It was 2007 and our business was in trouble. Unique Photo®, during the 20 previous years, had been one of the largest distributors of photographic supplies including film (35mm, 120/220, Polaroid, Kodak, Fujifilm, etc.), cameras, photo paper, chemistry, and accessories. At one time, we represented 5% of all rolls of film sold in the United States. Our customers were primarily small retail outlets such as camera stores, photo labs, tourist shops, pharmacies and professional photographers. They relied on us for low prices, quick delivery and stellar customer service.
As we went through the early and mid-2000’s, we faced numerous seemingly insurmountable attacks on our business:
- Film cameras (and film) were replaced by digital cameras at a much faster pace which no one anticipated.
- Digital cameras were being sold everywhere, not just from small stores – think Walmart, Target, BestBuy.
- Product became available widely on the Internet including the emergence of the big gorilla – Amazon.
- Lifespan of the digital camera model became very short making managing inventory virtually impossible.
- The margin on film was 20% and on digital product the margin was closer to 10%.
- The small stores, in particular, the local drug stores were being bought up by the large chains – think CVS & Walgreens
- Digital imaging caused the one-hour photo lab to go out of business since customers stopped having to develop film and print their pictures.
- The number of camera stores went from over 10,000 to a few thousand to a few hundred.
Not a small list of problems for a photo supply distributor to face. Simply put, our customers were all going out of business, the product we were selling was losing margin and the competition was growing in number, capability and size. In my mind, the final “straw” was watching essentially every camera store in New Jersey go out of business. This was our home turf and I watched much of that business go to the biggest electronics store in the world, B&H Photo, in New York City. Something had to be done or my 60-year-old family business was going to be done.
My solution was to open the Unique Photo, camera superstore. Yes, we opened a store when most of the other stores had gone under. I believed I had ideas to reinvent the camera store concept and build something different than had never been seen before. But there was a big problem in implementing my ideas. How was I going to execute that with limited time and budget?! We were so far behind the competition. I couldn’t outspend Best Buy in advertising dollars. Amazon had huge technological prowess and presence over us. And Unique was a B2B business, new to the retail business, which meant that consumers had never heard of our brand.
So how was I going to quickly, effectively and inexpensively build our brand and business? I decide to give social media a try. It was inexpensive, had a low barrier to entry and I could actually do it myself. I soon learned the techniques of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and using email effectively. I even invented a few tricks of my own including my 2-brand strategy for enhancing the power of my personal brand and the company’s brand together.
Within 5 years we were a highly recognized brand (more than 50% of residents and 80% of photographers) in New Jersey for camera equipment and photography supplies and we became one of the largest single location camera stores in the country. In 2013, we were picked at the best camera store in the country by DIR Magazine. I get the honor of being Photo Imaging Manufacturers and Distributors Association’s Person of the year for 2016.
The plan to use social media to build my brand and business worked, and worked better than I could have even imagined.
Here are 3 examples of the social media techniques that I used with great effectiveness:
As the owner, principal or executive at your company there is no better use of your time and position than to interact with customers directly on social media. I would monitor the company’s Twitter and Facebook and would respond to customers rapidly – sometimes in the middle of the night. Getting a tweet response to a customer’s problem at midnight dazzles the customer, makes them feel special and turns them into advocates for you company. As an example: a tweet that says, “Sorry you had that problem (be specific) and I will look into it first thing in the morning” changes the entire customer experience.
Makes comments on your company’s Facebook page as you. Customers love seeing a top executive giving insights and engaging. It attracts them to you and your company and demonstrates that the company is lead by someone who actually may be authentic, knowledgeable and caring. As an example: When my company would post info on a hot upcoming product, I would post some information I learned about exactly when it should be available or a feature not mentioned in the company’s post.
Connect with your customers on LinkedIn. There is no better way to make the customer feel you care about them, more than just revenue for you, than with a personal connection. I have gotten orders, complaints, compliments, and suggestions with the several hundred customers I have connected with on LinkedIn. 99.9% of them are still customers.
About the Author:
While Matt Sweetwood has experienced professional and personal success in the field of photography and in his reinvention of the modern camera store, by far his greatest achievement is having raised five children alone to adulthood. The journey through 18 years of single fatherhood and the battles he’s fought after his wife’s personality disorder turned violent, have given Matt a viewpoint of what is truly possible in life that anyone looking for a bigger life will find worth considering. In 1997, Matt was awarded full custody of their five children ages 18 months to 8 years old. Since then, he has gained unplanned expertise in a range of single parenting and custody issues, including dating while caring for children and the legal, social, academic and institutional prejudices against men who are single parents. Today Matt’s children (3 girls and 2 boys) are grown and remarkably successful. Meanwhile, Matt is the former-President of Unique Photo, a race car driver, a photographer and currently writing his first book,”Man Up.’ Follow Matt on Twitter @MSweetwood or at MSweetwood.com .