Q: How can we get our products seen with a very small advertising budget?
The Clean Witch Natural Cleaning products
A: As they say, "it depends." It depends on what "small" is.
The difference between a few hundred dollars and a few thousand can be big. Marketing initiatives provide us with a couple of options that have very little cost: public relations events, and direct selling or promotion by you and/or your staff if you have hired one yet.
If you're first concentrating in your local area, door-to-door home drop-off pieces of descriptive literature are certainly a possibility. Also, the post office has a very inexpensive program for home delivery of fliers and such which is called Every Door Direct Mail.
Social media exposure is also a channel for you to explore. There are companies that will manage your media placements, content and postings, regardless of whether you plan to reach the consumer directly or are targeting businesses or retailers for your distribution.
An initial investigation can reveal who your "best customer" might be … or what retail channels are best for your product. Then investigate where those companies are present in the marketplace and meet them there.
Exhibiting at trade shows for cleaning-product users and distributors is a natural, and while there is typically a cost connected with them, they usually aren't prohibitive. Perhaps you can simply register to be an attendee, and then visit other exhibitors and expose them to your product line.
YouTube is a possibility. Posting a brief but informative video could provide exposure, particularly if your product has something special or unique that other suppliers don't provide. Your YouTube video could have its headline call attention to this unique feature.
A useful resource for guidance could be your local business library. Most public libraries have a business section manned by skilled researchers who are only too glad to work with you to find solutions to your questions. Best of success, and we hope our response is helpful.
Michael Hoffman is an adjunct professor of marketing at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business.
