While visiting with them putting together their video we learned that Jeff had been paying $430/month for Yellow Pages advertising and had determined it brought them little business, and definitely not $430/month of business, in the last year. So they bravely made the decision to dump the Yellow Book ads altogether in 2010 and apply more effort to taking advantage of the new advertising avenues that the Internet had birthed.

He explained that they had set up a Facebook fan page and in the first week it was live they had two customer purchases from the effort. We were obviously there shooting a video which has been posted to the COVIDCO channel on YouTube and was posted to their Facebook page, will eventually be on their web site and posted to their Google Local Business Ad.

This morning visiting their Facebook page I saw a great use of the fan page:

In this case they are sharing some interesting trivia and giving a great related-to-the-fact discount to anyone who brings in something specific to ask for the special pricing.

What are some of the reasons I think the efforts of The Optical Centre are so brilliant?

1. Jeff and crew know their target client demographic is most likely going to be on Facebook over the Yellow Pages or other traditional print media
2. They have not only embraced the new media, they are working regularly, although not spending all day plugged into it, to build their fan base and to stay in touch with them as more than just a static ad on a page
3. They are not paying premium dollar to be compared side by side on the same page to all their local and national competitors (something you are doing if you are still pouring top dollar into the Yellow Pages btw)
4. Their Friday Fun Facts are interesting AND totally trackable… they know exactly who came into the store because of their efforts
5. In a traditional advertising model they would have spent some significant money to have a catchy ad designed which then got printed once or twice to a set circulation and maybe only offered one single special for the duration of the ads life – I could go on about details of this, but that might need to be another article altogether
6. Jeff and crew are doing more than advertising, they are investing in developing relationships with their customers

I just have to give Jeff and crew props for bravely going where few even timidly are going before them. Now, Jeff and crew… where’s that OpticalCentreLongmont (or Great-Glasses) twitter account?

Twitter in Plain English
These guys do great work, and that’s why their whole series is on my list for how to watching.

What is AddThis?
AddThis is the #1 bookmarking and sharing button on the Internet. AddThis spreads your content across the Web by making it easier for your visitors to bookmark and share it with other people, again…and again…and again. Our simple yet powerful button is very easy to install and provides valuable statistics about the bookmarking and sharing activity of your users. AddThis is the perfect tool to help your visitors create a buzz for your site and increase its popularity and ranking.

Get yours today!