An optometry practice had been trading for over 20 years under a previous owner’s name as their business brand. The business offered a broad range of optometry services in line with most mainstream optometry practices.
CHALLENGE
The business did not stand out in the marketplace. With increased competition, the business was seeing sales decline and the need for discounts to compete within the market. This strategy was not sustainable. The business sought the advice of its Accountant to see if they could reposition the business and enable them to escape the price-cutting cycle.
ACCOUNTANT’S ROLE
The Accountant surveyed existing customers and assessed that most had no attachment to the brand being the business name. It was tired and lacked impact. The Accountant also looked at local competition and the business service offering to see if they could find a differentiator. They discovered that there were limited practices offering optometry services for children. This was an additional service offered by the Client. The existing business website was also identified as a pain point. Customer feedback was that it was confusing and clunky to use.
SOLUTION
The Accountant followed a four-stage process to provide a solution:
Stage 1: Existing Brand review.
Stage 2: Evaluation of new brand and positioning options.
Stage 3: Build new brand equity and marketing plan.
Stage 4: Implement brand rollout/marketing plan.
THE RESULTS
The business was relaunched with a new brand and an upbeat youth-focused image. It had found its differentiator and now targeted this niche market (optometry services for children). Monthly sales exceeded sales under the old brand within six months. The business marketing plan is generating a return of almost $5 to every $1 spent on marketing. The business is now well-positioned for significant growth in the coming years.
Marketing assistance and advice may not seem to be an obvious fit for your Accountant. We can help you in this area in three ways:
- By helping you to challenge your existing assumptions and come up with ideas that impact the key drivers of sales, profit and cash
- By putting in place systems to measure the return on investment of every initiative you test in your business
- By monitoring the results and holding you accountable to do what you said you were going to do.
As you would expect, we can also provide an external perspective and bring to the table knowledge of what works and what does not work from our varied business client base.
