Ridiculous Frugal Entrepreneur, Still Gives it Away

Ridiculous, absolutely not. Even if you website is thefrugalgirl.com,   you can  do promotional giveaways to grow your audience and engender real emotional connections with your fans. Every business can benefit from well thought out giveaways. Most small businesses have more requests for charity donations than they have resources to fulfill. The key is to make these relationships work for both parties.

Almost all charities are looking for additional fund raising opportunities. This where a small business can step in and help. Offering a fund raising program to charities soliciting your donation can in many ways determine the seriousness of the solicitation. If your offer is dismissed out of hand you may reconsider the donation(not always). Bath and body products make great fund raising items as our society becomes more health conscious . Research what other small businesses are offering and tailor your offer to fit your line of products.

 

Marketing Your Dreams, Handmade Soap and More!!

Pat Williams wrote this amazing book, Marketing Your Dreams, about the life and inspiration of Bill Veeck Before the current crop of marketing mavens there was the unlikely story of Bill Veeck. He was the managing director of three different major league baseball teams. He used his marketing ingenuity to draw attention to his product in creative and clever ways. Using his model of incongruity you may promote your own handmade products with similar success.

My favorite story is the drawing he had to give away Eskimo Pies. Instead of giving away 1000 pies to the first 1000 entrants to the park he would give away 1000 to one lucky ticket holder and watch the mayhem begin. What would they do with ice cream. They were presented their prize on the field and now had to figure out what to do with all of the boxes. Inevitably they would start giving the ice cream away before it all melted. What a memorable event for all those attending. Seth Godin might even call it remarkable. Make your soap business just as remarkable.

Three Hardest Soap Making Business Issues

Great video by Curtis Stone about his take on what the three hardest issues for running a small urban farm. These are some of the same issues I have been harping about for several years. I believe that they are not particular to any small business by you will find they are common for most of us choosing the entrepreneurial path.

 

1. Marketing your small business

Spend 50% of your working day implementing your marketing strategy. You can out-source this but it is expensive for start-ups that are cash strapped. I recommend Dan Thies for long term sustainable solutions https://twitter.com/danthies?lang=en

2. Accounting for your small business.

Hire a book-keeper.

3. Staffing your small business.

Use a payroll service.

Free Soap, Cookies and Cars

We have been recommending to all of our soap re-sellers to give away soap samples for years now. I was reading an article about a baker/businessman from France who wanted to expand his cookie business into the US. One of his strategies was to give away over one million cookies as samples on the streets of NYC to create a buzz about his products. The launch was a huge success.

yellowbombs

This got me thinking, how large an item would you give away to get free publicity for your cause or business endeavor. I Googled the specific term “free car” in quotes and got back over one million results. The idea of giving away valuable products to grow your business is a powerful part of any marketing strategy. Especially for an item like soap, where a tactile, visceral response can garner your business an immediate and then repeat customer.