COMMENT AND OPINION | Darren Taylor
DARREN TAYLOR OPINION
As his business turns 30, the Searle and Taylor MD uses his own experience to explain why a tailored marketing strategy is key to helping your business stand out from the crowd
How to stay competitive in a crowded market M
y business celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and I am hoping we will continue to remain open for the rest of it, now that the Covid vaccine seems to be doing the job. When I fi rst opened a showroom in Winchester, where Searle and Taylor is based, there were two other kitchen studios.
Now there are 14 and most of them sell lovely kitchens, with one or two exceptions. Because we are now competing in a very competitive location, independents like me have to continually up our game.
The KBB Close to Home campaign – launched by kbbreview’s sister consumer title Kitchens Bedrooms & Bathrooms – recognises the importance of buying local and I agree. That being the case, much of my marketing budget goes on promoting my business via advertising within a given catchment area surrounding Winchester. This only extends further in terms of brand awareness when case studies of our latest projects or, ahem, expert comments from me, are featured editorially in national glossy interiors magazines. We actually have another major case study published in one of them this month, by the by.
Nigh on 80% of the requests I receive are for a print brochure to be posted. It suits me because print has longevity
Unlike some industry folk that I speak to, I have only dedicated a percentage of my budget to online advertising, as I also advertise in my local newspaper. I take prominent ads in the weekly Hampshire Chronicle, when we have a sale or promotion on or to highlight that we are actually open for business…
I can safely state that print is very much the preferred medium when people request my brochure, which is offered either as a download or as a print version when they register their details on my website. Nigh on 80% of the requests that I receive from new leads are for a print brochure to be posted. My client base tends to be affl uent and aged 40+, so this may have something to do with it, but it suits me because it gets my brand and details of my projects directly into their homes, and they can refer to it
repeatedly, because print has longevity. That said, the way I inform people about my brochure is via digital advertising and through more brand-led organic content on Instagram and Facebook, which does work. A small word of warning: while Instagram generates only lovely responses, Facebook seems to be the province of some bored and angry trolls. I would very much like to meet the gentleman who suggested that he could make one of my bespoke kitchens for ‘15 grand’, because if he can, I’d like to offer him a job.
Communication Furthermore, I have started reminding the potential clients who requested my brochure that we still exist by e-shot retargeting and. And while I have only just started doing this, there is a lot of data that states email marketing is an effective way to communicate with people who have already shown an interest in your business. It is also a useful way to remind people that you have a sale on, or a promotion, when working alongside digital and print advertising that reinforces the message via different platforms.
The one caveat to this is that sometimes selling a kitchen is a very long, drawn-out process and if someone requests a brochure, they are usually at the very start of the planning stage. However, sit tight, as we are now seeing brochure leads from a few months ago turn into genuine and very strong enquiries, as well as visits to the showroom, now that it is open again.
For the marketing mix to work, I believe you have to have really good content, whether words or images, and it should be directed back to your website, whenever possible. The more well-written information you have on your site, the better it is for your SEO. My website is updated monthly with new information and personalised blogs that recommend brands we have in our showroom, projects, news or industry events. I don’t perform all of this marketing activity myself, I might add. I work with a KBB specialist marketing and PR agency, a fantastic graphic designer, plus a digital advertising guru, who all work hand-in-hand to ensure that brand messages are consistent. I also work with a tech agency that manages my website and they tell me that while my front end looks good, my back end needs some work, as it is diffi cult to manage. The cost will be a real pain in the arse, but it is the next big project to make sure my business stays competitive.
20 · July 2021
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