A New Wave of Marketing - The Online Experience

So although I have just started, I had another idea that I wanted to mention.  I am very passionate about this and feel that it is imperative to modern day marketing.

Websites

This may seem like an unusual thing to bring up in modern day marketing.  You may be thinking Guerrilla or Stealth marketing, but I am really about the simple ideas.   To me, the one thing that any company can do that is super easy is to create a website.  You don't have to be an HTML genius to create, build, and maintain a website.  You could always pay someone who is an HTML genius, but if you want a simple page, there are plenty of sites that will happily host you for a small fee.  Just to name one that comes to mind, godaddy.com.  Godaddy has plans as low as $4.99 a month and they have all sorts of templates and ideas to help you build your site.   If you don't think it's worth the cost, let me give you a lesson in how a $5 a month website can bring in the big bucks.

Last year I moved to Richmond, VA.  I was looking for a hair salon because I needed a cut and color.  I am relatively picky about where I get my hair done.  This first thing that I did was find nearby salons and look up their websites.  The first two that I looked at sounded nice, but in name only.  They were Bellgrade Hair and the other was Shear Dimensions. There was no way for me to tell what they were like because I couldn't find a website for either of them.  They both may be wonderful salons but I looked past them because they didn't offer a website for me to peruse their services, hours, or pricing information.

The third salon that I looked up was Rituals Salon & Spa.  This is the salon that I went to the entire time that I lived in Virginia.  Not only did I get a chance to see their services and prices, but they also had pictures of the salon so I knew that it would be a nice place to get my hair done.

While you may think, "What does this have to do with the $5 website you've been telling me about that you think is so important?"

Here's what.  Like I said, I'm picky about my hair, I'm also willing to pay a good amount of money for a quality cut and color.  I determined what my value, per year, is to Rituals (I can't remember exactly what the cost was, but this is pretty close).

1 Haircut = $35 + $7 tip = $42 per haircut

1 Color = $75 + $15 tip = $90 per color

1 Haircut every 6 weeks = approximately 9 haircuts per year

1 Color ever 4-5 months = approximately 3 colors per year

9 Haircuts x $42 + 3 Colors x $90 = $648 per year. 

Forgive my math but I feel that it helps showcase why I am a valuable customer.  The cost of the website that got me in the door could have been 1/10 of what I spent there, just on cuts and colors alone.  If you add in getting my eyebrows waxed, a fancy manicure or pedicure now and then, an updo for a special occasion, or any of the other services that I go in for in one year, I'm probably worth close to $1,000 in revenue to these people.  I know that Bridget, my wonderful hair stylist probably misses me.  But the even better thing, I recommended two of my girlfriends to go to Rituals as well.  Let's say they get their hair cut as often as I do.  Between the two of them, it's close to another $750.  Plus, I kept going back because it was great service.  All of this came from a simple website!!!

So, as you can see, something as simple as a website can really help you out in the long run.  Especially being a Millennial, the first place I turn for information is the web.  Personally, I don't remember the last time I used a physical copy of the Yellow Pages for anything other than a doorstop. 

Happy Marketing!

Comments

[Andrea Goulet]

Spot on, Juli! Looking at the lifetime value of a customer really helps determine whether an expense is a "cost" or an "investment". Website = investment. Duh.

[Megan]

I'm loving these blogs, Juli! And the website is so true.. I personally think the company I work for loses alot of business without an active and easily found webpage. Although, having said that, rather than waiting for my bosses to hire someone to create it, I really need to start training myself and create one for them. It'd be invaluable experience for me and financial growth for them. Win-Win! ^_^

Question: define "Millenial", please.

[Juli]

Sorry, I forgot to tag it. But a Millennial is also known as Generation Y. It's a group of people born between 1982 and 1994. Much like a Baby Boomer was born between 1946 and 1964.

[Andrea Goulet]

I was born in 81, but since my folks were such early adopters of computers and the Internet, I identify much closer with Gen Y than Gen X.