My sister had gone to a course about on line marketing. From the sounds of it she didn't get as much as she wanted to out of it. I had talked to her about it before as I am making all these amazing discoveries! And have found that marketing has some good grounding in science. For those that know I have a degree in Chemistry and was surprisingly close to going for a 2nd degree in marketing.
Hypothesis: My product will suit this ____ crowd. Women who live in dry climates usually buy creams and lotions. Alberta is pretty dry so market to women between 25-40 who want to buy a lotion they don't need to keep re-applying
Problem: How will I get my good quality product to the women of Alberta?
Experimental Design: The design you choose will depend on where your strengths in marketing are and what you want to achieve. For example: Join meetup groups that are mostly women and remained active in them for about three months. All the women in the groups were suspects, those that were interested in trying a sample were bumped up to be classified as prospects and those that LOVED the product and told their friends were further bumped up to be classed as champions.
Results: Though cost effective, the women in these groups couldn't fully understand the benefit of the product as they were more interested in the theme of the meetup rather than my attempts to solve their dry skin problems.
Discussion: A variety of meetup groups that had over 50% women membership, but most of these turned out to be full of suspects, but low on prospects forget champions. Being more specific about the target market may yield more qualified results.
Conclusion: Look for an added feature of the product that can narrow the target market down. Adding essential oils may interest holistic therapists.
Of course it doesn't have to be as detailed as this, but it's quick and dirty peak at what's working for your company and where you need to make changes.
c
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Another rant
People, especially in the holistic field take the "Power of Intention" a bit too far, though it explains why, marketing courses for hippies works. You don't need anything profound, just something slightly better than the dismal situation out there. From what I can see there's NOTHING holistic about holistic practitioners. They haven't got a clue about anything, except may be their modality. That doesn't speak well to becoming a well rounded individual.
So, I got an e-mail talking about this ridiculous visualization. Why do I feel this way? Because a paragraph above it I read something to the effect of we're on facebook go find us. We're posting events there (I'll come back to this as I'm mad about that too) WTF? Why not just include the link in the e-mail? Remember my past comments about them not knowing how to use facebook? No matter what you visualize unless it's accompanied by actions it's a dream with no basis in reality. This why no one takes us seriously! Well, they were taking action the same e-mail talked her research about the benefits of ionized water. Given her knowledge of cosmetic products and ingredients I can only imagine how she came up with this idea /facepalm. This is all like watching an imminent train wreck.
So back to the Facebook page. I hunted it down and joined only to find out MY event wasn't posted. On top of that when it came time for me to have my class (which started 15 min late, because the last class didn't leave on time) our inept marketer whom I have no respect for stayed in the room talking rather loudly while I tried to hold my class. Yes, I know she is a reflection of the attitude I have for her. Maybe I should change, though at this point jumping ship seems to be the better option.
So what does all this mean for me? I'm going to focus my attention on my other projects rather than Body Talk. Lotions and Potions is enjoying some time in the Sun, so I want to capitalize on that. I was looking at setting up some more speaking engagements. I actually get paid for them now, so I just need to find more opportunities.
c
So, I got an e-mail talking about this ridiculous visualization. Why do I feel this way? Because a paragraph above it I read something to the effect of we're on facebook go find us. We're posting events there (I'll come back to this as I'm mad about that too) WTF? Why not just include the link in the e-mail? Remember my past comments about them not knowing how to use facebook? No matter what you visualize unless it's accompanied by actions it's a dream with no basis in reality. This why no one takes us seriously! Well, they were taking action the same e-mail talked her research about the benefits of ionized water. Given her knowledge of cosmetic products and ingredients I can only imagine how she came up with this idea /facepalm. This is all like watching an imminent train wreck.
So back to the Facebook page. I hunted it down and joined only to find out MY event wasn't posted. On top of that when it came time for me to have my class (which started 15 min late, because the last class didn't leave on time) our inept marketer whom I have no respect for stayed in the room talking rather loudly while I tried to hold my class. Yes, I know she is a reflection of the attitude I have for her. Maybe I should change, though at this point jumping ship seems to be the better option.
So what does all this mean for me? I'm going to focus my attention on my other projects rather than Body Talk. Lotions and Potions is enjoying some time in the Sun, so I want to capitalize on that. I was looking at setting up some more speaking engagements. I actually get paid for them now, so I just need to find more opportunities.
c
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Cause for pause ~ Evaluating what makes good business sense.
