Getting the word out about your product

[-Chris-]

Just trying to think of all the ways that you can spread word about your product to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, and of course, as cheaply as possible! Say for example, you have a fantastic soap, you could tell your family and friends about it, but if they haven't actually used it, they can't say how good it is, so following on from that, would you give a few out for free initially?

I've also thought about perhaps putting an article in the local mag/newspaper?

Any other ideas? What has worked for you the best please?

 

[Nochexman]

Hi Chris, what is your product?

If you are selling soap I am unlikely to tell my friends, however good it is. On the other hand, if you give me a free performance car I am willing to tell complete strangers how good it is (or not)!

 

[-Chris-]

Shampoos, but really looking for any and all realistic ideas.

 

[1981richard parker]

for something like shampoo i would think social media may be able to gain you some interest, possibly more than a local paper

 

[-Chris-]

Thanks Richard, I've put that on the list.

Any more? The more the merrier.

 

[Iain_Henderson]

I'm just starting to learn about SEO and in doing so had a look at a competitors back links - half of their top ones all came from blogging sites.

Have a search for fashion/cosmetics bloggers and see if any look a good fit for your shampoo.

No idea if it works well but if it only costs you a few sample bottles worth trying.

 

[-Chris-]

I'm just starting to learn about SEO and in doing so had a look at a competitors back links - half of their top ones all came from blogging sites.

Have a search for fashion/cosmetics bloggers and see if any look a good fit for your shampoo.

No idea if it works well but if it only costs you a few sample bottles worth trying.

Thanks Iain, will add that to the list as well. One thing, how are you thinking of the free samples working in that scenario?

 

[Iain_Henderson]

Well I'd assume you'd send one to the blogger to try. Hopefully they love your product and tell all their followers about it (and, more importantly, where to buy it!)

 

[-Chris-]

Thanks, that will be a good one.

Any more ?

 

[IMAC IT Solutions]

Is there a particular reason that you are in a hurry to do this? I'd be happy to have a chat to you in regards to building brand awareness and building your products around your brand. Opposed to building your brand around your products which is not what consumers are doing in this modern age.
Let me know

 

[Julia Sta Romana]

The best way to do this effectively and efficiently is to do market research first. Who is your target market and where do they usually go/stay? Are they online? Offline? Do the read the papers, listen to the radio, or watch television? Once you know where they are, the options on how to do it quickly and cheaply would then present itself.

 

[TheMRGaryCole]

I'd suggest for you to take advantage of the free advertising you can get from social media sites.

 

[Ophi Hendrix]

I'd suggest for you to take advantage of the free advertising you can get from social media sites.

I agree with this. I myself started promoting my products through social media. I took advantage of the hashtags and mentions. Worked great for me.

 

[The Byre]

I'm bald.

 

[-Chris-]

Thank you for some of the useful replies here. I'll give it some more thought.

 

[ethical PR]

@-Chris- you are looking at this the wrong way around. It's not about gathering as many communications channels and ways of promoting yourself as possible. And it's not about what's cheapest.

If you invested 20.0000 and made a million because it was the right way to market your business, would you really not do it because you can get a pack of business cards printed for 15 quid?

Start again. Who are your target customers - age, social group, location, consumer habits, media habits? Why should they buy your product rather than someone else's. How would you sum your product up in a sentence or two? How are your competitors marketing themselves? Do you want to sell to retailers or directly?

Once you have all this information then you can think about the best channels to reach your customers? Yes reaching out to beauty bloggers can work, yes social media can work if you understand how to use it and have the right content, but before you do any of that you have to have a strong, effective brand, understand how to reach your target market, have some budget to develop content and collateral, and build in evaluation and clear objectives for any activity you carry out.

 

[-Chris-]

At the moment, I'm correctly looking at each and every way.

 

[Mirecart]

Have you tried brand awareness through the group buying sites. Groupon, Living Social etc, they all have massive databases, and I've used them in the past, but always just for short term one off promotions to build brand awareness not for long term sales.

 

[webgeek]

Partner with a number of salons, one in each area. Partner with a charity.

Set up your event, "Suds for Duds" a fundraiser for clothing the homeless in the area/country.

Or perhaps, "Wash n Dash 4 Cash" a fundraiser / athletics competition that benefits the area athletics programmes.

You get the idea. By teaming with a publicly established business, you have a well-known landmark to conduct the scrubby dub dub. Get people to pledge for each shampoo done, or similar.

This will get you extended PR, make a media circus, get people sharing socially, as the salons and charities help you spread the word.

Your cost - a few hundred quid. Your media buy equivalent - thousands upon thousands of Pounds.

 

[Certa-Hosting]

You could try local advertising on the radio, news outlets, magazines ect. If your business is small or just starting off, this is an easy way to get the people around you to notice you. Sometimes it can be difficult but if you are seen in local or relevant media outlets you will get the coverage you need.

 

[-Chris-]

Thank you very much for these ideas, ideas that I hadn't thought of. Any more?

 

[HazelC]

@-Chris- you are looking at this the wrong way around. It's not about gathering as many communications channels and ways of promoting yourself as possible. And it's not about what's cheapest.

If you invested 20.0000 and made a million because it was the right way to market your business, would you really not do it because you can get a pack of business cards printed for 15 quid?

Start again. Who are your target customers - age, social group, location, consumer habits, media habits? Why should they buy your product rather than someone else's. How would you sum your product up in a sentence or two? How are your competitors marketing themselves? Do you want to sell to retailers or directly?

Once you have all this information then you can think about the best channels to reach your customers? Yes reaching out to beauty bloggers can work, yes social media can work if you understand how to use it and have the right content, but before you do any of that you have to have a strong, effective brand, understand how to reach your target market, have some budget to develop content and collateral, and build in evaluation and clear objectives for any activity you carry out.

I am in complete agreement with all of this - know your customer / target audience first and then find out where they are and how to approach them. Otherwise you will spend a lot of time and money targeting the wrong people.

 

[TheConsulter]

There are different channels that you can use to get the word out about your product.

• Social media - Use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms to create a brand awareness of your shampoo
• Sponsorship - You can sponsor a person with many followers and by doing so you will reach many people. You can also sponsor in the old-fashioned way by sponsoring charities and sports teams. By doing so your brand will be visible and become known.
  
• Co-operate with independent shops - You can contact independent shops and provide them with a stock of your shampoos. Then you can arrange a deal where they pay you for the shampoos they have sold. This is a perfect solution if you want to get a new brand out on the market.