"In April of 2002, Anton Giovanetto opened the Lyndon House, a bed and breakfast on North Broadway in Lexington. As you might imagine given its location, the Lyndon House is a beautifully restored, three-story home with a massive ornate wooden staircase, huge rooms with intricate details and high ceilings. Aside from the modern touches, such as the kitchen, you might feel that you've stepped far back in time. As with any new business, Anton struggled with developing a strong base of business in the early stages, with awareness sparse and funds to develop that awareness obviously limited. Over the years, though, business has grown, with a significant portion of reservations coming from those attending the Keeneland meets, the Rolex event, and even the Kentucky Derby. Additionally, though, Anton sees locals wanting a weekend escape from the daily grind as well as the general tourist business.
Much of the growth can be attributed to a strong Internet presence, which accounts for the bulk of reservations. Links to directories and membership in AAA adds to a prospect's likelihood of finding the Lyndon House site and information. As you might expect, he finds that the core of his business comes from the 30-60 age group, skewed toward Baby Boomers. Also, they are generally well educated and have middle to upper incomes.
So far, though, this doesn't distinguish Lyndon House too much from what other bed and breakfasts are, either in terms of marketing or their guest base. Anton has found a unique marketing niche not employed by any other bed and breakfast nearby. This niche might be best characterized by the term "romance." The Lyndon House offers three honeymoon packages for couples, and in addition to the room and breakfast, each adds roses and a bottle of bubbly. One provides two tickets to the WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour and dinner at Natasha's. The "Historic Places" package adds dinner for two at Dudley's and a pass to four historic homes. The "Equestrian" package includes a horse farm tour and dinner at Jonathan.
While those packages certainly do make for a complete short honeymoon experience, Anton didn't stop there in developing his offering in the "romance" arena. He decided that there was even more opportunity in the events surrounding the wedding itself. For example, the Lyndon House offers packages for bridal photo shoots, showers, anniversary celebrations and engagement parties. With the massive first floor and the enclosed patio and backyard, he can accommodate parties of up to 65 people. In addition, he allows photographers free use of the house for their engagement and other shoots, with the proviso that he gets to use the photos in his own marketing. What this does is bring to the Lyndon House couples who would be planning their upcoming events and make them aware of the house and its facilities. Also, by drawing in the photographers, he can add to the overall awareness and the word of mouth that can drive business growth. To supplement those efforts, he also is a member of the Kentucky Brides Association, an organization of those catering to the wedding industry, and advertises in publications directed at prospective brides.
By offering a financially reasonable way to hold smaller events surrounding a wedding, Anton has carved out a unique niche in the bed and breakfast industry. While he indeed has competition in the traditional places that one would hold a bridal shower, for example, he is developing a base of business that sets him apart from direct competition with other bed and breakfasts in the area.
Anton doesn't rely totally on this segment of his business for success, but it does expand his base and potential targets, all without changing his business operation. Can you do the same? If you offer the same product or service as your competition, how can you set yourself apart by developing a new offering that fits within your current operation? If you own a restaurant, you probably already entertain groups as part of your business. But given your space and menu, can you develop offerings that you can actively market as packages to groups that fit your operation? If you're a specialty retailer, do you have a line of products that appeals to a certain demographic or segment of the population? If so, perhaps you can market "group nights" where you can provide a group or organization a special event where they can purchase at a discount.
Whatever business you might be in that generally provides goods or services to individuals, don't overlook the potential there might be in bringing in groups as well. Not only can that add to traffic and the bottom line in the short term, but to long-term added awareness of your business. That's what Anton is doing with the Lyndon House, and you can as well.
"