Adventures with Corndog: Corndog's Fish Store

Shonuff

Shonuff

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Title should be called "Adventures with Corndog."

Corndog, what is your marketing plan, other than drive-by traffic? I hope you've fleshed that out, or get it fleshed out before you open. It's more important than you think.

I just interviewed someone for a job an hour ago, who owned his own business in my industry. He's only seen two customers in the last three months, compared to my 150k sales in that same timeframe. I've seen it time and time again over the years, the guys that fail can't figure out how to let people know they are in business, or even exist. They are the guys that I interview for entry level positions, and this is after they've invested in equipment (that they can't make payments on).

I've gotten sick of hiring these guys. They come on with me, think that the recession has lightened up when they see we are busy. They go back to their businesses and starve again. My 15% growth rate over three years has more to do with a lot of strategic planning.

I'm at a point where I have enough staff (Secretary, Manager and two Crew Leaders) that I can ponder all day about which direction to take the company. Make sure you are taking the time to work on your business, and not just working in it. You should be doing this even in the beginning, when you'll need to be more hands on.
 
Tmac

Tmac

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Lyrical_sl said:
Make sure you are taking the time to work on your business, and not just working in it. You should be doing this even in the beginning, when you'll need to be more hands on.
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Ha. Small business leaders of the world unite! These are words to live by. If you don't take time to work "on" your business and spend all your time working in your business you're not a business owner or a manager, you're just a technician and your business runs you.

Even if you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off, be sure to set aside time (even if you don't have it) to work on your businesses.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Tmac47_sl said:
Ha. Small business leaders of the world unite! These are words to live by. If you don't take time to work "on" your business and spend all your time working in your business you're not a business owner or a manager, you're just a technician and your business runs you.

Even if you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off, be sure to set aside time (even if you don't have it) to work on your businesses.
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And I LOL every time the guys tell me they think I sit at home, drinking beer and playing XBOX all day. We've worked like 20 months in a row with no downtime (meaning study checks for the guys), and that is unheard of in my industry. Some of my guys who think they are the best technical guys out there, start their own business and then starve. A few years back, my Manager quit thinking he'd be big time, and ended up getting like two days work in the busiest month of the year. He just thought he'd print some business cards and people would flock to him.

If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
 
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Corndog

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To be honest I haven't mapped out all of the marketing as it's a new concept for me to learn. The business I managed didn't do any advertising at all really. In the 5 years I worked there, 0 dollars were spent. Some things were donated for schools etc, but that's it.

My plan thus far for marketing:

-I have an ongoing build out thread of my business on the local fish forums.
-I have a Facebook page going with more locals following.
-Before this I was on the board of directors for the local fish club which meets once a month with 100+ people in attendance. I am still quit involved but not on the board.

The plan once the doors are open:
Become a sponsor of the local fish club and offer 10% off.
Donate gift cards to the fish club auction.
Hand out a business card to everyone there that also has a free package of fish food stamped on the back. (getting them there is the hardest. once they're there, It's up to me to keep them coming back)
Befriend the local Petco employees , and offer them a stack of business cards they can hand out. With their named signed to the back and the free package of fish food promo. Each one redeemed at my store gets them $5 cash.

I want to notify the homeowners directly around my business. Tossed around the idea of a mailer, but it takes quite a few mailers to really reach the customer. Thought about a newspaper ad, but more and more my target market doesn't read print newspaper, they go to msn etc. The leading idea is to door knock target neighborhoods each week. Just letting them know I'm a new local business might go well in my market. (this is easier said than done) Most people I know who have to door knock for business simply get lazy about it.

Other then that, I'm not sure where to advertise.
 
C

Corndog

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I thought of some other things I was doing. I setup the mail chimp account to start accepting and building a newsletter. 10 subscribers so far and the doors haven't opened. I also got a point of sale system that will let me take email addresses at the time of purchase etc. I think a email address will be more useful than a facebook page in the long run.
 
opiate82

opiate82

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Google Adwords can probably be used effectively for online purposes. I have also used contests with Facebook gating (require people to like your page before they can enter) to build my number of likes. Can PM you details if you are interested.

