What does success sound like? Well, when you combine advanced study in music with a business degree, success sounds something like a harmony of the woodwind and brass instruments available in-store and online at Pro Winds. With a focus on customer service and low prices, Pro Winds has established themselves as one of the country's premier music stores.
Pro Winds was founded in 1994 by husband and wife team Dean and Leichen Foster. Leichen had just completed eight years at the Indiana University School of Music, graduating with honors while obtaining advanced degrees in Saxophone and Bassoon Performance. Dean had just completed his Marketing degree from the Indiana University School of Business. A cautious and business savvy couple, Dean and Leichen conducted a one year market test while still in school to determine whether musical instrument retail was the right choice. The result - the business was a perfect fit for them, so they got to work. The perfect location, right across the street from the world-renowned Indiana University School of Music, was familiar territory for Dean and Leichen. And, not too long after opening their doors in Indianapolis, Pro Winds founders added the next location—their ecommerce website.
Today, Pro Winds is proud to be one of the industry leaders in the sales of woodwind and brass instruments. Pro Winds remains highlyspecialized and prides itself on providing the highest level of products and customer service in the industry. Maintaining a high level of customer service remains a top priority, both in-store and online, for Pro Winds and competitors have been unable to match the Pro Winds combination of low prices and top quality service.
Pro Winds: Hanapin Marketing Proves That Time & Attention to Detail Pay Off In Sales
With almost 15 years experience in retail of woodwind and brass instruments and prices that beat even their top competitors, it seems that the Pro Winds ecommerce business would be a simple formula of replicating offline success, online. But, what is often forgotten is that PPC advertising requires much more attention to detail and nuance, and sometimes, experience is the only thing that can take your PPC accounts from average to amazing. And taking Pro Winds to the next level was the reason why Hanapin Marketing was called on in this case.
Pro Winds was doing well generating sales of instrument accessories online, but the overall dollar amounts of sales was low considering their primary products are instruments - a large ticket item. Pro Winds needed not only to increase clicks, but also to shift the focus of their typical shopper from instrument accessories to the instruments themselves, increasing the average dollar amount per sale. For any ecommerce site, increasing the average purchase amount is the most difficult task and Hanapin Marketing took on the challenge knowing that extra effort was required. The key for Pro Winds was the buying cycle. The team at Hanapin started by refocusing all their efforts, research, keyword selection, and spending, on buyers ready to purchase rather than those still in the research phase of the buying cycle. Also, more effort and budget was put toward testing and implementing instrument keywords, rather than the performing but lower-ticket items like instrument accessories. Daily account meetings kept the ball rolling on big changes and allowed the team to closely monitor the results, avoiding unnecessary spending and allowing budget to be allocated where it would give the best result.
By focusing on the buying cycle, Hanapin Marketing was able to attract purchase-ready buyers through PPC, and the results were music to Pro Winds ears:
- Since first starting work with Hanapin Marketing, Pro Winds has seen their overall impressions increase by an astounding 1550%, while at the same time their cost-per-click (CPC) has been reduced over 50%.
- With Hanapin's efforts to attract a new type of buyer, the growth in revenue for Pro Winds was astounding. In the past two years, Pro Winds has seen their revenue increase over 387% and in just the past year, Hanapin has reduced the cost per sale over 80%.
- Comparing month-to-month growth only gives you a part of the picture. Ecommerce sites have seasonal fluctuations and experience the same economic changes as every other business—to continue to grow in a struggling economy shows true strength in Hanapin's work. Looking at the past two years, Hanapin has increased Pro Winds average annual clicks nearly 20% and increased their average monthly revenue by over 66%, year over year.
- Hanapin's efforts to refocus on a new type of buyer and increase the amount of each individual sale have paid off in a big way. Since they started tracking the average amount of each sale via the website a little under two years ago, Pro Winds has seen an increase this number increase over 180% percent. This means that Pro Winds is continuing to see steady growth and an increase in the amount buyers are spending even well into their campaign. A good strategy can pay off in the long term as well as the short term.
"With Pro Winds, the opportunity for growth was in the buying cycle. By tailoring our work to buyers who were purchase-ready, through specific and tailored keyword selections, long tail, and ad copy, we were able to lower costs and increase conversions. A refocusing of account strategy like this entails a lot of time and effort to keep things moving, monitor changes closely, and make adjustments as needed. We put in the extra time and effort because it's what is best for the client, and we want every client to see just how much PPC can do for them."
Amber Speer, Search Marketing Consultant