The story of business success

If you are wondering if it is possible for a small, family-owned company from Croatia to conquer the world market with its product, our answer is yes. When you ignore the slow bureaucracy, Croatia, like any other country in the world, is the perfect place to start your own project. If you have a good idea, a willingness to learn and you are developing in a business sense and you are ready for everyday challenges that require a lot of perseverance, you are on a good start to becoming a successful entrepreneur. This is our story, the story of URBAN WATCH, a Croatian brand that has sold its watches in 70 countries in the last five years.

It all started in 2010 with the idea of creating our own brand of watches called URBAN WATCH, which will conquer the world market with its design, quality and affordable prices. After several collections, recognized by world watch lovers, and expanding into the European and US markets, we realized we were on the right track. This year we designed a new, sixth collection called Paris, and a collection for 2016 is in preparation. It is important to emphasize that throughout the project we made all business decisions and moves independently, which is certainly one of the reasons why we created a successful business story with Croatian signature. And the internet helped a lot in that.

Internet marketing and good customer support

From the beginning, we thought that the Internet offered countless possibilities, and it was up to us to use that potential and direct it in the right direction. That is why our beginning was connected with a website through which we introduced customers to our brand, and we then focused the greatest focus on internet marketing and quality customer support, which turned out to be the right decision.

But how did we get to the point where we are today? The following is a list of tips, compiled based on many years of experience in creating the Croatian watch brand URBAN WATCH, recognized worldwide.

1. Email marketing

Email is the second most effective channel for acquiring customers, right behind organic search. While ranking on search engines and getting organic traffic can take time, email works right away. No need to spend too much time writing and sending emails - make it easy by setting up a collection of automated email campaigns to design in a way that will increase sales. Here you can really experiment with various options - send messages to new subscribers to offer various incentives to buy or send reminders to visitors who have left their cart to complete their purchase.

2. Shopping guides

Surely, like most people, you find yourself in a situation where you need to buy someone a gift, but you have no idea. In that case, you typed into Google terms like "coworker gift" or "birthday gift." Search guides then appeared in the search results full of tips on what to give someone. Why not include your product in these guides? If you contact them and find out if you can get involved too, it could bring you a lot of traffic in your store.

3. Publish an article about your business in the media

Getting publicity is a great way to reach new customers and help more people discover your product. The biggest media are mostly flooded with various texts and they are often hard to come by, but that’s why you are left with bloggers who are a great channel to get traffic.

4. Start an affiliate program

If you’re struggling with increased sales and you don’t have the money for marketing, consider adding an affiliate program to your store. You can get other people to promote your product for a commission, and you will only pay them if they make a sale.

5. Custom advertising on Facebook

Millions of people use Facebook which has very customizable options to launch a paid campaign. Custom advertising on this social network can be very effective because you know more about the people your ad is showing. You can advertise, for example, to visitors to your website or email subscribers and compose the message you want to send them very precisely.

6. Facebook shop

If your software solution has the ability to connect to Facebook, a very effective solution to increase sales is to add a store. This feature makes it easier for visitors to discover, get to know better, and even buy your products on Facebook.

7. Referral marketing

Referral marketing, also known as word-of-mouth marketing, is one of the oldest marketing methods. It’s about encouraging people to talk about your product in a way that will increase awareness and sales. The Internet not only allows you to reach more people, but also makes it easier to share content, which can be easily tracked.

8. Collaborate with bloggers

One of the hardest parts about starting a new business is promoting products when you don’t have an audience. If you haven’t built your own community, you can either pay for traffic to your website or take advantage of someone else’s audience until you find your own. Ask bloggers to highlight your product or write a review about it. If they have an active audience that trusts them, it could increase traffic and sales.

9. Sales at stands

If you do business online, you don’t have to open a store to try live sales. Instead, you can run - your own booth. This will help you create a better image of your product, maybe get media attention, take advantage of seasonal purchases, get rid of old stocks and, most importantly, learn more about your customers by talking to them live.

10. Blog

Blogging is a great way to promote your store. If done well, blogging can be an effective way to increase traffic and promote a life philosophy around your products. A blog increases search engine traffic, attracts customers, and attracts the attention of other bloggers and media.

11. Instagram

Instagram has more than 400 million active users, and its visual focus is perfect for promoting products. Half of these users are on Instagram every day. Every brand will do a good thing if they share their product on this network.

12. Launch the contest

Contests are an easy and affordable way to bring your product closer to a large number of people. By donating a product, you can make sure that your competition is aimed at the right people, potential customers. The products are not sold alone.

The market cannot survive on the basis of a good product or service alone. It is necessary to be constantly informed about new methods and invest in marketing, because the investment will return many times over. However, the sales process itself does not conclude our relationship with the customer and therefore special attention should be paid to their information and customer support. Every satisfied customer is another way in which the positive image of the brand spreads and grows.