| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| sally_in_wales |
Marketing that works for a small business?Ok, we all know the DS banner ads are wonderful free advertising opportunities for us small businesses, but when you need to expand a bit further afield, what methods are the most effective and cost efficient?I want to start promoting the plague rats a bit more, and I'm considering an old fashioned paper and envelope style mailout to selected petshops, probably using a dramatically coloured envelope and properly glossy printed one page brochure inside it. I've already been impressed by how many extra orders I've had since recent buyers have posted on their blogs or twitter about their purchases, but welcome though that is, its very much word of mouth and will always be erratic in its effect. Are there any other relatively low cost marketing ideas that tend to bring in results fairly reliably? |
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| marigold |
Press releases and freebies to cat-owner mags, local papers etc. Freebies and posters to vet surgeries? Dedicted "plague rats for cats" sales site with button that people can put on blogs and cat-owner forums? | ||||
| jocorless |
What about sending a couple of plague rats to some of the Cat lover's magazines for them to review - Google shows there are atleast 3 in the UK - Your Cat, The Cat and Catworld
http://www.yourcat.co.uk/index.php http://www.catworld.co.uk/ http://www.cats.org.uk/thecat/about/index.asp |
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| earthyvirgo |
Sally,
If you do go the flyer/leaflet route I'm sure I can get you some lively photos of Elf (our new tabby) playing with his plague rat. He's had a really good go at it and in three weeks, it's only lost one whisker 
This is far to blurred to use for print but shows how much he loves it! 
You'd be more than welcome to use any pics if I get any good shots. I was also showing the rat to a friend yesterday and she commented how much better and bigger they were than the rather pathetic little things they sell in places like Pets World ... it's certainly the only 'toy' that I've known hold a cats interest for more than 5 mins. EV |
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| sally_in_wales |
I've just made a couple of enquiries about having a stand for the plague rats at a big cat show, dunno if they'll get back to me, but its a start.
Lots of good ideas about the magazines etc, will definately follow those up. I've been putting some pics of cats and their rats on the www.plaguerats.co.uk site, I do need to do some better rat photography for the general pages though. I've recently had a pet shop in the states starting to buy them 20 at a time, so thats been really good, if I could find a few more outlets they could really make a difference to the Long Term Plan
EV, would love any print suitable pics at some point, that would be fab thanks |
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| welsh veg grower |
Ah the world of marketing. To be honest you will need to be careful about sending out blanket mailings as they could be a waste of time, going to the wrong addresses, places that have closed down. But if you have a good up to date list it could be worth doing a well structured marketing campaign
Viral marketing could be a good way to go if you have video clips (especially funny ones) of the cats with mr ratty. hope that helps a bit - take EV up on her photos too as some good images can be worth their weight in gold, I should know she has taken some for me for marketing purposes. |
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| TheGrange |
cold calling: find out who the buyer is for retail outlets and approach them, sometimes turning up and not taking no for an answer really does reap rewards.
Contact catteries offer them a freebie in return they push your product? http://www.petproductmarketing.co.uk/pressreleases.php - these guys you contact them with your new product – for press releases http://www.palantir.co.uk/shows.html - this a list of cat shows, many have stalls so you can take your product to your customer base direct 
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| goosey |
What Grange said, also a suggestion for other customers ; how about people who keep rats as pets? Those rats are clean, not plague rats, but their owners might like some of yours Sally. You could make some in black/brown/white, as well as the current colour ?
There must be rat forums, and clubs online, etc . |
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| sally_in_wales |
I'm not sure the plague rat toys would work well for real rats, they'd eat into them so fast then get tipsy on the valerian and spend two days drunk with their tummies in the air  But you are right in as much as when I get round to doing some supporting products, those might very well appeat to rat owners
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| goosey |
Sorry, I misunderstood the product  Thought they were soft toys 
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| Belinda |
With any kind of leaflet or flier, do make sure it has been properly proofread and edited by someone other than the writer, before you have it printed. Preferably have it looked at by someone objective who is not directly involved in the business, because the eye often sees what it expects to be there, not what is actually there. No matter how good your own writing/spelling, it is notoriously difficult to spot your own mistakes in written material, and one error such as a key word omitted or a comic typo, can shred your business credibility no matter how good the product. Very few local printers will pick up this sort of error as it's not usually part of their brief. It's worth investing in, say, one hour's worth of a professional proofreading/editing service to cast an objective eye over your promotional materials.
