Next Intimidating Step to Tackle - Marketing

by RNJ
17 replies
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WF,

I am a humble newbie. For the last month or so I have been lurking trying to read up on marketing avenues and soak up poster advice. I am at the point where I'm a bit overwhelmed. As a new entrepreneur with a new idea, I have spent close to a year in product development then website development. I'm finally there - but now I'm faced with the daunting task of how to get my site "out there".

I need some advice on how I should spend my precious advertising dollars. There is so much to choose from I'm lost. SEO, Adwords, Facebook ads, email campaigns, press releases, blog marketing. I don't know where to begin. My website, facebook, and amazon stores have been set up. I have started a small Facebook ad campaign but it seems to just get me a bunch of likes from Malaysia.

My product is small, inexpensive and fills a wide-spread need. The site is receiptklips dot com (only for reference - no disrespect to forum rules). As one with no marketing experience I would really appreciate some advice on how to effectively market my site and my product. All feedback welcome - even negative.

Thanks!
#ecommerce #intimidating #marketing #step #tackle
  • Profile picture of the author brandon_holcomb
    First start with your facebook like page. Its free and easy to create a like page on facebook.com. If you do business on line your customers will be expecting a like page. You should also incorporate like and share buttons on your product pages.
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  • Profile picture of the author RNJ
    Thanks, Yes I did that. facebook/receiptklips. Does it matter that it is a written link not a button?
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  • Profile picture of the author IamPower
    Advertising is the last thing you need - marketing is not about advertising.

    Marketing is about creating your market.

    Let's say your product is about the supplements/nutrition industry and you sell nutrition for health - then your marketing plan could consist of a blog, which gives advice about health (information dense advice, that REALLY is useful) to build trust of your business - yes this sounds like a lot of work, but these days, people dont buy from advertisements - they buy from people they trust.

    So whatever your industry - find what your market is looking for (what else) and provide it for free - and every 9 freebies you give, ask for a sale on the 9th for one of your products/services.

    You will find a WHOLE lot of stuff on advertising on facebook, google etc - those are things you look at after you have established trusting grounds - and is the better route long term.

    I hope this helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author pavv
    Hi RNJ,

    I've had a look at your site/product and I'm not sure there would be many people searching for this? Is this a new concept or are there products already like this? Marketing with PPC and SEO might not be very effective.

    In order to make any sort of living out of this you will also need to sell this in volume. Have you thought about contacting resellers directly? It sort of reminds me of a wallet or something you will see near the front counter of a surf shop that they try to get upsells on. While this obviously isn't your target market you might be able to use the same concept of your product being an add-on or up sell product.

    I assume you would be targeting business owners (who else keeps receipts)? A lot of business owners would either wear some sort of business clothes or perhaps a uniform. This here could be your answer. Maybe you could contact retail stores that sell uniforms and business wear. Considering your customers would be business owners you could probably charge a bit more for your product too.

    I don't know just thinking out aloud here
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  • Profile picture of the author RNJ
    Pav,
    Thanks. Yes it is a niche product for receipts. It is a new product with no similar competitors. This is also my struggle because most people won't be directly searching for one on the internet. I need to put it in front of people, and show them how it works and why they need it.

    The ultimate goal is to sell it to retail (I think it would make a great stocking stuffer). But I need to build up some sales before I can go to mid-size retailers. I'm trying to do that online thru website, Amazon and FB.
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    • Profile picture of the author pavv
      Originally Posted by RNJ View Post

      The ultimate goal is to sell it to retail (I think it would make a great stocking stuffer). But I need to build up some sales before I can go to mid-size retailers. I'm trying to do that online thru website, Amazon and FB.
      Fair point, but I think it might work the other way around.

      Selling online where there is no audience/target market is going to be incredibly hard, I mean really hard. It's hard enough marketing to established markets - especially if you don't even know where to start.

      I think selling to retail would be your best bet. You said yourself that is the main goal. I say pick up the phone and make it happen. Most manufacturers start out like this anyway and have no idea about selling online (but the fact that you do is a big benefit).
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  • Profile picture of the author RNJ
    Ok. AdWords would be fruitless without existing markets, so what about press releases? Is there value in paying for press release distribution?
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    • Profile picture of the author ryshark
      This product would work really well for people who need to keep track of gas receipts, like sales reps in the field etc. have you done any extensive keyword research to see if there is a little bit of traffic? Even if there is a little, if you are the only one it may be enough to get you started and may not be too competitive to rank. My question is, how would the OP do any niche related SEO when there aren't any blogs etc that are related?
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Originally Posted by RNJ View Post

      Ok. AdWords would be fruitless without existing markets, so what about press releases? Is there value in paying for press release distribution?
      Hi RNJ,

      Hold on, AdWords wouldn't necessarily be fruitless. The problem you have is that since it is a new type of product, there is not an existing market, there will be little or no keyword search traffic. However, AdWords is far more than just Search ads.

      You can target the Display Network, Mobile devices, and AdWords for Video. I think all of those would be suitable and very good for the type of marketing that you need to do.

