Slaying your Goliath

I'd like to share an experience where a tiny small business was nipping successfully at the heels of the goliaths.

I went online to hunt for information on what to see and do in the Ports of Call for a Western Caribbean Cruise.

We had booked directly with Royal Caribbean for their Independence of the Seas,  and I wasn't given any information about their shore excursions when booking or checking in online. Belize was one of the stops and I didn't really know a thing about it.

It turned out one of the main attractions in Belize was cave tubing.

Yes in case you're wondering it is what it says, floating down a river, through caves in huge tyres and every now and then responding to a "butts up" warning against a proliferation of nipping Piranha minnows or a rocky bottom.

The search results came up with a vast number of comments posted by individuals on different user generated content sites (such as Travelocity, Cruisecritic, Cruiseclues, Cruisereviews).

People from all over the world detailed not only their tubing experiences, but also commented on the different tubing operators.

There were lots of uploaded photos, videos and of course websites of cave tubing tour operators.

It is very important to note there was nothing in the search results that I found originating from any of the actual cruise operators like Royal Caribbean, Carnival or Costa.

Assured by the good word of mouth, a convincing website, and past experience knowing that ship tours would be much more expensive, I booked with Jimmy of www.cave-tubing.com. Actually reserved, as payment wasn't required for the booking to be made (Now how wonderful was that?)

It wasn't until we got off the veritable floating 4268 passenger New York City of cruise ships and on Jimmy's bus with 24 other strangers; drove through the streets of Belize that comprehension set in.

It was the significance that an individual, without the normal resources we take for granted, whose clientele is singularly international, could create a thriving business using only the internet.

That he could compete so magnificently against the Goliaths of business - the cruise industry. That he could battle against their onboard non-stop marketing machinery of sell-sell-sell. 

All this man did was put up a website and provide a good service and experience to back it up. But the piece de la resistance was that as Jimmy was saying his final goodbye to the group, his last words were "If you enjoyed your experience, please write about us on your favourite cruising website."

Are you doing what Jimmy did correctly?

a.     Website name: Cave-Tubing.com

b.     Videos on the website showing exactly what customers will experience.

c.     Easy to do business with (no money down, just an email to book)

d.     Providing good service and a great customer experience

e.     Recognising and utilising of the power of social media - user generated comments and how important these recommendations are for business.

f.        Replying within 12 hours, improving prospective customers feeling of confidence.

What else can you learn from Jimmy?

Social media is your modern water fountain

Be where your customers congregate.

For those of you reading this blog and you're new to interaction, user generated content has been growing at a phenomenal rate and it's not just for kids.

Chatting with two couples ahead of me while waiting on the long line for the tender to return to the ship, I asked "Are you friends traveling together"? "No, we met online while doing research for our cruise and....."

What does this mean for you? 

Generation X,Y or Z, it doesn't matter. More people are online longer, discussing, commenting, interacting.

With so many websites available for social commentary -you had better be sure your business always puts the best foot forward in all aspects. By the way - have you ever closely looked at a Google map result? That has comments too.

Marketing hype is yesterday.

No one will stand for it today. Remember for the information you provide, people will be able to verify it against comments, other sites and Google maps.

Provide an information highway

Why is it that when looking for cave tubing - not one search result was from any of the cruise line websites?

Instead provide Information for your customers.

Expose your business - have information well laid out, easily scannable on as many other websites as you can - industry, association, directories, portals. It seems to me the cruise line mentality is they still think they are operating with a captive market.

Size doesn't matter.

Figuratively speaking doing the internet well allows you to be a David. To grab business from your competitors- even the largest Goliath of companies.

In summary, one of the recipes for a more profitable and successful business is simply to learn, understand and make better use of the inexpensive and easy Internet ingredients you already have at your fingertips.

Debbie can be reached on debbie@debbiespeaks.co.nz; www.debbiespeaks.co.nz