Soap
Soap marketing has changed dramatically over the years, with shower gel and liquid soaps having almost replaced the traditional bar of soap at one point. We are now seeing a resurgence of soap bars either serving a luxury role, or providing cosmetic benefits such as clearer skin.
Soap is often given as a gift, or bought as a treat. As with all marketing the trick is to get your product in front of the right people at the right time. Burt's Bees have built a brilliant reputation for providing all natural products including soap; have a look at www.burtsbees.com for some ideas, you can search for soap to make life easier.
Whether you decide to go down the "all natura"¨ route, the "cosmetic" route, or the "cute cute, oh so pretty" route make sure that you are knowledgeable about your product. Being able to explain why your soap is better than the normal chemically based stuff that you buy in the supermarket will give you an edge in terms of personal service. A little research on the Internet will go a long way here; you may want to consider putting a small (A5) fact sheet together for customers who express an interest in what you have to say.
In terms of marketing, you will make more sales on a personal basis than through advertising this kind of product. Some of our ideas for distribution are as follows: -
Party Planning
Craft Fairs
Beauty Exhibitions
Beauty Salons
Website/EBay
Shop
With this kind of product I can't think of an easier way to get started than
by holding a party to show your range of soap to your friends and colleagues.
Keep this small to start with, no more than a dozen people. Make some snacks
and open a bottle of wine or two and show them what youˇ¦ve got. Let them touch,
smell etc and keep a few bowls of water and some towels handy in case your
guests want to test the lathering effect. There is additional information in
our "Finding Customers" pages on www.ideas2earn.com
Craft fairs are great for products like soap; you are likely to meet people with a similar interest, and possible even complimentary product lines. You will also meet people who are just browsing and for whom soap is an inexpensive item to take home. Make sure that you hand out lots of business cards and/or fact sheets which should include your website address and other contact details.
Beauty exhibitions or trade fairs are another place where your Soap will sell well, especially if you have elected to sell the all natural or cosmetic varieties. The price of a stand will depend upon the size of the exhibition, but even if you don't elect to take a stand initially you can take some samples and business cards just in case you get talking to someone who would be interested in you supplying them.
If you are prepared to do some legwork then independent beauty salons can be a great source of sales. Offer to pay for a display stand and some information fact sheets and of course a share of any profits. You can find a list of salons that are local to you in the Yellow pages and may be able to get more information as whether they are independent if they have a website. Dealing with chains will take longer and may prove harder, plus of course free stands and materials will cost a lot more, which may be prohibitive when you are starting out.
Whilst a website is unlikely to generate significant sales (at least initially) it is a useful tool to help establish your credibility, and show off your product range. Make sure that the web address is on your business cards, and any promotional materials that you print. It should be easy to talk about your business with friends and colleagues and drop in that you have a website if they are interested in seeing the range that you carry. On top of this you can link your adverts on EBay back to the website, which again generates some branding and credibility. Your EBay adverts should carry information about why your products are special as well as photographs. Refer back to www.burtsbees.com to see how alluring a bar of soap can sound. Read other promotional materials for soap and try to write something similar.
Opening a shop can be expensive, particularly if you are looking for a position with high foot traffic. For this kind of business though you may be able to do something cheaper by thinking outside of the box. It maybe that you have a farm shop or garden centre in your area, that would rent you a booth to sell your natural soaps from. If this is the case then you can avoid expensive fit out costs and high street rents. Try to come to an agreement with the owner over a suitable trial period and agree on a sensible fixed rent. Having the physical address for your website and marketing materials will give you yet more credibility plus of course by being somewhere that is associated with natural goodness you appeal to the right customer type at the right time. If you cannot persuade this kind of business to sublet you a piece of their retail space then try asking them to carry your range on your behalf, at a sensible mark up of course.
www.Google.com gives 1.3 million hits for soap manufacturers, whilst www.alibaba.com has just under 4,000 soap related product lines. www.globalsources.com also has hundreds of listings.
As an alternative to buying just the cheapest products for this business, think
about some angles that may help you appeal to your customers, for example you
may want to look for soap from countries damaged in the Tsunami, or that are
covered by the ˇ§Fairtradeˇ¨ organisation who ensure that 3rd world suppliers
get paid a fair price for the goods they manufacture (www.faretrade.org.uk).
Another angle might be to buy your supplies locally from hobbyists who make their own soap for example searching on "locally made soap Seattle" gives just under a million hits.
A little research will help you to find product lines that you can charge a premium for, and with a little negotiation you may be able to get some pretty deep discounts by buying in bulk, or promising repeat orders.
This is business that will primarily be about you and how you connect with people in the early days at least. You do not want to compete with the big supermarkets, as they can always undercut the smaller players.
The trick here will be to find a reason for charging a premium that will make your customers feel good, and ideally one where you can appear more knowledgeable than they are.