Help Guys with the impossible niche

kushmanmediallc · 16th Oct 2017, 08:47 AM

Hey Guys,

I need to bounce this whole situation off you guys, I'm currently working for a patio umbrella company Nothing seems to be converting after a few good months on website increases and sales. While the season for northern US is changing to winter, southern states still run year round. I have been trying to position us as the quality umbrella with replacement parts. Here's what I have running:

Email opt-in and newsletter
HGTV mobile ad
google ad words
we done in person events to have material for website for branding
we have wayfair etc sites doing promo work which has been working

The only thing that's worked so far and Continues to have clicks is the give away TV contest we did. I'm thinking of pitching a contest to other stations across the country as well, but beyond that I'm stumped as to why this has become mission impossible. I don't expect this niche to be booming but there should be heathy numbers and interest. If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears, it's frustrating.

Enfusia · 16th Oct 2017, 10:09 AM

Why not get people who will move your product for you.

Here is just one easy idea.

Figure out what you can wholesale your products at. Then pitch patio and deck builders to sell them for you for a commission. You drop ship for them, they buy it at wholesale and bill their customers at retail.

You do the same thing with every type of company in your related industries. Such as, hotel builders (think hotel pools), pool builders, BBQ grill stores, landscapers, interior and exterior designers etc.

Now your not selling them umbrellas, your selling them an add on/up sell that makes them more money on their sale to the customer.

This is how I would approach it.

kushmanmediallc · 16th Oct 2017, 10:58 AM

Thanks,

Yea we have brick and morter channels with similar setup too. I'm thinking maybe offer an affiliate program for online as well

Mohammed K Sheikh · 20th Oct 2017, 09:01 AM

Hi,

What is your customers 3 Main pain points?

What pains or problems are you overcoming?

Remember this, the best form of marketing and converting is not to sell.

Noone is ever interested in a product or service.

What they want is transformation i.e. from a state e.g. not being able to enjoy the outdoors becuase of the heat, to able to enjoy with a unmbrella"

So, even out of season, brainstorm and look for 3 main pain points and 3 solutions.

Then market that message not your product.

Let me know if you have any other questions

Peter Koch · 24th Oct 2017, 12:39 AM

Influencers on Instagram are powerful marketing tools for any brand. In my experience account with 2 million followers cost about $400 and you can expect about 4,000 unique visits to your site.

Pro tip. List them on Amazon. If you sell physical products on the internet and you're not on Amazon, then you're competing with Amazon and that's not good.

JohnVianny · 24th Oct 2017, 11:44 AM

Try to upload your email list to facebook to display the ads to a LOOKALIKE audience, so you can use their algorythm to find customer similar to yours or people interested.

And then, do some Seo or outsource it, so you can easily put a pop up and grow your email list.

marklogan · 25th Oct 2017, 06:20 AM

Yes, I think that this idea will help you really great

kushmanmediallc · 27th Oct 2017, 09:47 AM

Yea thanks guys. I'm going to pursue email building, influencers, and all suggestions. Thanks everyone!

st0nec0ld · 27th Oct 2017, 10:36 AM

Yikes, I agree with Enfusia though. You can offer wholesale instead. Plus increase your brand online presence through social media. You can also approach big companies to offer your product as company giveaways. Anyway, if you can't make it on the web for the moment just try social media first or other platforms.

wentzco · 27th Oct 2017, 03:31 PM

I think you are missing out a dash on your social media marketing. I had seen your site which is nice & your product line looks awesome. I saw it when you initially posted with the Wayfair URL but didn't have time to respond then.

- Expand your Pinterest boards with more images of your umbrellas being used. If your customers are people with luxury patios or pool owners then create boards for those. Promote some of your pins - target keywords, interests & locations.

- Facebook! Your page has only 25 likes. On your Facebook posts, I see many of the links are broken. It looks like you changed the url of the blog address on your site which would be the reason. Upload your videos to your Facebook page. Use Facebook ads to promote posts which could be blog posts, product pages, special offers, videos(!) or your Facebook page (with catchy image) to targeted audiences on Facebook. Who are your customers? Do they like Facebook pages like Pool Lifestyle, Outdoor Living by Belgard, Landscaping Network, House Beautiful Magazine, Houzz, etc... . Facebook ads will let you narrow down your niche market incredibly by letting you target peoples interests (example - pages they like), income, gender, location & more. Learn Facebook ads & pay attention what successful pages are doing on their Facebook page.

- Bing Ads

- As mentioned by Peter, consider listing your products on Amazon.

- Start an affiliate program - use Shareasale(.com)! Wayfair & many other merchants use this trusted affiliate network. There are many sites/blogs that target landscaping, home ideas, luxury lifestyle , etc. that promote affiliate programs. When you see other merchants listed on on Shareasale that have a similar market target... remember to target their fan base on Facebook.

