A Marketing Challenge For Y'All

Michael,

I'm gonna try the same format you did, this time.

> Well, if 25% of people wear glasses - and
> I'm making this number up because I don't
> really know how many do - then a flyer drop
> will target 25% of potential customer. If
> another 25% have problems but don't wear
> glasses, then the flyer drop will target 50%
> of the potential market.

I'm a bit confused on your numbers here. If 25% of the local population (i.e., in his geographic market) wears corrective lenses and another 25% don't wear them but need them (or at least need some sort of treatment), then a flyer drop to the entire local population would (obviously) include the 50%, which is 100% of his prospective, target market. Is that what you meant, or am I missing something here?

> Because it's a low/no pressure marketing
> method, and will be viewed as a friendly
> note, response rates could be expected to be
> higher.

> It's a low cost marketing method that is at
> least worth a test.

The more I think about this, the more I like it. And if we targetted people just moving into the area and made a great introductory offer, Tom would be preeminent in their minds when they needed an optician. He could include a small gift, like a magnetized notepad (w/ the Mr. Optics logo/address/phone, of course) to put on the fridge. Hm, maybe I could get a few of Tom's neighbors to do something similar and put together a complete care-package, sort of like the "Welcome Wagon" does in some areas.

> If you're not sure {about cleaning fluid}, then he probably doesn't
> push it very hard.

Not necessarily. It could mean that I forgot or it was just mentioned in passing and I wasn't listening closely enough or...

> Thanks, Chris. And from reading your
> response here and the "update," it
> would appear that he is not really that
> interested in pursuing a long term,
> effective campaign/system to increase his
> business. Too much resistance to everything
> other than a magic bullet "this one ad
> will bring me all the business I need."

I didn't mean to give that impression. On the contrary, Tom is very open and eager to implement several of the ideas & strategies I've discussed with him. He is just really hurting for cash right now and is understandably reluctant to go into debt. And, as we all know, many of the best, cheapest and easiest ways to grow a business is through one's existing customer/client/patient list, but it needs to be on a computer database of some sort in order to efficiently & effectively take advantage of it. Once we figure out a way to do that (and work on curing Tom's computo-phobia), we'll be in a much better position to proceed with a long-term strategy.

> Another thought: does he push fashion
> contact lenses and fashion frames?

He doesn't seem to "push" contacts at all, probably because the margins are smaller, plus there's even more competition there with the chains and the mail-order channels (like 1-800-CONTACTS). As for frames, since the "fashion" frames are higher-quality and he stocks extremely little lower-quality, then I guess you could say he "pushes" fashion frames. The only reason he carries the lesser stuff is for those patients who either can't afford the better quality or who are "stuck in the 70's" and refuse to pay more than two or three hundred bucks for a complete set of glasses.

Chris