To celebrate my daughter finishing her GCSE’s, we planned a ‘once in a lifetime’ family road trip around California.

After witnessing breathtaking natural beauty in Yosemite Park and pushing my fear of heights by looking out from Glacier Point, our travels took us further south west to the coast at Venice Beach.

Now this place is pretty mad. Artists selling their creations along the boardwalk, shops renting surf boards and street art decorating the gables of apartments generally available to rent to tourists. Add to this the sheer volume of people and you start to gain an idea about the energy levels and chaos here.

This got me thinking. In amongst this chaos, how can a person selling services stand out from their neighbouring competitor.

Well here’s my journey on selecting a bike to hire for the boardwalk ride from Venice Beach to Santa Monica.

Much like gaining attention at Venice Beach, making your business standout online is challenging.

The principals of selecting a service/business whether physical or online are much the same. Here’s a few basic reminders based on my experience…

// Positioning

If you’re not visible, nobody can can find you. The bike hire company I used is situated on the boardwalk, you couldn’t miss it! Can your business be found in Google listings when people search for a key service you offer? Whether using Search Engine Optimisation listings or Paid listings, you need to be found before anything else can happen.

// Branding

Does your branding represent the services/products you offer? Is it unique? Or is it still that logo a nephew knocked together 5 years ago and you’ve just run with it… your branding must make you stand out from your competition and be unique to attract attention. Muscle Beach Bike Hire with its bright orange bikes, literature and shop front certainly did that.

// Price Point

Venice Beach bike hire pricing was pretty standard at all the rental shops I looked at. This is not by accident… have you compared your price point to competitors, they certainly had. This is so important especially if you are offer a service that can easily be compared to a competitors.

// Service

So once I’d selected the shop, I went inside only to be met by your absolutely typical surf/beach ‘dude’… who was amazingly friendly, passionate about what he was doing/slightly mad and knew his product. Once somebody has found your website, are they greeted with an image that truly represents your business? Does the content express your knowledge and passion for what you do? If your services are represented in a mediocre manner, the response rate will reflect this.

// Product

After finishing our ride up to Santa Monica, we returned our bikes delighted with the experience. No issues with chains coming off, punctures or the bikes being in disrepair… phew! Sometimes it’s not so easy to know whether your service is up to scratch. Is your service as good as you think it is? Do you ever ask your clients for feedback? Hmmm…definitely something I need to look at doing.

// Cross Selling

As we had such a great experience hiring out our bikes using the Muscle Beach Bike Hire Company, we didn’t hesitate to use the same place to hire out surf boards… again the service was superb, unlike my surfing!

If you want to create a user journey that will help your clients firstly find you, then engage with you, Swimming Hippo can help. Call 01386 841449 or email create@swimminghippo.co.uk for more information.

Swimming Hippo
Digital & Creative Agency

Branding // Website design // Search Engine Optimisation // Google AdWords // Email Marketing

By on March 20th, 2018

Much like gaining attention at Venice Beach, making your business standout online is challenging.

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