-protected online album.
This replaces the more conventional idea of providing guests with cheap disposable film cameras. The company provides cards and table cards that explain to guests how to use their photographs of the day.
The Arrival of the Year extends the original concept to baby pictures.
Both Wedding of the Year and Arrival of the Year offer scope for further product ranges as gifts for the couple and the guests.
There is some competition in the market but as yet, no one else offering such a simple to use package.
The main challenge has been working with software developers overseas who failed to deliver on promises before a third successful attempt. As always with a new and original product, pricing has been a difficult issue but, within the context of the total wedding package, will be seen by many couples as a minor outlay for a considerable added value for their family and friends. This is intended to be an addition to conventional and professional wedding photography rather than an alternative although some professional photographers may allow their normally copyrighted images to be uploaded too.
Once the initial development costs have been paid off, this should be a business with modest overheads and good margins.
Most of the company’s promotion so far has been via its website and word-of-mouth recommendation. Katrina has used some press releases and limited ‘off the page’ advertising for the spin-off ‘Arrival of the Year’ baby products. She is clearly using her professional marketing background to great benefit.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
I struggle with the “Capture Share Enjoy” strap line on the Wedding of the Year’ website – it is very ‘advertising agency’ which is certainly OK if you are Nike or Microsoft but this is an entrepreneurial business that will live or die on this month’s sales and ultimately clever strap lines don’t make money for businesses like this. The better strap line is buried on page two of the website: “Wedding of the Year can replace disposable cameras and save you money.” This describes the benefit of using the service and is focused on what the customer gets out of it rather than a ‘clever’ strap line that means nothing to anyone.
The website is easy to use, has a clean design and is logical. Perhaps some online video could help to explain and demonstrate how it all works. Katrina needs to start capturing details of visitors too.
Although it might be there, a quick look at the site did not show me how to buy the service. Combined with the fact that the site doesn’t collect visitors’ details, it makes it a nice but pointless marketing tool. If the only way to buy is to use the ‘contact us’ page, then Katrina and her partner will not only not make money but probably lose it too. It’s essential that EVERY page contains a strong call to action and tells the prospect EXACTLY what they should do next and how to buy the product.
Further Information
Contact Wedding of the Year www.weddingoftheyear.com
Arrival of the Year www.arrivaloftheyear.com
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
Davis Optometrists
Over the past 40 years, Davis Optometrists has steadily built a strong reputation for delivering excellent service. The retail optician has four branches – three in Northamptonshire and one in Buckinghampshire – and a total of 28 staff, some of whom have worked for the company for decades. The company’s USP of tradition and excellent service has allowed it to operate at the top end of the market, where profit margins are higher.
The company’s big challenge now is to maintain its market share and reputation. One way of doing this is through promotion. The Davis Optometrists’ website needs to be more attractive to search engines, according to Kim Durden, one of the company’s five partners. She and her partners also plan to start an ezine.
She has just appointed a marketing agency to co-ordinate and disseminate an image for the practice. In the past, she has done little PR and spoken to local organisations and groups as a way of promoting the business. There may be scope, she believes, to be involved in joint venture activities with beauticians (regarding the choice and image of frame designs).
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
First, I would say that ‘tradition and excellent service’ is not a USP – a unique selling proposition. It’s a feature and not really a benefit; neither attributes are unique (I’m sure that there are other opticians that have been in business for 40 years) and ‘excellent service’ is really the minimum to expect in a competitive market.
So, step one for Davis Optometrists is to find something that is truly unique (and it is important to keep in mind that a USP changes over time – competitors are always quick to steal your good ideas! You must constantly be innovating to look for the edge in your business).
A USP only has to be unique to the customer – not necessarily to you, the business owner. So, for example you might say that “Your eyes are tested in 47 different ways”. Now, it might be that all opticians run 47 different tests as standard but that isn’t important. What is important is that the customer doesn’t know that it is standard practice and will believe that you are the FIRST to be so thorough. The implication is that other opticians do NOT use 47 different tests.
You must create a USP that makes you stand out from everyone else. I would imagine that as an optometrist, separating yourself from the chains is a good thing, and certainly positioning yourself as a premium service is good too and as Kim Durden points out, the company isn’t scratching around for profits. She and her partners know it’s to be found at the top end of the market.
