I left a career in IT in 2016 to create a business to help families not just have fun, but bond with each other.
However, one of the biggest challenges I faced was marketing. I knew nothing about marketing and I did not have any funds to hire a consultant.
So I did not really have a marketing strategy and had to learn the importance of having one the hard way. I wasted a lot of money and time. I would do cold calls and posts on Facebook and Instagram, all without a plan in place.
For example, I quickly found out that general Facebook and Instagram advertising, though a useful tool in educating the market on what I had available, was not effective in converting the audience into customers.
A lot of money down the drain, I took a break from it all to reflect and come up with a new way of doing things.
I started by defining my target audience and identifying groups on social media where my target market frequented.
And this time, instead of just placing adverts about my business, I posted before and after videos of how we did party set-ups for children’s birthdays and events.
This, I found out, was more interactive. Secondly, I did research on the market and identified the gaps or where competitors were not delivering.
I filled the gap and made it my goal to leave my clients wowed. This ensured that I got more word-of-mouth referrals. Then I created a self-referral system.
After doing work for a client, I wait 48 hours before I give them a call to find out what they liked or disliked about our services.
I also asked them how they thought we could improve. I would finally ask clients to refer us to others. Indeed, 20 per cent of my business comes from referrals from new and repeat clients.
Lastly, I joined a group of service providers; the Event’s Organisers Association of Kenya (EOAK). It is not only a great network platform but we refer each other to clients.
We even partner up when the opportunity presents itself. I could say that 65 per cent of my business has come from being a member of the organisation.