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- Home >> Lifestyle: General
Crafts:
Soap
Making:
-
- Email Marketing And
Your Natural Soap Business
- by Jeffrey Dorrian
You run into an old customer at the grocery store. She tells
you how much your soap has helped her husbands skin condition
and you remind her that she can reorder from your website. You
wonder if you will ever hear from her again. In todays
super-hectic culture, convenience is the key to getting repeat
orders from customers. It is very easy for one product or another
to slip the mind of a customer even if they are fond of your
product.
One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways for the handmade
soap maker to keep in touch with customers is with email marketing.
Start a product announcement marketing campaign. Send it once
a month. If you do more than this, it can seem pushy, especially
in the beginning of a marketing effort. When a customer buys
from you offer them a 20% off coupon if they will sign-up for
your announcement list. They will get the coupon via email, this
way you will get a legitimate email addresses. Friends, family,
neighbors - ask everyone you meet to join your list. Keep mini
samples with you. It can be an icebreaker when you meet new people.
Tell them that you give away a nice item once a month in a drawing
from your email list. If this does not entice them to join, you
are probably better off without them. As the list grows, your
business will grow. Offer a nice sample item to customers who
get someone else to join your list. This type of word-of-mouth
advertising is the best type of advertising you can get. When
you have a winner from one of your contests, be sure to announce
it in your email.
All this marketing takes is some dedication, a few samples and
some of your time. It does not take a large budget. If you happen
to be the crafting type that does not interact with customers
as well or as often as you would like, you might consider teaming
up with someone who does. Handmade soap making and marketing
are two completely different skill sets. We all have that friend
or relative that seems to know everyone in town. This is the
type of person who should be first and foremost on your sample
list. You need not have a formal arrangement with this person
as Im sure if they genuinely like your product they will
not be able to contain themselves when talking to their circle
of friends.
If you decide that having some type of marketing agreement is
necessary, be careful, as they can go awry very quickly. Keep
it simple and dont make too many demands on this person
as he or she is the one who is doing you the marketing favor.
Remember their time is valuable also. Offer product in lieu of
cash for their efforts. Manufacturers reps typically get
anywhere from 7% to 15% of sales they generate. This is a great
way to go as you dont have to pay anything until a sale
is made.
Once you get a customer, keep in touch with them yourself through
your email marketing campaign. I have found customers generally
like to talk directly to the crafter. Many customers are involved
in a craft of their own and like to share experiences with other
crafters. Having a monthly email list is a surefire way to expand
your business at a very nominal cost.
About the Author:
Jeffrey Dorrian is the webmaster
at thesoapguy.com. He has been making handmade soap for six years.
"Handmade soap is a little luxury anyone can afford".
Premium wholesale soap
Old fashioned lye
soap
Source: www.isnare.com
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Article Posted: August 17,
2007
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