hi new to business forum some questions

[jane p]

Hi,

We have a small, modern, bright, butchers shop in Worcestershire, specialising in marinated meats and looking to expand and gain more customers.

We specialise in marinates meats and have hundreds of meals ideas and lots of different marinates. We probably do things you havent even heard of. we give advice and help on meat too and friendly service.

Anyway up until now have always just done some of our leaflets, banners and own boards outside and of course word of mouth. We are currently having a website done but looking for other ways to connect with people and advertise and get our name out there. I have been into forums for a long time mainly say holiday ones or parenting, or moneysaving, but never really occured to me to join a business one till now.

Looking forward to hearing more ways of how we can expand and get our name out there cheap or free of course. Maybe even some readers would like to come and try us out.

Could we do a blog or is a website better or both? When the website is done will we be able to see how many people have been looking? What kind of financial help is available if any?

Thanks.
Jane.

[Bri]

Welcome to the forum, funnily enough I'm going to cook for all today, I have a piece of venison in the freezer which I fancy cooking tonight. a) best way to cook it b) best way to serve it c) should I use a sauce d) rice or vegetables?:|

Gordon Ramsay did well with promoting thr kitchen nightmare restuarants with outdoor tastings. Could that be a way of promoting your business?

A blog is apparently a good idea as it can be updated regularly with new and exciting marinades and offers. I'm being a bit slow, our web designer has been on to me to do one for ages.:rolleyes:

Contirbute an article on marinaded meat to your local free newspaper,I'm sure the circulaition is high.:cool:

[jane p]

we dont do game but anyway treat it like beef but remember its leaner.

A sauce would be nice like red wine or blackberry.

serve with chips fine cut pref home made or potatoes or wedges and or finely diced savoy cabbage, carrots.

if you google vension you can get lots more info.

the newspaper has done articles on us before.
how do i get to do a blog?

Thanks.

[Bri]

I prefer this site for shared info than Google now, bit more social. Thank you for that Jane.

As for a blog, theres lodas of help youll find on here to set one up.

[jane p]

Wheres that then Bri?

[Mark Nagurski]

Wheres that then Bri?

Right here ....

On a simple point you can get blogging software free from lots of sites but my preferred option is Wordpress (http://www.wordpress.org) - it's what we use and advise clients to use. You can run an entire website through Wordpress and once it's setup, you shouldn't need too much help in moving forward with it.

You can start with a free blog hosted by wordpress (or Blogger etc...) but if you're serious about building your business then spend a few quid to get a pro to set one up on your own website.

Before you start blogging do give some thought to (a) what you want out of it (b) what you'll blog about (c) who you're blogging for and (d) how much time can you commit to it. Also, do bear in mind that blogging is a long term commitment.

Don't confine yourself to just blogging either - you might look at using articles (as was mentioned above), publishing your recipes in a book or taking part in relevant forums (relevant to your audience that is).

A few resources to look at:

Problogger (http://problogger.net) - buy the book (http://probloggerbook.com/) to get yourself started
Business blogs (http://www.buildabetterblog.com) - how to build a better blog
Really Practical Marketing (http://www.reallypractical.com) - both blogging and general content marketing (http://www.reallypractical.com/what-is-content/) stuff (my site :))
Tast.ie (http://tast.ie/) - a great example of a food blog

Hope you find some of that useful

[jane p]

thanks, do you know when you have a website up and running is it possible to see how many hits you have had?

[RLD Plastering and Tiling Services]

i have an idea but i don't know how feasible it is but here goes, are there any local schools or old peoples homes that you could donate some of your mainades too or better still if you could prepare some food yourself for them and then get the local paper to do another piece on you and highlight the fact you are supporting your local high school, i have heard that this type of promotion works wonders

[Dawg]

Cast around in the archives here for all things webby, you'll find a huge amount, and what you don't find someone will tell you.
Get your site up, and a blog site up. use the blog to put up recipe ideas, preferably illustrated/photographed, and submit these to other sites like Tastespotting (http://www.tastespotting.com/) and Foodgawker (http://foodgawker.com/post/category/dessert/)
Google 'UK food forums' and go through the first couple of dozen, choose, say, three you like, and read and contribute to them. Find the food groups on Yahoo and Facebook, and join them too.
In the other 10 minutes of the day earn a living...
Good luck.

[jane p]

:DThanks.:D

[RLD Plastering and Tiling Services]

another idea is could you sell some of your marinades to the big boys in the supermarket business or even ofer them some free samples or do a display in the supermarket in the next town to you, i know in our local tescos superstore there are always somebody at the end of an aisle with something to try or taste

[jane p]

Thanks but the idea is that people buy the meat from the butcher and get the marinates free though. We dont just want to sell marinates. The marinates arent for sale in our shop either they are free with the meat its an all in one sale.

Hate Tescos anyway.

[fisicx]

Excuse my ignorance here but can you send meat through the post (with or without marinades)?

[jane p]

no you cant;)

[Bluefrog]

If I was in your position I would try getting local pubs involved (privately owned or small chain). In the current climate something daft like 5 pubs a day are closing across the UK. Pubs tend to make most of their money from food rather than alcohol, such are the low income revenues on the most popular beverages. If you offer to provide them with some of your products for things like sunday carveries/steak/curry night it could push your sales up. You could also offer it to the pub at a "reduced" rate in return for advertising for example on the menu it could say "Local produce sourced from Jane P butchers" or words to that effect. This way you are increasing awareness and helping local businesses and the papers would report it especially if you invite the local mayor to come sample the new dish. The promise to the pub of quality local food as well as free press coverage with a local "celebrity" thrown in should bring them round to your way of thinking and if they are still unsure just offer it as a trial.

You could also target local restaurants in the same way although with restaurants I would probably offer some sort of exclusivity as chefs and restaurant owners tend to be more competitive with each other. This however depends on whether or not restaurants are the sort of places you could sell your meat (I'm not sure how it is priced or if it is the sort of produce you would find in a restaurant)

Another Idea is to team up with a local farm shop and offer a meat/grocery delivery service once a week which will be benficial for those who can no longer get to the shops easily and again promoting local business. This way you can cross sell from regular meats to meats with marinates. You could also hold a local market stall in conjunction with the farm shop and sell your produce there, with some leaflets on the side offering cooking tips etc as well as samples.

This all depends on where you are based as doing this with privately owned pubs and local farm shops could be complicated if you live in the middle of a city (though the restaurant idea may work) as large chains and corporate giants tend to rule those areas. However if you live in a small town or village some of these ideas may be worth looking at. It isn't my area of expertise but let me know what you think and I hope it goes well.

[jane p]

pubs are a nightmare we have been involved with a few before they never want to pay or pay on time and they want everything cheapy cheap. Thanks for your input though.

[jane p]

your thinking more of a catering butchers too.