Niche Info Online Business

by Brian Brus

The Journal Record April 1, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY – Kimberly Smith is expecting a bigger Christmas this year than last. Even though the holiday is still more than eight months away, she's already planning new ornaments to decorate Christmas trees. Baby birth announcements, anniversary dates, company logos, beloved pets, favorite football coaches and team mascots – the possibilities are constrained only by marketing avenues, said the owner of Oklahoma City-based Picture This Ornaments.

"It's harder to limit what I want to do than actually doing it," she said recently. "For example, I'm getting ready to talk with a firefighters union about a union logo and a firefighter design plus fire trucks. … Firefighters wives as a market are huge into this.

"Sometimes it's a matter of finding the right fan bases. Like the Bob Stoops ornament," she said, referring to the bauble with University of Oklahoma football coach's signed image. "That was so customer-driven. It's been one of our number-one sellers. It just cracks me up."

Smith produces glass bubbles decorated with whatever design the client wants. She has an in-house graphics team to help create custom art when none is immediately available, and her company can mass produce large orders or as few as 18 at a time. Manufacturing is handled in Oklahoma so she can oversee quality control.

"When I ran a gift shop, pricing was my focus. Because you don't always have the big bucks to get something special and unique," she said.

Many of her ornaments don't even end up on Christmas trees, Smith said; they're given as gifts throughout the year and often remain boxed as display knickknacks.

"When I started scratching the potential of the collegiate and state centennial licenses, I realized this could be a huge business," she said. "The popularity of the OU and OSU ornaments really surprised me. … We want to expand regionally, so we're looking at the Kansas market next with all the Kansas schools, and Texas of course."

She doesn't want to grow too quickly and without direction.

"If you get too many legs too fast, you're not expanding smart. So I want to go regionally first so I can work with my sales reps personally," Smith said. "I want to go deep before I go wide. I think that's what sabotages a lot of businesses. I have to fulfill each market before I move on."

The pet market, too, has vast potential with little risk of dilution. For example, Smith will be marketing breed-specific, "Best in Show" ornaments to dog lovers this year in a major pet supplies catalog; she's working with the Westminster Kennel Club's photographer for materials to use. Niche sports and hobbies have the same sort of valuable niche access, she said.

The three-year-old company hired sales representatives for the first time last year, she said. Smith has no doubt that she's ready to move to the next level in production, marketing and sales, and she said her first inclination is to look into a Small Business Administration loan or angel investor with limited leverage.

Then she reconsidered: "You know what? I'm open to almost any growth strategy. … Sometimes when you're in business, it's smart to admit that you don't know what you don't know. So instead of thinking that I know what I want, I'm open to letting someone who's done this before come to me with a better idea," Smith said.

"With a little bit of wisdom and experience, what you think you want changes. I would rather keep my options open rather than say there's only one way I absolutely want to do it."