I may be able to help you out with some contacts on doing some print advertising, but I would need you to PM me some more details such as where exactly this fish store is located (so I can make sure the people I do print buys through actually service your area).
 
Tmac

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Corndog_sl said:
I thought of some other things I was doing. I setup the mail chimp account to start accepting and building a newsletter. 10 subscribers so far and the doors haven't opened. I also got a point of sale system that will let me take email addresses at the time of purchase etc. I think a email address will be more useful than a facebook page in the long run.
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Do you have a website? Have you thought of pursuing SEO local to your area (and by local I mean state)? Since you're servicing exotic/rare/special fishies, it would make sense to pursue the niche keywords on the web and draw in people looking for that in your metropolitan area.
 
C

Corndog

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Yeah I have a website, I'm currently waiting for a friend to finish designing a logo and color pallet for my business etc. He does it for a living, so it is saving me a ton of money. But yeah, I do plan to utilize a website. I hadn't considered keywording it to heavily for local, but you're correct. In the past I've only managed world wide blogs etc.
 
Tmac

Tmac

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Corndog_sl said:
Yeah I have a website, I'm currently waiting for a friend to finish designing a logo and color pallet for my business etc. He does it for a living, so it is saving me a ton of money. But yeah, I do plan to utilize a website. I hadn't considered keywording it to heavily for local, but you're correct. In the past I've only managed world wide blogs etc.
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Local SEO is the new black. Be sure to add the site to all the local directories and begin researching long-tail keywords for your state. If people are in fact willing to drive two hours to get a special fish, figure out what counties/towns/cities you'll be able to draw from and focus there.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Corndog_sl said:
To be honest I haven't mapped out all of the marketing as it's a new concept for me to learn. The business I managed didn't do any advertising at all really. In the 5 years I worked there, 0 dollars were spent.
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Business won't just fall into your lap, you have to go get it. Work on this stuff now, it's just as important as getting the store built. Don't be the business owner that has no customers and sits around crying. There is a reason why my business is growing at a 15% clip while almost everyone else in my industry isn't working (or going bankrupt). There's a reason why I'm booked halfway through January right now, while my competitors are starving. You've got put a good amount of brainpower into how customers are finding/will find specialty fish stores. If you want to succeed in business, you better be planning like Batman.

Being in a niche, I'd focus on online stuff. SEO's been mentioned, and I'd also have a website. I used homestead.com to make a template site. You can pick from 100's of layouts or have one custom made. The best part is, you can update it on your own. Make sure when someone pulls up specialty fish, as well as the names of the different fish, that your business pulls up. I'd imagine that this is so niche that you could corner online for $200 a month. I used to be able to do that in my industry, and now I don't get top SEO placement with 500 a month any more.

What are the demographics of this customer? Age, sex, degrees, HHI, etc? I've asked this twice now. This will guide everything else you do.
 
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Corndog

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Lyrical_sl said:
What are the demographics of this customer? Age, sex, degrees, HHI, etc? I've asked this twice now. This will guide everything else you do.
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I'm not sure where to find exact info. I've been going based off what I've observed over 5 years. I'm working on finding concrete numbers. But the pet trade is dominated by dogs and cat info, trying to find specific numbers. Typically my best customers were families in the 30-45yr old range. Which is kind of a snafu. Cause for instance while dog treats are bought by Adults. It's the kids making the buying decision. Studies showed that move the product lower where a child can pull it off the shelf drove sales through the roof. Even though the parent paid for it, they would just walk by the product.

Also watching customers at my store and watching other stores, Friday and Saturday nights are very popular for a dinner and a trip to the pet store as a date. I've seen couples still carrying carry out boxes shopping fish.

A page like this has some stats for fish. But then goes into detail for dogs and cats. And every study I've found so far either does this, or talks about fish being imported/exported. Not the demographic of the consumer of fish.http://www.americanpetproducts.org/p...strytrends.asp

- The math after adding up those millions and dividing. Shows the number I've seen in other reports. 10% of pet owners own a fish in the USA. Worldwide, it's closer to 10% of overall population, not just pet owners. Fish are more popular in other countries where houses are smaller than the USA.
 
