End of the semester

This semester I took two ETP classes and have learned a few great tips and a lot of great info from each. From how to prepare a marketing plan, which ways are most effective when marketing, and what local business owners did to start and how they run their business. I have already started putting some ideas to use in my business during this semester and cant wait to see how my next ETP class in the spring will help.

Sponsoring

Sponsoring can be a great marketing idea if you choose the best places, events, or people to sponsor.
For sponsoring a person you need to chose a great person that would represent your company well. They would talk about your products and use it around potential customers. For example, I am watching the barrel racing in the national finals rodeo this week. One of the riders is sponsored by a small custom tack business. She is using a lot of their products and getting them noticed by around 500,000 people that are watching the event this week. She is doing a great job advertising their products and is promoting them very well. I think it was a great move on the businesses part by sponsoring her, they chose a great rider that has the ability to get them noticed. While they might have given her free products to use, they will get so much out of sponsoring her that it will be well worth it.

Facebook Marketing

Facebook is the largest social media network in the world, with more than one billion users, with over fifty percent logging on every day. Facebook can be great to help marketing your product or business and has many different ways to do so. A few of them being pages, adds, and groups.

 You can create a page for your business for free. Everyone that “likes” the page can get updates when something is posted on the page. You can post about new products, updates, giveaways, ect.  This is the most common way for businesses to advertise on facebook. 

The next way is through adds, you can create an add that will show up to your targeted market. From there they can go to your page and see what you have and like your page. This way is great to get your business out there to people who would buy it, but you do have to pay for adds. 

 The last way is through a group, which are like a discussion board. If you create one for your business or product, people can talk about them in the group and ask questions. A few downsides of this is a person would have to become a member of the group to comment or post in it. And a group might take more work to keep up than an add or page would. 

Can the time of year impact sales?

Since it is about time to start thinking about Christmas I got to thinking about products that are released just before Christmas and how this time of year can impact sales.
When I looked up the most popular kids toy of 2016, I found Hatchimals by Spinmaster. Spinmaster has done a great job with timing on this product. They has a great marketing plan and only released small information about the toy while making customers very curious to what it was before it came out. When it was released on October 7th and was immediately sold out everywhere, most buying it as a Christmas gift. It was a smart move by spinmaster with the unique marketing and time of year for the release that makes this the most popular toy of 2016. While it is sold out in every store, the demand is only rising for the toy.  Spinmaster has said that it will not be releasing or restocking any until 2017. With that, it is making the prices rise for the toy. While in stores it was retailed for around $50, now they are currently selling for over $150 on places like Ebay. This just shows what great marketing and releasing in a certain time of year can do for your products.

Idea Tracking

Where do you put your ideas for your business? I have found the best way for me to keep track of my ideas is to put them in my phone. Whether it is a new products I want to carry or a new place I can advertise, I put them in my phone until I have time to do research on the ideas. This way is best for me because I wouldn't remember the five or so ideas I had that day. I keeps me more organized too, I have a list on my phone for each type of idea, what products I would like to carry, what I need to place in my next order, places I can sell, and other ways I can advertise.

Adding A New Product?

Adding A New Product?

I started my business earlier this year and carry a few great brands. My customers ask all the time if I carry certain brands, which at the time I don’t. I have recently started looking for more brands and products to add to my store and with my customers asking for a few certain brands it seems like the best items to add would be the ones they already want. I would already have my customers wanting to buy these items. And adding these brands would bring in customers looking for these exact products that would not have otherwise looked in my store. It seems like a no brainier to add products that are already being asked for than to add products that are not.

Profit Margins

While I was doing research for my business plan and going over prices to produce the item and the retail price for the item, I noticed these items have very large margins for the companies that currently produce something similar. Most of these products have a 50 percent or higher profit margin. One thing I could do to make my products look better than the competitors is make mine retail cheaper. I could start out selling at a 35 percent margin, prove the business in the market, then I can raise it to 40-45 percent and still have better prices than the competitors. While I wouldn't be making the full potential at first, the lower prices would help get sales and get established as a competitor in the market.