- I imagine that some of your customers are hotels, golf clubs, etc. so it may be a good idea to create a LinkedIn presence & connect up to some of the buyers as well as people who sell pools, landscaping services, patio furniture. I haven't used LinkedIn for advertising but they frequently send me $50 in free ad deals to try them out. I'm sure they will send you that deal when you create a profile there.

kushmanmediallc · 27th Oct 2017, 10:46 PM

Thanks for your outline, I appreciate it. One of the frustrations for me has been that the owner of this company is older and out of touch with everything and it's like pulling teeth to get the funding to address a budget per issue. Amazon and Houzz is where we need to be, but the fulfillment rate needs to be close to 100% score as a vendor to get on there which we're working towards. We're awaiting the end of a few contracts with stores to move into wholesale and online everywhere. This is a mess of a job I took on.

You guys should've seen the website it looked like it was from 95' and no social media. That's how bad the situation is, I've spent 2 months bringing us into the next decade haha.

Our demo is basically a higher income, 45+ subaru buyer who wants quality and something simple. So I've tried to make us into the subaru of patio of umbrellas, which has worked with the website, but now growth hacking the social media part is urgent. We have email addresses and I think the safest bet is to have them opt in is through facebook first, then send out an email list.

The social media in this case will have to be hybrid sales channels to target and create new business. I’m going to implement all these things budget or not. It’s just been frustrating because the whole turnaround of the business is riding on digital marketing with a boss who can’t accept change and a race against time. It's been quite the learning experience though.

16th Oct 2017, 08:47 AM	#1
kushmanmediallc Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2012 Posts: 63 Thanks: 6 Thanked 30 Times in 23 Posts	Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Hey Guys, I need to bounce this whole situation off you guys, I'm currently working for a patio umbrella company Nothing seems to be converting after a few good months on website increases and sales. While the season for northern US is changing to winter, southern states still run year round. I have been trying to position us as the quality umbrella with replacement parts. Here's what I have running: Email opt-in and newsletter HGTV mobile ad google ad words we done in person events to have material for website for branding we have wayfair etc sites doing promo work which has been working The only thing that's worked so far and Continues to have clicks is the give away TV contest we did. I'm thinking of pitching a contest to other stations across the country as well, but beyond that I'm stumped as to why this has become mission impossible. I don't expect this niche to be booming but there should be heathy numbers and interest. If anyone has any ideas I'm all ears, it's frustrating.
	Last edited on 29th Oct 2017 at 11:04 PM.

16th Oct 2017, 10:09 AM	#2
Enfusia VIP Warrior Join Date: 2010 Posts: 1,942 Thanks: 501 Thanked 1,581 Times in 957 Posts	Re: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Why not get people who will move your product for you. Here is just one easy idea. Figure out what you can wholesale your products at. Then pitch patio and deck builders to sell them for you for a commission. You drop ship for them, they buy it at wholesale and bill their customers at retail. You do the same thing with every type of company in your related industries. Such as, hotel builders (think hotel pools), pool builders, BBQ grill stores, landscapers, interior and exterior designers etc. Now your not selling them umbrellas, your selling them an add on/up sell that makes them more money on their sale to the customer. This is how I would approach it.
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16th Oct 2017, 10:58 AM	#3
kushmanmediallc Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2012 Posts: 63 Thanks: 6 Thanked 30 Times in 23 Posts	RE: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Thanks, Yea we have brick and morter channels with similar setup too. I'm thinking maybe offer an affiliate program for online as well

20th Oct 2017, 09:01 AM	#4
Mohammed K Sheikh Mohammed K Sheikh Join Date: 2017 Location: UK Posts: 80 Thanks: 14 Thanked 30 Times in 24 Posts	RE: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Hi, What is your customers 3 Main pain points? What pains or problems are you overcoming? Remember this, the best form of marketing and converting is not to sell. Noone is ever interested in a product or service. What they want is transformation i.e. from a state e.g. not being able to enjoy the outdoors becuase of the heat, to able to enjoy with a unmbrella" So, even out of season, brainstorm and look for 3 main pain points and 3 solutions. Then market that message not your product. Let me know if you have any other questions
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24th Oct 2017, 12:39 AM	#5
Peter Koch New Warrior Member Join Date: 2017 Posts: 24 Thanks: 0 Thanked 8 Times in 7 Posts	RE: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Influencers on Instagram are powerful marketing tools for any brand. In my experience account with 2 million followers cost about $400 and you can expect about 4,000 unique visits to your site. Pro tip. List them on Amazon. If you sell physical products on the internet and you're not on Amazon, then you're competing with Amazon and that's not good.

