Today we’d like to introduce you to Marc Sonnethal.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
My name is Marc Sonnethal, I am the founder of Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive (PRD). I was first introduced to the pawnbroking industry by my father, who operated a pawnbroking business for decades. Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive provides loans to a high-end clientele using luxury collateral items like classic cars, diamonds or rare books.
I formed Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive with a vision of bringing the world’s oldest trade in the 20th century. In order to achieve this, I decided to leverage our premier location within Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills to cater to our clientele in the area. However, I have also recognized early that all industries, including pawnbroking, are being disrupted by technology. I decided to employ Pufferr to help me undertake a digital transformation program of the business, leveraging several trends defining the digital marketing landscape i.e. automation, outsourcing, partnerships, and cloud computing.
What did we do?
Firstly, it was essential that our strategies were dictated by customer behavior, hence we kicked off the campaign with a comprehensive piece of research including:
- Competitors research: websites, social channels, SEO strategy, Paid Search Strategy and Budgets, test calls, interest rate checks and visiting actual premises
- Conversations with existing and new customers
- Previous two years analytics i.e. traffic, channel mix, market share, conversion rates, demographics to name just a few
- Brainstorming session with the team underlining the brand identity and values of the pawnshop
Research findings:
- People are still spending time on Google, but more and more time is being spent on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook or Quora.
- They want things faster and more convenient, with no contact forms…Livechat was often mentioned
- 60% of them used voice or owned a voice-powered device i.e. Google Assistant on Mobile, Google Home, Alexa
- 40% of them mentioned the dated first impression of the website
Thus, a highly targeted multi-channel approach was needed to develop an awareness of the brand, reach audiences where they actually spent time i.e. social media, and continue to refine custom audiences as more data was collected. It was also important that as demand increased the small team at Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive would not feel the pressure, and the customer experience would not be affected. Hence, automating part or all of the initial interaction process was essential i.e. chatbots. Finally, we had to assume leadership in adopting emerging channels and digital technologies i.e. voice, programmatic display, gamification, VR, etc.
Implementation & creativity:
- We re-designed the website, tripled its size and re-defined all sales funnels
- We reviewed and improved the SEO and Google Ads campaigns comprehensively, after mammoth research including on-page, off-page and competitor research.
- We employed a professional film crew, rented a luxury mansion, drones and various high-end items (i.e. Andy Warhol paintings, Jaguar car, fine watches) and shoot two professional presentation videos
- We set up Social Media accounts (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), content marketing (i.e. articles, blog posts, FAQs), and ran campaigns on channels untapped by our competition i.e. Quora ads, Facebook ads, Waze Ads, Twitter Ads, Snapchat ads. We also ran an Instagram influencers campaign, a Facebook chatbot marketing campaign, and a Programmatic Display campaign.
- As our social traffic increased we received a large number of messages and lost several leads in the process. In response, we built state of art Facebook and Twitter chatbots.
- Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive operates from 9 am – 5.30 pm. This restricted customers’ ability to get in touch in the evening, a trend we identified during our initial analysis of traffic trends. In response, we developed a state of art Website Chatbot.
- We developed state of art Machine Learning Algorithms (Gradient Boosting Machines, Linear and Deep Learning) to analyze thirteen metrics of website engagement, and fine-tuned our SEO and Paid Search strategies
- We are currently developing the first Pawnbroking Virtual Reality (VR) app
- We identified voice search as a future disruptive trend. In response, we built a Google Home Action, and an Alexa Skill.
- We re-developed our mobile app to better align it to the brand identity
- We applied for early access to the first blockchain decentralized social media platform, Akasha (developed by the Ethereum co-founder) and to the first VR social platform, High Fidelity. We believe that blockchain and VR have the potential to disrupt current social media models and are one of the first companies to explore the opportunity, with a focus on “attention-based models”
Overall, we believe we have become one of the most innovative pawnbroking company worldwide, and we are well placed (both technological and from a business cultural mindset perspective) to face the future opportunities brought in by fast technological advancements.
We have also recently diversified our offerings, by adding fine jewelry shop to our services, and developed Marc & Mizrahi, a separate brand to adress the needs of medium priced /great quality jewelry.
Has it been a smooth road?When starting the business we went up against some very well established pawnbroking businesses in the area, hence acquiring market share was never supposed to be a smooth process, required a lot of creativity, drive, and innovation. We tackled the challenge by comprehensive research of our competitors, trends in the local market, review & identifying gaps in offerings and service levels, digital marketing strategies of our competitors, customers research & interviews, and much more. This dictated our innovative digital marketing & technology strategy, as described at the previous step. The results were beyond any expectations, and our market share has grown exponentially every year.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive is a high-end luxury pawnshop located in Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. We provide loans against a variety of fine assets including luxury watches, jewelry, luxury & classic cars, rare books, fine wine, diamonds, antiques, collectibles, and fine art to name just a few of the assets we loan against.
We also purchase fine watches & jewelry, and we sell a variety of fine and medium-range gold diamond jewelry.
Please see my previous description of our business for further info on Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive, and how we differ from our competitors. It worth mentioning that our rates are the lowest interest rates on the market, something we are very proud of.
What role has luck (good luck or bad luck) played in your life and business?
Louise Pasteur once said ” Luck favours the prepared mind”, and this is something that we strongly believe at Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive. Our technological approach, continuous research on changing needs and behaviours of our customers, research of our competitors, new digital channels etc will allow us to be very lucky in the market when voice search will overtake traditional search when Virtual Reality will become a viable advertising channel or when blockchain and VR social media platforms will take on giants like Facebook or Twitter.
Contact Info:
- Address: Pawnbrokers of Rodeo Drive
9615 BrightonWay #210, Beverly Hills, CA 90210 USA - Website: https://pawnbrokersrodeodrive.com/
- Phone: 424-335-0650
- Email: [email protected]
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