Maintaining reputation shouldn’t be an issue if you are providing a quality product and market share presumably means market share at the top end of the market. One way of doing this is to turn going to the opticians into an experience, just like the top hair dressing salons do. Hire an interior designer to create a friendly environment; have coffee machines bubbling all day, have mood music playing and style magazines and fresh pastries on offer. No one ENJOYS going to the opticians and some fear it, so making it an enjoyable experience will attract people who don’t mind paying extra for the extras!
Unfortunately, the Davis Opticians website is not working as hard as it should or could do. The intention is to make it more search engine friendly; Google found it immediately when I typed in “Davis Opticians”, but not when I typed in the term “opticians Northamptonshire”. First step should be to optimise the site with the typical keywords that people use when searching for an optician in their area – words or phrases like “optician”, “eye-check”, “glasses” or “contact lenses” etc and the name of the town they live in. This research can also form the basis of a Google Adwords campaign which is quick and easy to set up.
This will seem harsh but the home page of the website needs a major overhaul. The home page of your website is the most important part of the website since that is where visitors make the split second decision whether to stay or not – and right now the website home page is all wrong. It’s dominated by a picture of a not very friendly looking woman, the navigation bar is tiny (you really do need good eye sight to read that type – which really does put off the majority of people looking for an optometrist!). That’s the bad news. The good news is that it is definitely fixable in a day!
The site needs to be rewritten to make it interesting and engaging. The USP needs to be on the home page and if the upmarket environment tip above is followed then great photos of the waiting area and friendly staff should be shown. There is so much you can do on this website; a video of an optician explaining the process of an eye-check, a download of a report on ‘seven ways to know if you need an eye examination’ which is a great way of capturing data of site visitors (which will help the company to build up the number of ezine subscribers) etc.
Hiring a marketing agency is OK, but probably a waste of money and nothing that the owners can’t do themselves. Image is all very well, but getting the right potential customers to find you and then buy from you is only partly to do with image; the rest is good marketing.
I would highly recommend at least one of the owners comes and joins us at the internet marketing course SuccessTrack is running on December 6 and 7 in London. It will be a comparatively small investment compared to the marketing agency fee but will give them control over the marketing of their company on the internet forever.
Further Information
Contact Davis Optometrists at www.rdavis-optometrists.co.uk
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Marketing ‘Hot Seats’
The Congruency Group
With many years management experience working for blue chip clients, Craig Boddington has decided to set up his own high end management consultancy company. He will head up a team of well-qualified and experienced associates, leveraging their combined skills to provide a boutique consultancy company.
The company’s marketing will be conducted via the internet, through networking and personal recommendations. Craig will present seminars on a range of subjects and use these events to attract one-to-one clients.
He is also developing IT models that can be sold or licensed.
SuccessTrack’s Founder Jonathan Jay says
This is a start-up situation so it’s very difficult to comment on existing practices. I can however make some general observations. I have no doubt that Craig has a lot of expertise but in business, this is only part of the game. I always say that if you aren’t thinking about marketing and strategy 80% of the time, you aren’t running a business, you have a job.
Business owners often establish companies in an area that they have expertise in but then fall into the trap of focusing too heavily on the delivery or execution of that product or service rather than the more important task of finding buyers. If everyone knew how to find buyers cost effectively there would never be any business failure.
How much time should you, as a business owner, spend focusing on strategy? At least 80%. That’s right: at least 80% of your time should be spent working out what to do next and how to find people to buy your product or service. Strategy and marketing are the two most important jobs in any company and if you can master these then everything else will fall into place. Falling in love with your product is dangerous because products can easily be imitated and copied, whereas intelligent strategy and good marketing is far harder to rip off.
The method by which buyers are found is determined by the characteristics of the target market. Craig says that networking, the internet and seminars are his preferred methods. I don’t know whether he is basing this on experience or instinct but let’s assume that he is right. If that is the case then all three methods should link together: the networking and website should be designed to put prospects into a seminar with the first two stages (networking and the website) designed to capture qualified prospects.
Seminars are a great way of building a business. At SuccessTrack, we use introductory seminars for new members to introduce them to a range of our products or services and to demonstrate the value of SuccessTrack services which is a little harder to do using other media. If Craig can demonstrate value in his seminars, he is off to a flying start. However, the seminar is just the start. He must have a strong ‘call to action’, a reason for potential clients to do business NOW. Usually, when someone goes away to ‘think about it’, they don’t return. If Craig can create a compelling, irresistible offer for people who take action immediately, success is just round the corner.
Further Information
Contact Craig Boddington from www.TheCongruencygroup.com