24th Oct 2017, 11:44 AM	#6
JohnVianny John Vianny Join Date: 2014 Posts: 1,346 Thanks: 53 Thanked 385 Times in 314 Posts	RE: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Try to upload your email list to facebook to display the ads to a LOOKALIKE audience, so you can use their algorythm to find customer similar to yours or people interested. And then, do some Seo or outsource it, so you can easily put a pop up and grow your email list.
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25th Oct 2017, 06:20 AM	#7
marklogan Warrior Member Join Date: 2017 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	RE: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Yes, I think that this idea will help you really great

27th Oct 2017, 09:47 AM	#8
kushmanmediallc Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2012 Posts: 63 Thanks: 6 Thanked 30 Times in 23 Posts	RE: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Yea thanks guys. I'm going to pursue email building, influencers, and all suggestions. Thanks everyone!

27th Oct 2017, 10:36 AM	#9
st0nec0ld Senior Warrior Member Join Date: 2014 Posts: 1,059 Thanks: 20 Thanked 152 Times in 146 Posts	Re: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Yikes, I agree with Enfusia though. You can offer wholesale instead. Plus increase your brand online presence through social media. You can also approach big companies to offer your product as company giveaways. Anyway, if you can't make it on the web for the moment just try social media first or other platforms.
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27th Oct 2017, 03:31 PM	#10
wentzco Sasquatch Whisperer War Room Member Join Date: 2012 Location: West Fargo, ND Posts: 331 Thanks: 79 Thanked 216 Times in 118 Posts	Re: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: I think you are missing out a dash on your social media marketing. I had seen your site which is nice & your product line looks awesome. I saw it when you initially posted with the Wayfair URL but didn't have time to respond then. - Expand your Pinterest boards with more images of your umbrellas being used. If your customers are people with luxury patios or pool owners then create boards for those. Promote some of your pins - target keywords, interests & locations. - Facebook! Your page has only 25 likes. On your Facebook posts, I see many of the links are broken. It looks like you changed the url of the blog address on your site which would be the reason. Upload your videos to your Facebook page. Use Facebook ads to promote posts which could be blog posts, product pages, special offers, videos(!) or your Facebook page (with catchy image) to targeted audiences on Facebook. Who are your customers? Do they like Facebook pages like Pool Lifestyle, Outdoor Living by Belgard, Landscaping Network, House Beautiful Magazine, Houzz, etc... . Facebook ads will let you narrow down your niche market incredibly by letting you target peoples interests (example - pages they like), income, gender, location & more. Learn Facebook ads & pay attention what successful pages are doing on their Facebook page. - Bing Ads - As mentioned by Peter, consider listing your products on Amazon. - Start an affiliate program - use Shareasale(.com)! Wayfair & many other merchants use this trusted affiliate network. There are many sites/blogs that target landscaping, home ideas, luxury lifestyle , etc. that promote affiliate programs. When you see other merchants listed on on Shareasale that have a similar market target... remember to target their fan base on Facebook. - I imagine that some of your customers are hotels, golf clubs, etc. so it may be a good idea to create a LinkedIn presence & connect up to some of the buyers as well as people who sell pools, landscaping services, patio furniture. I haven't used LinkedIn for advertising but they frequently send me $50 in free ad deals to try them out. I'm sure they will send you that deal when you create a profile there.
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27th Oct 2017, 10:46 PM	#11
kushmanmediallc Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2012 Posts: 63 Thanks: 6 Thanked 30 Times in 23 Posts	RE: Help Guys with the impossible niche Share on: Thanks for your outline, I appreciate it. One of the frustrations for me has been that the owner of this company is older and out of touch with everything and it's like pulling teeth to get the funding to address a budget per issue. Amazon and Houzz is where we need to be, but the fulfillment rate needs to be close to 100% score as a vendor to get on there which we're working towards. We're awaiting the end of a few contracts with stores to move into wholesale and online everywhere. This is a mess of a job I took on. You guys should've seen the website it looked like it was from 95' and no social media. That's how bad the situation is, I've spent 2 months bringing us into the next decade haha. Our demo is basically a higher income, 45+ subaru buyer who wants quality and something simple. So I've tried to make us into the subaru of patio of umbrellas, which has worked with the website, but now growth hacking the social media part is urgent. We have email addresses and I think the safest bet is to have them opt in is through facebook first, then send out an email list. The social media in this case will have to be hybrid sales channels to target and create new business. I’m going to implement all these things budget or not. It’s just been frustrating because the whole turnaround of the business is riding on digital marketing with a boss who can’t accept change and a race against time. It's been quite the learning experience though.