In my previous entries, I alluded to the progression of Ocean Omega and establishing customer repoirre. When I stopped importing the Canadian Fish Oil Product, and started providing Ocean Omega Fish Oil, I had the great fortune and blessing to convert one of my Canadian Fish Oil clients.

Her name is Barbara Sanders, Proprietor of Howling Acres Argentine Dogos of Callands Virginia www.howling-acres.com Through many subsequent conversations, we actually discovered that Barbara too grew up in Portland; on the West End. The old adage of its a small world is very prevalent here.

Barbara quickly became a repeat customer of our Ocean Omega Fish Oil, and is our Southern Distributor of OO Products. She is a very reknown pet healthcare and holistic remedy expert. Before retiring to start her kennel in Virginia, Barbara had won many National Dog Show Awards with her Dogos.

Barbara has become not only a client , but a very near and dear friend to myself and Ocean Omega. She remains one of our strongest advocates. I have asked Barbara to be a contributing editor of sorts for this blog, as I value her opinions and knowledge. She is a sage to me not only in the pet healthcare arena, but also in life issues as she has led a most intriguing life.

I hope folks will continue to read my Ocean Omega Blog, and look for Barbaras' input, she is a true Yankee, open, candid, honest, and very willing to exchange pet healthcare philosophies, as she also co authors her own Dogo Chronicle Message Board.

BH
Ocean Omega Promoting Good Health In ALL Pets!
www.oceanomega.com

Ocean Omega and our progression to generate orders:

When we finally launched Ocean Omega in September of 2003, we immediately established our website seeking SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I know a little bit about computer programming and website design, this coupled with my partners expertise in computer website design and graphics; gave us a positive business expense savings by implementing our own ideas through establishing a Yahoo Store.

At the time of inception, the website was a challenge, which is still an ongoing process, to learn along the way, and strengthen our internet positioning.Thus, the first three months of our existence, resulted in generating sparse orders which was contributory to our saga of being initially very hard to find on the world wide web.

When 2004 arrived, we started to accelerate in search engine positioning, and we enjoyed an accompanying increase in orders. I then started to devote my efforts to the Sales & Marketing of Ocean Omega and our Ocean Omega Fish Oil products.

My partner and I decided that he would handle the website administration, the filling and labeling of bottles, the packaging and shipping of the product, and I would do the marketing, sales, networking , and public relations side of the business.

Working on a shoe string budget, I made my first attempts at networking within the New England area. This entailed a tremendous amount of time doing research on topics ranging from, what competitors were doing in their own marketing efforts, reading website comments and online industry journals, searching chat rooms, reading trade publications, etc., etc.

My first series of encounters where I actually started speaking with potential clients resulted in conversations at my first pet related outdoor event, as I was a featured vendor. I made some acquaintences affiliated with the New Hampshire area sled dog mushers. Those folks conveyed to me that a competitor in Maine was at that time the major supplier of their fish oil for their pets.

We negotiated a trial order basis program, contingent on me attending some of their own trade shows to explore a "group purchase" discounted program survey of interest.The program yielded great success, as we passed the litmus test of superior quality of product, superlative pricing, and prompt efficient customer service and delivery.

In my next series of blogs I will further expand upon how this first substantial client base served the "word of mouth" and "customer referral" facet of my
pre-conceived marketing plan.

BH
Ocean Omega Promoting Good Health In ALL Pets.
www.oceanomega.com

History of Ocean Omega:

Ocean Omega eminated from a sole proprietorship under the auspices of my other business, BH Sales, which is an independent sales & marketing business that I established in 1995. In late August of 2001, I started importing a Canadian Fish Oil product, that for a variety of reasons hit a stalmate quickly.

The chief contributing factor being at the time; 911 in September of 2001, changed the border control issues for ever. A brief summation of hurdles automatically incurred at that time were: the tariff and border control officials were excellent with their inspection procedures to insure that nothing nefarious was contained within my fish oil packages. However, they were less than vigilant and totally non meticulous when re-packing the fish oil bottles, and I would constantly receive broken bottles and leaking/soiled fish oil cartons. Less than appealing to handle, smell, and most importantly, I just couldn't sell the product for the most part over the next subsequent couple of years.

This turned into a totally non profitable scenario, thus I decided to find a domestic supplier of fish oil. In September of 2003, I met my current partner in Ocean Omega, and we launched our business.In my next series of entries I will further expand upon our first series of consumers and clients, up to and including our present day clients.

BH
Ocean Omega Promoting Good Health In ALL Pets!
www.oceanomega.com

Small Business Marketing:

The time allocation of trying to establish a consistent and diversified marketing program to promote a small business can indeed be taxing to say the least.This business is a partnership, with both of the owners having other full time business ventures combined with continual efforts for building our Ocean Omega business.

It does cause a slight dilemna on several fronts, with the ever present nemesis of working capital being the most prevalent contributor to the on going cycle of balancing a marketing budget, buying supplies, trying to eek out a semblance of a salary, and just preparing for the unforseen in the way of additional expenses. To this juncture, we have basically continued to utilize our proceeds from sales to re-invest into the OO business and prepare for capital expenditures with this on going game plan.

Ocean Omega 3 Menhaden Fish Oil Pet Food Supplement For All Carnivorous Animals Oceanomega.com

Promoting Good Health In Pets. Essential Fatty Acids Omega 3 Fish Oil High in EPA & DHA Levels ALL Natural Fish Oil.

Welcome to Ocean Omega distributor of Ocean Omega 3 Fish Oil www.oceanomega.com

Does your dog have shedding, itching, dandruff, dull coat?

Ocean Omega is a Maine based partnership, distributing menhaden fish oil pet
food supplement for dogs, cats, horses, and ALL carnivorous animals.Ocean
Omega presently offers two grades of fish oil, Gold and Plus, as well as our
Ocean Omega Seahorse Brand Flavored Equine Fish Oil. Ocean Omega is
available in 8, 16, and 32 oz. bottles, as well as 1 and 5 gallon jugs. I
would encourage the public to peruse our website for additional product
information www.oceanomega.com

My name is Bill Holt, and my partner Bill Eldridge and I started this
business four years ago.We are both pet owners and animal lovers who utmost
and foremost decided to enter this business to Promote Good Health In ALL
Pets. It is my intention as author of this blog to expouse upon the trials
and tribulations of being a small upstart company trying to compete with the
long standing large corporations providing pet healthcare products.

Future editions of this blog will feature more in depth topics ranging in
details from who Ocean Omega is, what we have been doing for the last four
years, where our products are currently available in Maine, and where we
aspire to be moving forward. I am very excited about the opportunity to
exchange viewpoints of animal healthcare, and I will specifically be
focusing on conveying the extraordinary positive health benefits that our
Omega 3 enriched Ocean Omega fish oil can provide for our friends and companions.

I hope to engage in rewarding discourse with what I perceive to be an
engaged reading audience of Maine Today.
Thank you in advance for your support of this blog, and welcome to Ocean
Omega Notes Promoting Good Health In ALL Pets-Please look for upcoming
future blog entries.

Best Regards,
Bill Holt
Co-Owner
Sales & Marketing Director Ocean Omega Promoting Good Health In ALL Pets!
www.oceanomega.com (207) 650-5000

I am looking to hopefully initiate an informal forum for animal owners, pet lovers, animal supply vendors, and all interested readers to voice opinions on what is working in the world of pet health. I am a small business proprietor providing a fish oil pet food supplement for ALL carnivorous animals.

I am hoping to exchange views and known remedies that you have all found to be successful in your own personal endeavors for seeking pet food supplementation.

I look forward to receiving your comments. Please do visit my website oceanomega.com.