In this blogpost, I will be comparing a local business that I am familiar with to a larger organisation who has been excelling in the digital era from a digital marketing sense. The local business I have chosen to examine is my local optician, Roger Harty Opticians from my hometown of Tralee, Co.Kerry. The larger organisation I’ll be examining will be Specsavers. The reason I have decided to compare Roger Harty’s Opticians to Specsavers is that they both provide a very similar service – they specialise in Prescriptions, Frames, Lenses, Sunglasses, Contact Lenses & Solutions, and overall Cosmetic Appearance.
Specsavers is a British multinational optical retail chain, which operates mainly in the UK, Ireland, Australasia and the Nordic countries. It was launched back in 1984. It has quite a large customer base, with it having the largest single market share of the four major opticians, with 42% of the market in the UK in 2012. The company engages in regular marketing strategies in order to keep ahead of their competition. Some of these digital strategies include television advertisements, as well as adverts that pop up on Facebook as well as their own Facebook page. The target audience would be an older audience, most likely adults working who can afford glasses or parents who may have to buy glasses for their children. Many of their tv adverts are memorable for their sense of humour and their iconic catchphrase “Should have gone to Specsavers”.
The Facebook page mostly shows off reviews of happy customers, as well as fun videos centred around their glasses, eye checks or hearing aids. This is to target the Facebook browsers/social media browsers, who go through social media to do their research on a business before deciding to commit. This audience is primarily in the younger demographic, and young people are far more interested in the style of glasses, so these ads show off the variety of their stock. Their Facebook is filled with short videos, which is also a target for young people as this generation has become accustomed to short videos thanks to Vine and Tik Tok, has they appeal to our short attention span. These types of digital advertising strategies show that Specsavers have an understanding of how to use different media to target different aspects of their audience.
Moving on to a smaller, local business; I have chosen to examine is Roger Harty Opticians – an Optician in my hometown of Tralee, Co. Kerry. They specialise in Prescriptions, Frames, Lenses, Sunglasses, Contact Lenses & Solutions, and overall Cosmetic Appearance. Roger Harty Opticians first opened its doors on the 11th November 1986, only 2 years after the founding of Specsavers. The premises had previously been run as a grocer’s shop by Agnes Harty, Roger’s mother for about 40 years. The Harty’s are a well-known family in local community and Roger Harty himself and is involved in many clubs and charities, such as his involvement in the Rose of Tralee Festival.
The digital advertising that Roger Harty’s Opticians does is by posting on Facebook, their own website, a radio ad and spreading interest through word of mouth via good reputation in the town. This small local business would not have the financial means to pay for a television advert, and really there isn’t a point, his consumers will be the local populace, a nationwide TV ad would not gain him any new customer from Dublin, etc. He does however, have a radio add on the county radio station; Radio Kerry, and is known for its slogan “If you can’t see me, you need to see me”. This, combined with his involvement in the local community, allows Roger to have a loyal customer base.
As a local business, they rely on their “quality relationships” with their consumers. Speaking to Roger Harty himself, he claimed that “building a solid connection with my consumers is my top priority, to ensure they know I’ve their best interest at heart”. This customer loyalty allows the business to advertise in the digital era as ‘Earned Media’. This digital marketing strategy refers to shares, reviews, mentions and/or paid promotion. The business’s Facebook page and adds in the sponsorship during the Rose of Tralee Festival would be Earned Media. This, along with good reputation and word of mouth, allows Roger Harty’s Opticians to compete with the Specsavers chain shop that is located in Tralee.
In conclusion, while Specsavers and Roger Harty’s Opticians differ vastly in regards to size and operations, with one being a global chain and the other a local store, they both utilise digital marketing techniques that best suit their audience as well as their budget. Both were set up long before social media and digital marketing, and both have done well in attracting and securing loyal customers. I would say Roger Harty’s Opticians does a fantastic job at utilising the digital marketing options at their disposal, given they have radio ads, Facebook/social pages and a website given it is a business run by a very small team, budget and a much more targeted audience which is the local populace. Specsavers do well with tv ads with humour and of course their own social media pages but given they have a larger scoop to work with a larger audience reach, and yet a local optician is still doing as well in a town as one of their branch stores, I think it shows town/customer loyalty can trump paid media.