C

Corndog

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This study shows that 7.8-12% of all US households own fish.http://jerconsultingllc.com/US_Pet_P...tes_2-2010.pdf

This study is very interesting:http://www.petage.com/news020801.asp

65% of Americans own a pet.
Some demographics:
18 to 30yr :17% own Fish
31 to 40yr: 21% own Fish
43 to 61yr: 14% own Fish
62 and Older: 4%
Overall of Pet owners: 15% of all pet owners own fish.
62yr + are likely to only own 1 pet.
31-40yr are more likely to own 3 or more pets.

College Education pet ownership is 57%

Income Demographics:
Under $35k is 60%
35k-50k is 56%
50k-75k or more is 67%

Pet owner Demographics:
65% of pet owners have bought their pet a holiday present.
37% bought the pet a birthday present.



BTW thank you Lyrical for asking again as I may have never found this info otherwise.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Corndog_sl said:
The math after adding up those millions and dividing. Shows the number I've seen in other reports. 10% of pet owners own a fish in the USA. Worldwide, it's closer to 10% of overall population, not just pet owners. Fish are more popular in other countries where houses are smaller than the USA.
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So you could conceivably market to the larger pet store market, and do the same things they are doing? You might not need a position of dominance, but just be in there. Also, have you considered yellow pages? You could probably get a decent sized ad for $200 a month.
 
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Corndog

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Demographics for the city my new store will be in:

There were 16,904 households out of which 26.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.0% were non-families. 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.85.
In the city the age distribution of the population shows 20.6% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 28.3% from 45 to 64, and 16.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 89.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.3 males.
According to a 2009 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $66,892 and the per capita income for the city was $42,432.[12] About 2.6% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.9% of those under age 18 and 3.3% of those age 65 or over.

Highlights:
52% married couples.
Average household size 2.5 roughly.
20% below age 18
7% 18-24
27% 25-44
28% 45-64
16% over 65
Household Income: 66k
 
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Corndog

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Lyrical_sl said:
So you could conceivably market to the larger pet store market, and do the same things they are doing? You might not need a position of dominance, but just be in there. Also, have you considered yellow pages? You could probably get a decent sized ad for $200 a month.
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I have. I want to look up the studies on who uses phone books? I know I haven't had one in my house in over 10 years at least. Most of my family would google to find some place they needed.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Corndog_sl said:
I have. I want to look up the studies on who uses phone books? I know I haven't had one in my house in over 10 years at least. Most of my family would google to find some place they needed.
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30-40% of my calls are still coming from the phone books. It is skewed because one of the towns here is a retirement community. But my number #1 source of calls is still from the phone books. One year, I experimented by pulling out of the biggest phone book, and it was my only down year in the company.

I only use the internet or referrals to make a decision, but I learned a long time ago that I don't represent my customer's thoughts. Each customer segment is different. Market to yourself and you'll only be getting a small segment of the total customer base you want.
 
Tmac

Tmac

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Corndog_sl said:
I'm not sure where to find exact info. I've been going based off what I've observed over 5 years. I'm working on finding concrete numbers.
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Talk to someone at your localSmall Business Development Center. You can get IBISWorld Reports for free from them. I know for a fact that they have pet store info available, so they could possibly have more specific info as well. Check IBIS to see if they carry a report your need and then request it from the SBDC.
 
Tmac

Tmac

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Lyrical_sl said:
30-40% of my calls are still coming from the phone books. It is skewed because one of the towns here is a retirement community. But my number #1 source of calls is still from the phone books. One year, I experimented by pulling out of the biggest phone book, and it was my only down year in the company.

I only use the internet or referrals to make a decision, but I learned a long time ago that I don't represent my customer's thoughts. Each customer segment is different. Market to yourself and you'll only be getting a small segment of the total customer base you want.
Click to expand...
Do you advertise with phone books online, paper, or both? I've looked into advertising with yellow book, but from the research I've done it seems expensive.
 
Shonuff

Shonuff

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Tmac47_sl said:
Do you advertise with phone books online, paper, or both? I've looked into advertising with yellow book, but from the research I've done it seems expensive.
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I do both. And as I'm the guy that buys the biggest ad for my industry, I reap the rewards. I'm spending probably $1,500 a month in print pages, and it's worth every penny.
 
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