Your Business: Touchy topics - Diane Hurford, Brolly Sheets

Diane Hurford, founder of Brolly Sheets, pictured with her husband Glenn Hawes and their children Lewis and Mia.

Diane Hurford is the founder of waterproof bed linen brand Brolly Sheets.

What are some of the sensitivities you've encountered in trying to sell Brolly Sheets to your various markets?

In the children's market, especially with young children, everyone is very open to talk about things because it's a stage that everyone goes through, so it's not a big deal. The special needs and seniors markets are quite different, but it's interesting that the carers and people themselves will talk about everything - they're not shy.

We've exhibited at a lot of special needs shows up in the UK, and we've also done a couple here and people are generally quite happy to talk about their issues - I suppose because those issues can be such a big part of their lives and they're looking for help.

So have trade shows been a big part of your marketing strategy in the special needs market?

They have in Europe, because that's a much bigger market and the special needs shows are a lot bigger.

The shows we do are targeted at consumers, health professionals and retailers, so you're hitting three big groups in the market. They also give people an opportunity to touch the products, and get a feel for the quality and design.

It's a huge expense, so when I usually go up to do a show, I'll also see our key retailers and do everything else that needs to be done in that same trip. But we do get a really good response at those shows. There are also a couple of publications up there targeted at special needs and carers that help us get our messages across.

What are some other strategies that have worked well for you more generally?

We've always had very good testimonials and reviews around the quality of our products, and we feature those on our website. We got a review not long ago, for example, from a mother with a special needs 12-year-old who said she was doing three loads of washing every day no matter what she tried, but since finding our waterproof top sheets they'd truly changed her life.

A lot of our products, like that one, have actually been designed after talking to mums and carers over the phone or at shows and hearing about their specific issues. It's certainly opened my eyes to how much we complain about little things that aren't that big a deal, and that there are these amazing people out there that have much the bigger things to worry about but just get on with life and take things in their stride.

I think that personal touch is actually something a lot of people associate with the brand, and a lot of people also associate the brand with me. So we do a monthly newsletter, for example, and in the next one there will be a photo of me with my great nephew, because I've just become a great aunt. I think that resonates with people, rather than a corporate image.

Are there any strategies that you've tried that you think haven't been so successful?

I think there have been some instances when we've been too generic; where we've tried to pussyfoot around the issues and tried too hard not to offend anyone. So in hindsight I'd say if it's a magazine catering to a special needs or a seniors market then those readers will know the words and they know what they need so we need to jump out there, be bold and say 'this is what the product does and this is why it will make your life better'. I think for those specific audiences it's not about trying to be too clever with taglines, but just putting it out there.

With more general publications, though, we do find humour tends to help. We did a full page ad in a women's magazine a while ago and the tagline was 'because even little angels have little accidents' and then we crossed out 'little angels' and put 'mature angels', saying that the products were also absorbent enough for adults.

It was an expensive ad and a big space so we wanted to put across that we sell to adults as well, but that can be quite hard because for each of those markets you tend to use a different language.

Coming up in Your Business: The end of the financial year for many is on its way, so what is your business doing to ready itself for EoFY? If you've got some good tips to share about getting organised at this time, drop me a note: nzhsmallbusiness@gmail.com