How I 10X'd My Custom Marble Statues Business [Update]
This is a follow up story for Marblebee Ltd. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published over 1 year ago, check it out here.
Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.
Hello! I am Jack from Marblebee. Marblebee specializes in creating custom hand-carved marble statues, fountains, and bathtubs.
Our flagship product is our exquisite marble fountains, and our most popular items are our luxurious marble soaking tubs. Our clientele primarily includes builders, designers, architects, and homeowners.
Over the past 12 months, we have implemented a new marketing strategy that has resulted in a tenfold increase in our monthly revenue.
We are proud to announce that our monthly revenue has grown from $20,000 to $200,000 due to this strategic initiative.
The turning point came when we began working with a professional SEO company. They have a larger team to manage our extensive website and have provided a comprehensive strategy for our brand and marketing plans.
Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?
Since we last spoke, our revenue has increased tenfold. The most significant change in our strategy has been our approach to marketing, which involved three key steps:
- We increased our investment in SEO and partnered with a local Canadian SEO company to enhance our online presence.
- We began producing and posting product videos on YouTube and our website to engage our audience more effectively.
- We implemented a conversational app on our website, significantly boosting our conversion rate.
The most critical change we made was partnering with a professional marketing company. They handle the creation of high-quality product videos, photos, and professional content, ensuring our presence on various social media platforms. Their efforts began to show results after three months.
Additionally, they recommended installing an instant chat app on our official website, which has shortened the distance between our service team and clients, further boosting our conversion rate.
For our marketing channels, we suggest creating a brand YouTube channel and an Instagram channel, and incorporating YouTube URLs into your website. This strategy helps establish trust in your brand and allows videos to effectively showcase our products and studio. For our artwork, the best way to connect with the world is through full exposure.
What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?
Our biggest challenge over the past year has been marketing. We lacked an effective channel to expose our products to clients and struggled to build trust with them.
Previously, we hired one to two employees to work on our website's SEO. However, with over 300 different products and more than 300 keywords to cover, one employee couldn't meet our requirements.
The turning point came when we began working with a professional SEO company. They have a larger team to manage our extensive website and have provided a comprehensive strategy for our brand and marketing plans. With their professional expertise, we now have a clear direction and feel significantly more confident and assured about our marketing efforts.
Their support has greatly reduced our anxiety and has enabled us to focus on other critical aspects of our business.
What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?
We are a studio of skilled sculptors, but we do not specialize in social media campaigns or advertising. For the past three years, we assembled an in-house team who worked diligently alongside us. However, we had to acknowledge that we were not experts in this field. When analyzing every aspect of your business operations, if you identify marketing exposure as the primary bottleneck, do not hesitate to seek professional assistance.
Initially, we were hesitant to invest our cash flow in a marketing company. We believed a more sustainable approach was to hire and develop our own in-house team, ensuring all talented individuals were part of our organization. However, we realized this was a misconception. What you need is an exceptional team that understands the market and can guide you towards achieving your desired results.
Maintain a strong focus on managing your cash flow. It is essential to continually invest your cash flow into addressing the most urgent or obvious bottlenecks in your business operations.
What’s in the plans for the upcoming year, and the next 5 years?
For the upcoming year, we plan to invest in extensive video production for each of our 300 products. We believe that by creating high-quality presentation videos for our artwork, we can help more clients understand our creations, fostering trust and transparency.
Over the next five years, we aim to establish a dedicated YouTube channel focused on marble art. As we transition into a world dominated by videos and influencers, traditional marketing channels are becoming less effective. Therefore, we are committed to consistently creating videos and content that showcase our studio and company culture.
Our goal is to build small communities that connect individuals who appreciate marble art and wish to incorporate this natural beauty into their contemporary designed or zen style spaces.
What’s the best thing you read in the last year?
Last year, I completed an EMBA program at Ivey Business School in Toronto. One of the most valuable aspects of the program was the extensive exposure to various business cases. Over the course of 18 months, we learned to analyze financial reports, identify challenges and opportunities, and evaluate countless companies.
This rigorous training has honed my skills in business analysis. While I cannot single out one particular case as the best, the breadth and depth of the cases we studied were truly exceptional.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?
We all begin our journeys as small businesses, and one of the most critical pieces of advice I can offer is to maintain a strong focus on managing your cash flow. It is essential to continually invest your cash flow into addressing the most urgent or obvious bottlenecks in your business operations.
In the majority of cases, these bottlenecks tend to be related to marketing exposure. By prioritizing your investments in this area, you can significantly enhance your visibility and reach, ultimately driving growth and success for your business.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
We are in the process of organizing a more robust sales team to better meet the demands of our growing business. In our case, we have strategically invested our cash flow into marketing efforts, which has resulted in generating a significant number of high-quality leads.
However, this success has highlighted a new challenge: we are currently experiencing a shortage of sales staff to effectively manage and convert these leads. By strengthening our sales team, we aim to ensure that we can capitalize on the increased interest and maintain our growth trajectory.
Where can we go to learn more?
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Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
Download the report and join our email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.