Small Business owners can't do everything themselves, but at the same time they can't just give away all their responsibilities without having a clear idea of what they expect. For example before you outsource your marketing have a program in place that anyone can follow for about three months. Once the person is comfortable in that role they can make suggestions or changes.
Right now I'm in the midst of needing some business advice about making sure I get credit for all the projects I'm involved in. This has caused a pause for me, because now I have to go back and look at all the stuff I do and evaluate what works and what doesn't. I went from nearly spending over $700 on a 10 X 10 booth to educate people on what I do to having people pay me to come onto their job site to tell them the same thing, spending only an hour of time vs an entire day! I give talks and demonstrations for free at various locations. This has worked out well increasing my visibility, but for the most part has netted me no new clients and very few prospects for my mailing list. Sometimes people need time to find a need for your services, but because I gave free demo where I sold a lot of product and have a possible advertising deal that maybe I should spend my time on those projects rather than the freebies.
c
Right now I'm in the midst of needing some business advice about making sure I get credit for all the projects I'm involved in. This has caused a pause for me, because now I have to go back and look at all the stuff I do and evaluate what works and what doesn't. I went from nearly spending over $700 on a 10 X 10 booth to educate people on what I do to having people pay me to come onto their job site to tell them the same thing, spending only an hour of time vs an entire day! I give talks and demonstrations for free at various locations. This has worked out well increasing my visibility, but for the most part has netted me no new clients and very few prospects for my mailing list. Sometimes people need time to find a need for your services, but because I gave free demo where I sold a lot of product and have a possible advertising deal that maybe I should spend my time on those projects rather than the freebies.
c
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Clever non-profit :)
After last night's rant I feel a need to present something positive. Being on a budget and a downsizing binge I've been using the library a lot more. It's not too far from home either, 10 min bike ride. I usually put things on hold and receive an e-mail when it comes available. Last week I went to pick up my book "Authenticity Hoax". As I flipped through the book, I found a flyer for a fundraising project. Have breakfast at Albert's and they will donate so much to the library.
What a great way to grab attention! They have to place my name in the book anyway for me to pick me up, so adding a flyer doesn't add any time to their routine. Even though the message was available on the web where I place my holds on line it was a traditional flyer that conveyed the message.
c
What a great way to grab attention! They have to place my name in the book anyway for me to pick me up, so adding a flyer doesn't add any time to their routine. Even though the message was available on the web where I place my holds on line it was a traditional flyer that conveyed the message.
c
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Inept Marketers
I don't understand why people who obviously can't do a job effectively or efficiently retain their positions. I'm not talking about minor things either. A person who is paid to do marketing should know how to market, not ask me about how facebook works, when in the last meeting I explained it or how I got my ad free in one of the newspapers with the other girl had to pay $20. Setting up a foursquare, facebook, twitter or linkedin profiles aren't hard to set up nor hard to maintain if that's how a company chooses to market themselves. Yes over the last few months I've had A LOT of time to investigate how to market things and open up avenues for myself, but if I can do it anyone should be able to figure this stuff out, especially if they've been HIRED to do it. I shouldn't be too hard on people. I was annoyed that university students 10 years younger than me either couldn't or didn't want to use free technology that was available to them, but at the very least they can use FB.
What's more depressing about this situation is while this person is completely ineffective with social media she ignores the company's biggest asset the e-mail database. E-mail marketing is modern telemarketing, annoying as hell, but it gets enough sales even with an open rate of 20% to continue using it for the next little while. For my class 80% came because of the clinic newsletter, 10% from another group and 10% from a newspaper ad. We are a clinic, so we should set up our database to follow up with our clients regularly.
My sister says I should relax and let nature take its course, but I feel defensive about this, because as someone who works at this clinic I want to see it succeed, though I am reluctant to offer my input for a couple of reasons. One being people keep telling me I should come in to help them, but never with any sort of concrete dates or times, which annoys the hell out of me, you either want my help or not. Two I'm not paid for marketing. I'm just another practitioner renting space. The up side of all this annoyance is I've developed a marketing course that I'd like to offer to people at some point.
I shouldn't be surprised to have so much passion towards marketing. If I hadn't taken science I would have chosen marketing, though I feel I've learned way more in my time off than I could have in school.
c
What's more depressing about this situation is while this person is completely ineffective with social media she ignores the company's biggest asset the e-mail database. E-mail marketing is modern telemarketing, annoying as hell, but it gets enough sales even with an open rate of 20% to continue using it for the next little while. For my class 80% came because of the clinic newsletter, 10% from another group and 10% from a newspaper ad. We are a clinic, so we should set up our database to follow up with our clients regularly.
