22nd November 2011
Article from The Observer
REBEKAH Strachan is a young woman running her own business.
There is nothing unusual about that, but what makes her story fascinating is the methods she has used to build her business.
The Observer spoke to Ms Strachan in July when she launched her online fashion store, Water for Camels.
It was an ambitious move for an 18-year-old, but she had created a strategy and stuck with it.
Five months later, Ms Strachan says her business is going "fairly well".
There have been slow periods, but on the whole her methods are working.
She is part of a new breed of entrepreneurs using the internet in innovative ways that have changed the face of marketing.
Ms Strachan is using a combination of Facebook, Twitter and blogging site Tumblr, as well as her main website.
Each of those four online presences are linked to each other, each with its own unique purpose.
The main website is where all the business happens.
Facebook is the platform for most of her interaction and relationship-building with customers, as well as a perfect online catalogue of her products.
Her Twitter account posts news messages whenever she introduces new products or promotions, directing people to her Facebook page and main page.
And her blog on Tumblr provides another element to her presence, linking to and from Facebook.
On top of these free marketing tools, Ms Strachan also pays for advertising space on Facebook.
While the age-old dilemma for advertisers has been figuring out how to connect the demographic group most likely to buy the product, Facebook allows Ms Strachan to dictate exactly what kind of people will view her ad.
She can choose the age group, gender and interests of the users who will see her ad.
It means she is not wasting her money advertising to demographic groups with no interest in her product.
All these ingredients add up to make Water for Camel a classic 21st century model for small businesses.
Like so many others in our region, Ms Strachan is capitalising on revolutionary (and cheap) marketing tools created by the internet and social media.