Not only do I use social media to post about my direct marketing company affiliations but so does many of my friends. I can't help but to think that we use our Social Media pages like a child visiting the beach for the first time but does not know how to swim. They stick their feet in and wade in the shallow waters until they get comfortable enough to delve in and swim. This is the same with those starting out as an Independent Consultant for some company - for me it is Pink Zebra Home, the candle fragrance company. We post our company information all over our Facebook pages hoping that someone connected to us will take a look at our product and purchase. Some are successful with their products and some are flailing - not failing, but flailing. LOL
What I am learning is that the issue with the success or struggles that one has with marketing their products is that we really haven't taken the time out to really consider our target market. That is a first when creating a marketing campaign. You must know your target.
For me, I have found that my market is huge. Everyone likes "smell goods". I have found that when I am at the Flea Market, I have just as many men customers as I do women. I also find that the children are attracted to the bright colors so they will see my set up and draw their parents over to see what it going on. I also find that many times it is assumed that I have candy instead of fragrances because of the look of the product. Because I am set up in such a way that the product can be demonstrated, I do very well with the offline marketing, and this is because I am very interactive with my products. I allow my customers to open the jars and smell them.
But online marketing is a different story. I find myself very challenged in this area. Off the top, one of the things that I can see that I do not do is I do not flood the social media pages with my product line. I called myself listening to the voices of those on social media whom at one point I heard say that they were not pleased with how social media changed to becoming a lot of advertisements when they simply wanted to keep up with friends and family.
Being that I am a writer, I slowed up on posting a lot of my flyers because I didnt want my family and friends to think that I was trying to shove my product down their faces. Though I knew that if they smelled the product and tried it they would love it, I didnt want them to feel as if that is all I wanted from them was to make a sale. So I decided on giving away FREE SAMPLES just so that everyone could check out the product for themselves. I did that a lot. I became known for giving away free samples. That backfired on me too. While I still enjoy giving away FREE Samples, I really have to rethink/revisit how I incorporate that as a tool of marketing.
Internet (online) marketing really isnt as easy as it appears. There is a whole format to this and some make look so easy. Just this here BLOGGING about direct marketing online is a challenge. What do I say? How do I capture the attention of my tartet market? How do I connect the customer with the product? How do I create value in my product for the customer?
I tell you some make it look so easy, but there is a real strategy to doing this. My campaign has to tailor around the target market and not around the product. Then because the customer really does have a short attention span due to the fact that so much information is coming at them - so many voices are rallying to be heard, I have to make sure that my voice is the loudest. I do this by deciding on the right message. With the message there needs to be a hook that would give the potential customer a reason to want to call me at 931-591-5300, or visit my website at bit.ly/ESSENCEdePink.
Yes, my plugs just then was shameless.
I am in week three of trying to figure this out. This is the week that I have to begin to apply what I am learning. The first lesson that I am being pushed into is that of blogging. I made a promise to my professor that I would blog more because the goal during these next 8 weeks is to study the analytics of this blog page and yet, if I dont have participants how can I study it. I had to admit that just posting once in the week is not going to drive participants to my page. I gave my word yesterday that I would graduate to posting at least once a day.
I cannot say that this is easy, though it should be. I am beginning to see the success my husband is having because he is posting at least three or four times of day and he is rotating his posts so that he has more content. Before I start doing this with Pink Zebra I must understand it by using this Classroom assignment to blog as a point of measurement.
Will I get more participation this week if I post everyday and alert more to the fact that I am here. What about if I attach a picture to this Blogger? What affect/effect does pictures have? I have got so much to learn.
Oh, bye the way, (another shameless plug), Pink Zebra is getting ready for the release of the NEW Spring/Summer 2018 fragrances. In order to make room for the new line of scents, many of the old product line has been put on sale. They are calling it a garage sale which began today and ends on January 25th. I invite you to check out the sale by visiting my website: bit.ly/ESSENCEdePink . Look for the link for the Special Sale. I put my order in today.
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