Dental Marketing - Tyson Steele Associates - Advanced Dental Marketing Concepts

Written By: Tyson Steele on 2010-03-09

In the early 2000's, cult soda maker Jones Soda seemed to have it made. Their unique flavors of soda, including "Jelly Doughnut", "Bubble Gum", and weird flavors like "Brussels Sprout" had carved a niche throughout the prior decade. One of the keys to their success: distributing through small independent stores, skateboard shops, and other alternatives to the big chain stores. Bottles of the soda sported photos submitted by customers and the lids had "fortunes" printed on the inside.

In 2006, the company earned $4.6 million on $39 million in sales. However, in 2007 the wheels came off, and Jones lost $11.6 million. Last night (March 8, 2010 if you're reading this in the future) the final nail was hammered into the company coffin as Jones was "taken under" -- a wall street term meaning "sold at less than market value" -- in a deal with soda maker, Reed's. Shareholders in the company effectively lost their shirts in the deal, which placed a value of $9.8 million on the company, less than half it's value yesterday.

So what happened? How did this once exciting company lose all its fizz?

I think the culprit is one of the most common marketing pitfalls of all -- a failure to stick to "the plan." You see, Jones Soda made a name for itself by being different, edgy, and a bit hard to get. (Remember those skateboard shops that sold it?) However, in 2007 the company made a futile attempt to expand into bigger chain stores, which meant packaging the soda in not-so-unique cans and focusing on boring flavors like "Cola."

Ultimately they went from cool and edgy to just another Coke knock off. In an effort to grow faster, they lost their uniqueness.

The moral: stick to your plan. You've got to understand "why" people like you and your dentistry and take the time to keep building your unique brand. Often, dentists get a taste of success and then immediately set out grow into the latest mega-clinic, adding associates and lots of new gizmos. Unfortunately, in an effort to grow bigger, they lose their uniqueness. And that's the reason patients were coming in the first place.