In the early days of setting up my airport transfer business,
I initially targeted the general public (or holiday makers). For the
uninitiated this is known as business-to-consumer or B2C marketing. It requires
a lot of input and constant effort to build it up. Back in 2003 the Internet
was still in its infancy so attracting new customers required local advertising
campaigns complimented with business cards and leaflets which could be costly.
I realised that to develop an airport transfer business in my local B2C market was futile. It required either a collaboration with a travel
agent (giving them a cut of your profit) or constant advertising in a local
magazine week after week. Either of these options ate in to your revenue and
prevented you growing bigger than a busy one-man-band. This is because there was
not enough margin left to bring in other drivers and exceeding the VAT
threshold would kill you on price.
The alternative I chose was to target people from outside the
UK who were travelling in to Manchester International Airport. The black cabs
based at the airport were so expensive that there was plenty of scope to be
competitive on cost and still have a margin. The only issue here was that I was
based nearly 50 miles away from the airport and attracting any such customers would
require good rankings on Google. In 2003 however, there was very little
competition on the Internet.
As an experiment I built a website (www.bluestone.gb.com) and added a lot of
tourist information. I added the site to a few directories such as DMOZ and surprisingly
it ranked. Initially it was a top twenty page for the search term ‘manchester
airport taxi’ and with some fettling behind the scenes it improved. I started
to learn about the dark art of Search Engine Optimisation and things improved
further still until eventually the site ranked in the top three of Google.
The result was some great work. I started to meet
celebrities, VIPs and other interesting people. I also started to visit all
sorts of new places across the UK. I had some great conversations too. There were a
few issues with this business though. Firstly, it could be seasonal. Secondly,
despite good prices there could be a lot of dead mileage and hidden cost which
affected your margins and thirdly, it could be dramatically affected by a change in Google’s
algorithm.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Google’s algorithm is its
closely protected secret formula for how Google decides to rank web sites in the
search results. In 2003, if your web site was your only income, it could be
nerve racking! In fact, when Google rolled out a major change to its search
criteria you could plummet down the rankings in an instant. This would
effectively mute the business overnight.
Although the work Google provided could be rewarding it was
sporadic. It was simply too wild to provide a regular income too. Recognising this
fact, it was time to look for something more regular and something more stable.
After dipping a toe in the B2C market and recognising its turbulent nature I turned
to the local business community instead. With the tenth largest industrial
estate in Europe on my doorstep and two major airports less than an hour away
it seemed a logical step.
I had a few contacts which eventually brought in
some good work. It was regular too and it began to grow. Now, after thirteen
years of building my company DrivenByQ, it is established as the main airport transfer supplier
to companies on Wrexham Industrial Estate and Deeside Industrial Park. This gives
us a very stable customer base which (although slightly seasonal) keeps us busy
all year round and pays the bills. It is our bread and butter income and has
facilitated steady growth.
While DrivenByQ has been my main focus for all these years,
I have to admit that the excitement which came from www.bluestone.gb.com was something which
never left me. For that reason I have been working away quietly in the
background creating a new company called Manchester Airport Taxi Ltd. With the
extensive network of professionals I have come to know over the years and with
Google rankings now easier to control with paid advertising, it is time
for a second attempt at the International B2C market.