My sister says I should relax and let nature take its course, but I feel defensive about this, because as someone who works at this clinic I want to see it succeed, though I am reluctant to offer my input for a couple of reasons. One being people keep telling me I should come in to help them, but never with any sort of concrete dates or times, which annoys the hell out of me, you either want my help or not. Two I'm not paid for marketing. I'm just another practitioner renting space. The up side of all this annoyance is I've developed a marketing course that I'd like to offer to people at some point.
I shouldn't be surprised to have so much passion towards marketing. If I hadn't taken science I would have chosen marketing, though I feel I've learned way more in my time off than I could have in school.
c
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Business Planning ~a case study
Talking with my sister about her upcoming venture as well as my new direction for both my companies, I've decided to revisit business planning and business plans. From everything I've read and learned over the years two things come to mind. Have a vision and have a market, you can wing everything else.
I remember miserably working on my business plan for Lotions and Potions freaking out over my financials, long strategies and other things I had no idea about, because I'd never run a cosmetics company before! Asked some University of Calgary business students look at my company to see what they would suggest for a business plan (yeah kinda validated what I thought about business school ~ a complete waste of time unless you were doing business). They had me expanding to a giant facility and having 200 customers/month with no mention on how I would find these 200 people. I didn't have a clear vision about my product, how to sell it or who would buy it. Yep, the most important terms were the most vague. I became so depressed at the hopelessness of all this I lost control of my company. I happily gave my power away to my mom, who wanted to help me succeed, but because I'd checked out my company was doomed.
Fast forward five years. I learned some Body Talk techniques to energetically balance your business, which put the right people in the right place. In my case I needed to add a third piece of advice make sure you own your business! (Worked wonders, two days after I used that technique I got a $50 order out of nowhere) After reading Rework, 4 hour work week, E-myth (which surprised me, because E stands for Entrepreneurial not Electronic) it was time to do things a bit differently. I decided to focus on winning the hearts and minds of Vegans, who are a growing population and want to buy high quality cosmetic products made with vegetable ingredients. What a difference! I never would have thought I'd be on track to be doing an internet TV series, starring me.
Five years ago I never saw myself where I am today. In the next five years I have no idea where I'll be, but I DO know that if I work on a project by project basis I'll see results to base my next ones on. Short term planning offers the most flexibility and responsiveness to constantly changing business conditions. At bare bones of it all, know what you want to sell or provide and know who wants to buy it. Take control of your company to focus your energy on understanding your market and find ways to make sure yours is the product to solve their problems. Everything else? Wing it.
c
I remember miserably working on my business plan for Lotions and Potions freaking out over my financials, long strategies and other things I had no idea about, because I'd never run a cosmetics company before! Asked some University of Calgary business students look at my company to see what they would suggest for a business plan (yeah kinda validated what I thought about business school ~ a complete waste of time unless you were doing business). They had me expanding to a giant facility and having 200 customers/month with no mention on how I would find these 200 people. I didn't have a clear vision about my product, how to sell it or who would buy it. Yep, the most important terms were the most vague. I became so depressed at the hopelessness of all this I lost control of my company. I happily gave my power away to my mom, who wanted to help me succeed, but because I'd checked out my company was doomed.
Fast forward five years. I learned some Body Talk techniques to energetically balance your business, which put the right people in the right place. In my case I needed to add a third piece of advice make sure you own your business! (Worked wonders, two days after I used that technique I got a $50 order out of nowhere) After reading Rework, 4 hour work week, E-myth (which surprised me, because E stands for Entrepreneurial not Electronic) it was time to do things a bit differently. I decided to focus on winning the hearts and minds of Vegans, who are a growing population and want to buy high quality cosmetic products made with vegetable ingredients. What a difference! I never would have thought I'd be on track to be doing an internet TV series, starring me.
Five years ago I never saw myself where I am today. In the next five years I have no idea where I'll be, but I DO know that if I work on a project by project basis I'll see results to base my next ones on. Short term planning offers the most flexibility and responsiveness to constantly changing business conditions. At bare bones of it all, know what you want to sell or provide and know who wants to buy it. Take control of your company to focus your energy on understanding your market and find ways to make sure yours is the product to solve their problems. Everything else? Wing it.
c
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