I'm saying this as someone who is currently studying for the industry-standard proofreading qualification (too many years of having to rewrite other people's teaching materials has taught me that small errors have big consequences....). Small mistakes make all the difference between something that looks professional and communicates well, and something that doesn't; so it's worth a minor investment in order to reap better returns. |
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| sean |
What WVG said. Blanket mailings have an incredibly poor take up unless you offer some sort of ludicrous discount (which you can't afford to underwrite). Stuff on youtube/facebook/twitter/www.ilovemycat.com/whatever all the cat forums are called (and I'm sure there are thousands) will get you more return for less cost and effort. It's also worth trying to get stuff on more generalist sites. More people have bought CDs that I've recommended on downsizer than from my recommendations on more general music sites. |
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| vegplot |
Youtube would be a good starting point and aside from your time it's free. |
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| TheGrange |
following on with this how about facebook or other personal networking sites |
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| Fee |
I'll try and get a video of Tarlia going for it with hers when it gets sunny again, because it's hilarious to watch.
Perhaps a viral campaign for YouTube along the lines of Ninja cat? Might take a few takes 
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| sally_in_wales |
good plan, I'm not very up on video and stuff, but its certainly worth a try
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| Helen_A |
Private Eye classifieds - pretty cheap and the range of their readership is pretty good.
Especially the issues running up to christmas when they do a push on 'gifts'. |
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| tahir |
Getting yourself in mags (articles/interviews) etc will help. | ||||
| OtleyLad |
Best thing that worked for me was a full page write up (with pics of my product - The Vegetable Gardeners Almanac) on a popular, related website (a gardening forum). Included an order code that gave a discount to the buyer.
It was then dead easy for me to track which sales had come from the particular site as they used the discount code. In return the site got £1 for every sale. I got literally hundreds of orders from this (and the forum site got hundreds of £s) and the cost outlay was minimal. I would love to do that again if I could find a related site.... |
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| wellington womble |
Could you do school fetes/fairs/carnivals or demos at big petshops. This will require the use of a friendly cat, who doesn't mind being laughed at a lot, and petted a bit, but could be a real hook. |
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| toggle |
Re: Marketing that works for a small business?
ravelry? the people who I know have used ravelry adds swear they are the best thing since sliced bread and they get a much higher percentage of sales from them than other places. I know there's a bit of a fan-girl thing going on for ravelry, but it seems pretty common for this to be said. target the cat lovers groups etc |
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| sally_in_wales |
Ravelry ads only allow yarn, dyes, needles and patterns etc, finished objects are not allowed on them. I've just started using the ads for patterns, so thats going to be interesting to see if it translates into any sales, but can't put the ratsies on there | ||||
| welsh veg grower |
don't forget if you do any videos or any other marketing to make sure you get your web address on it and people can clearly see the name of the product and how to buy it. | ||||
| alice |
Etsy? Folksy? Though to do well on those it helps to have a blog where you regularly 'shake your booty'.... as it were
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| sally_in_wales |
hmm, best sales so far have come through people twittering about rats thay have bought, maybe I should grit my teeth and get Hagl ( the cat) a twitter wotsit so 'he' can post when a new batch is being made 
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| welsh veg grower |
sounds like a great idea. when you have your twitter name let us all know and we can connect to it. | ||||
| vegplot |
Try and interconnect all of the avenues you use to exploit maximum potential. For instance mention your Youtube link (even if you can't include the url) in your twitter message. e.g. 'Plague rats now on Youtube'.
Might be useful to draw a diagram of your completed and proposed marketing strategies and interlink those so you have some sort of graphical reference to keep track of what you've done and avoid overloading one particualr avenue. |
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| TheGrange |
 not sure if its been mentioned but contact Animal behaviouralist, i don't know how many cats go to them but i recall somewhere that there is a higher predominance that an owner of a dog will also own a cat, so dog trainers etc may be an avenue?
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| marigold |
Obvious point, but make sure you can comfortably keep up with increased demand as you up your advertsing...
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| wellington womble |
Had a rethink about this, our local pets at home is having charity 'family fun day' You need a game, at 50p a go (or something) Pin the flea on the rat? downhill rat-racing? bash-a-rat?) proceeds to charity and lots of leaflets/things with your name on. Would only need a couple of hours stall manning. fetes etc would let you sell stuff - can't imagine pets at home would, but you'd get away with the charity stuff, and marketing, probably. |
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| Nick |
Viral Youtube of a cat. Can't be hard to find a cat being comical.
Then, stick yer website address over it, and release it. Everyone here will pimp it, and you'll take over the world. |
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| sally_in_wales |
plague_rats is now on twitter and already has a following of rat addicts, so thats one small step. Videos next. I've also got an application form for a small stall at the cat equivalent of crufts |