Question Three:
How do you reach your target audience? At the
time I had begun my journey into soap making, we lived in what is
considered an “urban” part of Vermont - sounds oxymoronic to me,
especially being a Vermonter. When my son was only weeks old, I
walked over to the farmer’s market about a block away. I took in that
vendors were farmers growing veggies at home, a salsa maker creating
her product in her home, a baker working part time out of his kitchen
to offer fresh baked goodies on a weekly basis, etc… Local people
offering goods that didn’t travel many miles by truck, train, plane,
or boat. Nine months later, I became a vendor for the same market.
For almost four months I talked to a variety
of people; people asked me questions about my products (soaps and soy
candles at the time), I was offered invitations to shows and festivals
for the autumn season to follow, two chances to be featured in local
stores, and many more sources I’m continuing to sift through and
connecting, once again, with the people I met along the way. Focusing
on the marketing aspect of becoming a small business owner doesn’t
start with an idea and end there; marketing is a continuous cycle,
moving from the small scene of markets, shows, and festivals into the
larger realm of the retail storefront and the Internet markets.
I discovered the importance of these first
three questions when I read a copy of "The Boss of You: Everything a
Woman Needs to Know to Start, Run, and Maintain Her Own Business"
(Bacon, L & Mears, Emira ). I began reading this book when I watched
a close friend, from long distance (Vermont to Texas), open a business
and, within three months, close it due to the economy and the changing
spending habits of America’s consumer. I didn’t want to get in over
my head, apply for loans and/or lines of credit that I wouldn’t be
able to pay off if I didn’t get my business off the ground and make a
positive impact on the local economy. I didn’t want to be left with
the feeling of failure.
I also had to learn to budget for, not a
strong suit of mine, along with investigate purchasing supplies and
materials on a bulk level to reduce costs and keep money in my
account, as opposed to spending it all on additional materials to keep
going and growing. I’m still learning this scope of being a business
owner, bringing my range of securing supplies and materials in
tighter, becoming part of a more local movement to offer
people-friendly, eco-friendly personal-care products which are locally
produced and available.
At the same time I made my first purchase of
materials and supplies, I invested in securing a domain name to create
a website in my spare time; I didn’t have the funding to hire out for
someone or a company to create a site for me, so after looking into
creating my own through the use of web-builder tools, tutorials, and
packages that went with such offers, I made the choice to give it a
try.
I went with a company which I thought, at the time, was the right
choice to work with, as the statement was made: I could build it
myself. The website idea had no connection to my soap making venture
at the time; I was in contemplation as to what I wanted to really use
the site for. Once I made the connection to use the site for my
soap making venture, I began to build, using the tool package that was
available to me; little did I know that would mean having to invest
more money to access those tools, more money spent every three to four
months to maintain what I had created on the site, and additional
funding for each time I would publish what I created and corrected.
Frustration set in for me when I began to see money I had saved go
right out the door, along with my confidence that I could keep going.
I put a temporary hold on adding any more to my site, looking into
other options for promoting my business through the cyber world.
