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Marketing and Advertising
So you are doing everything right, you have your financial records in order and you have filed for all the appropriate licenses. You have products and a website. But no one is buying anything from your website! What is the problem?? Before you begin, click here for your printable Marketing & Advertising worksheet.
Often a small business can do everything right, but if consumers don’t know your products are out there, they will never have the opportunity to purchase them! We have compiled some tips, tricks and products to help you advertise and market your products to your target audience! The topics we will cover include: Website Design, SEO, Domain Names, Logos & Business Cards, and Advertising.
Diaper Business Start up Guide
So you want to start your own cloth diaper business? Not sure where to start? Diaper Decisions exclusively offers the definitive start up guide, appropriately titled So you want to start your own cloth diaper Business?: A Start-up Guide. The guide includes information that will help you decide if you want to become a manufacturer or a retailer, which diapers offer wholesale options and which diapers offer cottage licenses. You learn about copyrights, trademarks and patents and what that means in the cloth diaper business. You will also find information about what the IRS and your state wants from you! The guide is 36 pages and bound with a plastic comb. Visit the Diaper Decisions store to purchase your guide.
Before you can start any marketing campaign, you have to know who will be your target audience.
The first thing a consumer will notice when they visit your website is the web design. A professional e-store front will go far in inviting customers to look around and stay awhile. Do you know anything about web design? Is it all that complicated? Well, that depends on how well you understand technical language and computer stuff (stuff being a very technical term!) Are you a do-it-yourselfer? Want to learn HTML yourself? Visit here and here for great HTML primers. Don’t want to “DIY”? We love Red Peach Designs. Danielle offers an impressive portfolio chalk full of WAHM websites. She is very familiar with the WAHM community and that really helps when working on your site!
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
You have to stay on top of things….literally. When someone types “cloth diapers” into their google search box, how many results do they get? 704,000!! If your website is not in the first few pages, there is a good chance they will never see it! There are many websites that offer to optimize your website for you. We advocate learning the techniques yourself. Cricket of GNC Web Creations offers a super duper yahoo group-based SEO class.
When purchasing a domain name, most people usually just pick a name and register it. We recommend going a few steps farther. If you plan to be in business for any time at all, you will need to consider registering many versions of your name, for a few reasons. First, you want your customer to find your site, no matter how they misspell your URL. Second, an unknowing WAHM may pick a name similar to yours. Or an unethical WAHM may even try to piggyback on your hard-earned reputation by changing just one letter and registering it as theirs.
For example: www.icecreamcones.com can quickly become:
- www.icecreamconZ.com
- www.iscreamcones.com
- www.icecreamcones.net (or .org, or whatever!)
When at all possible, register the closest misspellings to your site name, and with all the “dots” you can. If a name is already purchased, keep watching for it to expire and then purchase it (if a site is not already up!)
We encourage ethical business practices by all people. Please use caution when choosing your website name. Do not try to use a name that is already in circulation by changing just one letter. This will not help your business. Not only will you potentially lose customers to the other website, but you may be held liable for taking business away from the other website. Please research all potential business names on the internet, with your state's business registration office, and with the trademark office. Be original, even if it takes more time to come up with a name.
Here are a few places that you can buy a domain name.
Australian and International
Canadian
United States
Logos, Business Cards and Templates
Your business logo is the signature of your business and will reflect your business image. The first impression should be a professional image. If you have hired a web designer to design and build your website, check with them about your other graphic needs. Most web designers offer graphic services such as logos saving you the headache of working with multiple people. Once you find someone you trust and work well with, stick with them, and recommend them! Customer service comes at a premium these days and is the one quality you absolutely need when someone is working on your business site and related items.
Business cards are one of the most important advertising tools you have! Professional, well designed business cards will make a lot of difference! Double-sided business cards pack twice the punch. Using powerful words on your cards will encourage action. Another great tool is a magnetic business card. Magnets are often put up on the refrigerator, keeping your business name in the forefront of memory. Most of us are operating on a tight budget and are tempted to take advantage of free business card offers. While these offers seem great, they can often actually be harmful to your business. There are many places that will print business cards for you at an affordable rate. Usually places that print regular business cards will print magnetic business cards too.
If you are on a tight budget, you can print business cards at home. The Diaper Decisions Store offers customized business card templates for your business. Click here for a free tutorial on how to turn your business card into a hang tag!
Okay now that you have your business cards, how do you use them as an effective marketing tool? Are there any certain rules of etiquette you need to follow when handing out your business cards?
