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Visit: Spextacular

How does the business market itself?

Images: Samples of Spextacular's marketing images - these try to reflect the diversity of the customers by using people of differing age, gender and race.

Simply having a website does not mean Spextacular will attract customers since Chris has to let people know the business exists. It can be very hard and expensive to make the public aware of your presence and Chris is using traditional marketing methods to raise the business profile.

Her local newspaper has already published an article about her start up and Chris has approached a glossy magazine and suggested a feature on 'makeovers' for people of different ages, both male and female, showing how different frames can match the mood or look of individuals. A local hairdresser, beautician and stylist have agreed to join Chris in this feature and this is a good example of local businesses working together for mutual benefit.

Chris has also sent out press releases with newsworthy aspects and has received very positive responses from over 50% of them. This is good for Spextacular because, as a small business, it is very hard to market yourself without large resources. An online business would benefit from national advertising but the cost of this can be prohibitive and it has to be very carefully targeted to ensure return on investment. However, by finding a 'human interest' angle, Chris is trying to obtain as much free press coverage as possible.

Chris was delighted to receive half page coverage in the Sunday Times in March 2005 in, an article by Colin Brennan. This gave Chris national coverage and the website received five times as many 'hits' that month. This sort of coverage is priceless for a small, developing business.

Chris has also investigated the possibility of 'Pay per Click' on search engines but again, this is very expensive and difficult to control. However, research has shown that unless a Web site is on the first page of results on a search engine, it is unlikely to receive many 'hits' through this route.

Chris is mainly hoping to gain customers through 'word of mouth' since she knows she has a good product and is committed to 'Exceeding Expectations'. She is also using relationship marketing to develop a relationship with her customers as she hopes they will return again and again.

Being featured here, as a company profile on Biz/ed, is also a way of increasing awareness of the business. Another government sponsored agency, TAEN, wants to use Spextacular as a case study and is hoping to get radio and even TV coverage. This would be excellent marketing for Chris's business.

Chris has also given talks to college students about running your own business and has received press coverage locally for this too. The students were able to see how the Back-Office system and Content Management System worked too. (See ICT section for more information on these)

Chris is in the process of registering 'Spextacular' and the business logo as trademarks. This usually takes about eight months to complete. She has already used the pre-registration search facility and has been told that the trademark should get registered without too much difficulty or too many challenges. This means that the name and logo are not too similar to other businesses names and logos operating in the same and similar fields. If Spextacular becomes successful, the trademark will also have value as a brand.

Chris is also committed to offering excellent customer service and has set targets for response times to queries and questions and in how she deals with complaints or customer service issues. Spextacular is also registered with Safebuy and Trust UK and adheres to their Codes of Practice.

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