My kids (7 and 4 years old) have been coming home from summer camp buzzing about colorful strips of tape on their tennis racquets. “Tomorrow I am going to get the green tape,” they younger one says. “I already got that one, plus the one for good sportsmanship,” the older rebuts. They are part of a program called Tennis Tapes, a business that offers two insightful lessons for business owners.  

First, some background: Tapes Tennis has designed a system much like Martial Arts where children earn a belt color according to the skills they are able to perform on the court. Children earn a different colored tape that is placed on their racquet as they complete a skill test.

Co-Founder (with his wife Susan) Gabriel Ferrer explains how he got this idea: “It is difficult for kids in tennis because it takes a long time for a kid to be successful in this sport. Kids can play soccer, football, and baseball right away. But it takes more time to learn to hit a tennis ball back and forth. The idea of Tapes Tennis is to keep kids motivated until they learn enough skills to play.”

The Ferrers started the program in the past year, and are already operating in three locations in Sarasota and Manatee Counties in Florida. Their two teenagers also help to teach the program, which they do quite well; that's partly because they have grown up while watching Gabriel coach tennis at leading facilities, including Nick Bolletieri’s famous Tennis Academy.

For now, the Ferrers want to spend at least a year to refine the program and test the market. Currently they are getting excellent results through word of mouth, carefully placed signs at McDonald’s and shopping malls, and by educating tennis club members via member newsletters.

Gabriel shares one part of his future vision: “I would like to develop something with software and the Internet so that a coach can easily enter a kid’s achievements and the skill tests he passed. Then an email can go to the kids or parents that says, ‘Congratulations! You graduated the green level and are now getting ready to get your blue tape. Here are the next skills to work on….’ We can sell services like that, and more by being interactive.”

What can you learn fromTapes Tennis? I see two lessons to take away. First, kudos to them for branding a program that would otherwise be a commodity. Tennis pros are almost a dime a dozen, even though most of them would take offense at this statement. Meanwhile, the Ferrers have chosen to focus on a niche in tennis -- kids who are just starting -- and they are creating a brand to dominate that space. They are trying to do for kids’ tennis what Redenbacher did for popcorn, Perdue did for chicken, and Boar’s Head did for cold cuts. Are you establishing a unique brand that is memorable and sets you apart in your niche? 

Second, the Ferrers are creating valuable intellectual capital. They have many skills tests, along with the idea of colorful strips of tape that kids can put on their racquet grip. There are all sorts of directions they can take from here: training and licensing other pros; the internet-based service that Gabriel described above; books and DVDs for parents who want their kids to get into tennis; subscription-based services emailing a daily or weekly tennis teaching routine to parents/pros; and perhaps even a franchise system. What kind of intellectual property do you have in your business? If you can’t think of anything, your business might not be worth much down the road.

Building a unique brand and developing leverage through intellectual property are both powerful business strategies, and we teach them to members of The Profit Growth Club.

In the meantime, we will be following Tapes Tennis to see how they develop their game from here.