Photo Services
Your pictures are worth more than a thousand words, they are worth everything!! If you do not have clear professional quality pictures on your website, your potential customers will try to find a site that does. A small size for easy downloading is vital! Many consumers are still using dial-up internet. Your potential customers will not wait for long download times. Having a digital camera is great, but you need to find software that allows you to modify your pictures. Sometimes having software is just a frustrating as not having it, because it’s on your computer but you just do not know what it can do and how to do it! Spend some time learning about your software to utilize what you have!
This link is for Adobe Photoshop, but this site has tutorials about every program you could want. Click around a bit and be amazed!
Some auction templates and auction sites require that your pictures be hosted on the internet to use them in your listing. Here are a few places that will host your pictures for you. Most of these are free to use.
United States
Advertising
Whew, this is a biggie! Where should you advertise? How much should you spend? This really is a personal decision based on where you want your business to go and how fast you want it to get there. The fact is, if people don’t know who you are, what you do, and how to get what you have, you won’t have business. Striking a balance with online advertising and more traditional forms of advertising can be tricky. Bigger isn’t always better in terms of how much something costs. Think about how many people will see your advertising. When you are first starting out you want to expose your business as much as possible for as little as possible. The following links are advertising possibilities.
Press Releases and Media Kits
A press release is a great way to let your local area know about you, your business and cloth diapers! How do you write a great press release? Where should you send your press release? What is a media kit?
Don’t have the time to write your press release or create your media kit? Let Diaper Decisions do it for you! Visit the Diaper Decisions store for more information.
Brochures and Flyers
Brochures and flyers are an inexpensive way to gain exposure in your local community. Pull tab flyers are great to hang in daycare centers, mail rooms and laundry mats. General info brochures can be left in bathrooms, parks and museums. You can approach your local pediatricians, OBs, midwives and doulas about leaving brochures in offices and placing them in new parent packets. Diaper Decisions has a variety of fliers and brochures designed to fit any marketing strategy. These products can be printed at home or sent via internet to Office Max for printing, folding and cutting! Please visit our store for more info!
Newspaper Classifieds
US Newspaper List
This is a cool site, with searchable databases by state and cost.
This is a link to military news papers, with advertising information on the front page.
Online Classifieds
This site is all about where Moms should advertise.
Banner Ads
This very affordable service puts YOUR banner on different websites. It is a clean business and will not deal with adult content websites, which is something to look for when deciding where to advertise DIAPERS (yes, the world can be a sick place, but this is the reality of being in the cloth diaper business!) This is a good alternative to advertising on ONE site!
Car Magnets
Put your property to work FOR you! If you drive anywhere, your car can become a billboard!
Yard Signs
If people drive by your home, chances are someone will get curious about the sign in your yard. Check with any neighborhood associations to make sure there are no rules against displaying a sign! You may even be able to put these up at high traffic areas as well!
Wearable Advertising
Tell the world who you are and what you do! Wear a t-shirt, wear a button! Little Earth Angels has designed some great advocacy wear and My Little Buttons has designed some great advocacy buttonsor you can open your own Café Press store and design your own!
Cable Advertising
If you want to leap ahead and try some television advertising, go here. You may want to call your local cable company and ask them about how to get some advertising information!
Diaper Focused Sites
We discourage spending advertising dollars on already established diaper sites. While you may generate some one time sales, most purchases coming from this type of advertising is mostly out of curiosity about your products. We suggest doing link exchanges if you want your information listed on another cloth diaper site, resource or retail. The exception to this is Diaper Pin. Diaper Pin is a review list and can help you gather good feedback about your products and services.
Online Magazines
This site is an extensive list of online magazines. Search for one that interests you and research banner advertising rates!
Spam, Spam, Spam
If you belong to any online chat groups, posting about what you do, as long as it’s not obnoxious and overbearing might just get you customers. Also remember to include your name, website and business information in ALL correspondence electronic AND regular. Write your web information on all outgoing packages, letters, etc...
Phone Books
Make sure your business is listed in your local yellow pages.
DEX
Yellow pages in Australia
SBC Yellow Pages
Yellow Pages in Canada
Also, get listed in online directories.
Microsoft Small Business Directory
Yell.com (UK)
Yellow Pages Online
Don’t forget about your customers once they have purchased from you. Start a monthly newsletter (try Constant Contact) and remind your past customers about your ongoing specials, new sales and great customer service!