      You can and should target the Press Release channel, however I recommend that you avoid the Press Release for SEO approach which is the bulk of what most Press Release services offer. You need to carefully select a press release agency, or publicist, that seeks out, identifies, and targets key members of the media that are most likely to publish your story. PR for SEO, would be fruitless for the same reason that Keyword Search ads would.

      You just need to follow the four key principles of marketing strategy: Specialization, Differentiation, Segmentation, and Concentration.
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      • Profile picture of the author RNJ
        Thanks Don. I have you tube videos and I really think that US key to show people how the product works. Two questions how do I incorporate that into an AdWords for video campaign? Also, what is a minimum range for how much I need to spend with adwords? Thanks!
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  • Profile picture of the author karenloye
    Hi there! Trust me, I understand how daunting things seem! We've all been there, so good for you for seeking input!

    I actually did a little keyword research and interestingly, there are a fair number of people seeking what you have to offer. I ran an Exact Match search (as it's most precise) and found that roughly 1,300 people each month are searching for "receipt organizer." There are also people searching for "receipt holder," "organize receipts," "receipt keeper," and even "receipt wallet." Although this is not huge search volume by any means, these are also Exact Match results. More people are searching in various related ways than these numbers show. Because of this, an Adwords campaign that is focused around these and similar keywords might be a good start.

    I also went to your website and right away noticed that you're not leveraging onsite SEO at all. You have no keywords (see above for suggestions) in your title tag, your description is way too vague (and doesn't leverage any keywords), and your content itself does not contain keywords to help your site rank for what people seem to be searching for. That is certainly something you would want to address.

    You also mentioned Facebook ads and how they weren't really working. With the right focus, I do think they could potentially work for you. However, that's IF you have your ads targeted correctly and IF you're using the right image and copy. When using Facebook ads I generally do a lot of testing and if you get it right it can be very powerful. I have no idea what your Facebook ads says or who it is being shown to, so I have no way to evaluate what you currently are doing. However, I wouldn't necessary be so quick to abandon it without further evaluation and possibly doing some testing.

    Others have suggested targeting people who need the Receipt Klip. That is spot on advice. I would recommend salespeople as one target and business people who do a lot of traveling and/or entertaining (wining/dining of potential and current clients) as another. Find out what these people read, where they get their information, how they travel, etc. Ads in the right publications, blogs, websites, etc. may be an avenue to explore.

    Along those lines, press kits with a sample of your product could be sent to the editors of relevant publications for inclusion in possible editorial content in their publications. (Example: a publication targeted to people in sales might have an editor preparing an article on the best stocking stuffers for the salesperson. Your product could potentially get featured in that article.) Editors generally word several months out in advance so you need to think ahead. Nonetheless, getting covered in an article lends credibility to your product that no ad ever can garner. For that reason, offline press releases and press kit mailings to targeted publications could be something very worthwhile to consider.

    Another offline technique you might consider is tradeshow marketing. Without knowing anything about these particular industries, I can tell you that there are tradeshows for just about everything and it's likely you could get a sales rep group to promote your product at certain shows that draw sales professionals (or the industries that hire and rely upon good, organized, and efficient sales people).

    Bottom line -- identify the specific "who" is MOST likely to need/want/use your product and work from there. Leverage the search that is already occurring for keywords that relate to what you are selling and then branch out to other ways of reaching the target groups you believe have the greatest potential. It does not all have to be done online. Offline still works, too -- you just have to be very targeted in what you do to ensure that you find effective and efficient marketing avenues that bring you the most bang for the buck.

    Best of luck to you!
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    • Profile picture of the author RNJ
      Karen,
      Thank you very much for your advice. SEO was supposed to be part of ny website design package (at least "optimized"), I'll have to check on that. I have received zero conversion through facebook so far even with the 500 plus likes. I have thought of going the sample route through the mail, but I think I need to determine the best targets first. Would love to do a tradeshow but I think that might be out of my budget right now. Thanks so much!
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  • Profile picture of the author karenloye
    @RNJ -- You are very welcome. It's unfortunate that you were told you were getting "optimization" as part of your website and it wasn't delivered. Any entity building websites that uses nothing more than "ReceiptKlips | Home Page" for a meta title tag, knows nothing about effective SEO. Sadly, this happens all too often.

    I see you don't have enough posts to PM me. If you'd like, drop me a note using a contact form on one of the websites in my signature. I have sold wholesale with my own product lines and may have other offline marketing tips that may work for you that could fit in your budget. I can provide you with some SEO direction as well.
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    • Profile picture of the author RNJ
      Thanks Karen, I would love some wholesale advice. I will be in touch.
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  • Profile picture of the author figgity
    There are actually no hard and fast rules on what you should do. You can market your site solely by having great SEO, you can do Facebook, you can do Twitter and many other things. The best thing is to use a combination of approaches, so that all your eggs aren't in one basket. You should also check out my book (first link in my sig). It's free and it will help you navigate the Internet Marketing waters.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    Hello,
    Go into Facebook/LinkedIn relevant groups and forums and
    be helpful and likeable in your posts and post your website as per their rules.
    Sell via an Amazon store.

    Local business and organizer ... stores and maybe bigger retailers will carry
    your items...

    Dan
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