Comments on: Women On Business Roundtable – Hairzing

By: Join the Women On Business Roundtable Discussion and Hairzing :: Women on Business

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:50:12 +0000

[...] join us in a lively discussion going on through the comments in the March Women On Business Roundtable discussion. This month, we’re pooling our experience and expertise to help the women of [...]

By: Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:40:17 +0000

So many great ideas already. I’m going to try to add some different ideas along with some online resources.

Search for blogs that your target audience of consumers is likely to read and approach the bloggers with free samples for them to review or offer in giveaway contests on their blogs. Resources: To learn how to connect with bloggers – http://bizsuccess.kudzu.com/?p=292 and to learn how to find blogs of interest to your audience – http://weblogs.about.com/od/blogreferenceguide/tp/Blog-Search-Engines.htm; http://weblogs.about.com/od/readingblogs/ss/TechnoratiTutor.htm and http://weblogs.about.com/od/readingblogs/qt/BlogHerBlogDir.htm.

Participate in relevant social networks where you key customer and distributor audiences hang out – start by searching for groups in Facebook and LinkedIn. Become active on Blogher.com, Start a MySpace page and a Facebook Fan Page.

Write articles – eHow.com, guest blog posts, Wikipedia, Squidoo, comment on blogs. For all of these free PR efforts that will bury your competition in searches – make sure you do some keyword research (e.g., wordtracker.com) and always use that keyword in your content. Also, always identify yourself online using the same word (e.g., your name, your keyword, Hairzing, or whatever is best for you).

Twitter – a lot!

Trademark your tagline (I like the one mentioned in the comments above – “The Original Hairzing”) which can help position your brand as the industry leader and pioneer. Then use it EVERYWHERE.

Distribute press releases using PRNewswire (hang tight for a discount program for PRNewswire coming up on Women On Business in the coming weeks).

Contact experts and journalists though Profnet.com or HARO (http://www.helpareporter.com/) who might be looking for stories like yours to feature in their work.

Start a YouTube channel – online video traffic is skyrocketing.

Try a virtual blog tour – authors use this successfully and so can you!

Get on a home shopping channel. Resource: https://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2008/may/192754.html

Get people to write reviews of your product on sites like epinions.com and yelp.com, and get on product comparison sites. Resource: http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/ebusinesscolumnist/article199172.html

Get a celebrity endorsement. Less popular celebrities may not cost much. You can also send free samples to celebrities – you never know what might happen. A good way to get contact information for celebrities is: http://www.contactanycelebrity.com/

Get on Oprah – this is the big one. The following link tells you what show topics are coming up. If your story would fit in one of the upcoming topics, send a pitch. Resource: http://www.oprah.com/pluglist.jsp?teamTypeName=TOWS

The key is to flood the market with news, information, stories, and so on about your brand, your business and your product in order to bury the other brand. Don’t attack your competition through negative buzz. Instead, flood the market with the great messages about you. In time, word will spread. Find out where your competitor is hanging out and spreading their news, and make sure you’re there, too with your own messages. Consumers will catch on to the difference.

By: Barbara Weaver Smith

Barbara Weaver Smith — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:14:16 +0000

Great suggestions so far.

Can you align or partner with one or more nonprofit organizations that are nurturing women entrepreneurs around the world? You are a “social venture” organization–blend of profit/social value motives. Nonprofit versions include kiva.org, idealist.org, ahoka.org, Social Venture Network–svn.org — they should know what you are doing and be able to help you promote your business.

Also you might consider establishing a foundation to support your efforts to empower women in developing countries or to direct some resources to an existing organization that supports social ventures.

By: Allison ONeill

Allison ONeill — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:31:25 +0000

I agree with what Bonnie said, just tell your stories as many places as you can. Can you add some kind of ‘fairtrade’ or similar sticker to your packaging. Perhaps you could add something like “the original hairzing” to show people there are imitators of your product. Once people know there are imitators they do try and avoid them.

By: Scarlett de Courcier

Scarlett de Courcier — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:50:49 +0000

I agree with Casey; social networking is an excellent way to spread the word. Perhaps giving out free samples to the first 50 people who reply to your Twitter update, then asking them to review the product on their site, or something similar. Word of mouth is a wonderful way of promoting a brand, be it in the initial stages of setting up a company or after a problem like the one you’ve described.

Facebook fan pages are also good things to have – perhaps people could link to this from a review post to draw more potential customers.

Good luck!

By: Social Networking for Women Entrepreneurs | Business Coaching Blog of Casey Dawes, Small Business Coach

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:51:15 +0000

[...] blog, Women on Business, put out a question for member Hairzing. The gist of the story is that Hairzing has a competitor that is causing them grief by undercutting [...]

By: Casey Dawes

Casey Dawes — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:09:44 +0000

Use social networking — in particular Twitter. Find someone within the company who likes to Twitter and have them be the “face” of the company. Create a company page on Facebook and develop fans. Create a video for You Tube and promote it on Twitter and Facebook. Add a blog to your website. Put links to your Twitter and Facebook IDs on your web page. Your target audience for your product sounds like young women — they are online. Give them the tools they need to become your evangelists.

By: Bonnie Marcus

Bonnie Marcus — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:11:12 +0000

I believe very strongly that you need to consistently tell your own story and not attack the competition. That negative buzz can more often hurt a company’s reputation and often backfires.
I think that Hairzing has a wonderful story to tell and they should get the message out to women everywhere. Not only do they have a great product but the company is educating and supporting women around the world with their product development efforts.
I would suggest doing press releases around this story. Get the word out to all womens political and business organizations.Promote your company as aligned with the mission to foster education and financial independence for women in global communities. Tell the story about how you do not exploit women and what efforts you have made to stay true to your mission. Your product is important as it is the vehicle to support this mission and anyone can support your mission by buying the product…which they will love for a variety of reasons.
I am not sure what your promotional efforts have been in the past, but I would suggest that your story is extremely marketable and your product sales should follow suit.

By: Echo Garrett

Echo Garrett — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:07:27 +0000

More information would be helpful. Sometimes it is just a simple adjustment in current strategy that will open up the market. Education is the key. When potential customers are unaware of your companies value added, you have to make a conscious effort to educate them. What forms of constant communication are you using to transmit your message?