I've posted an article with suggestions for preparing your "entry form" (a simple business plan) for the "Marketer Most Likely To Sell The Most Perfume" contest. You can find the article here.
I have now posted an example of a simple marketing plan, in the style of an entry form, for the "Marketer Most Likely To Sell The Most Perfume" contest here. Take a look at it. It should make the requirements of the contest crystal clear.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Contest Update # 4
Contest to find the "Marketer Most Likely To Sell The Most Perfume"
Contest Details Register
Contest ends October 31, 2014
Contest ends October 31, 2014
Do you have a natural market?
The fastest way to start making money selling perfume is to sell to your natural market -- if you have one. Not everybody does, and what to do about that is a topic for another day, but today let's consider what I call a "natural market."
A natural market is a following you already have, a ready made market for your perfume. The most logical market is existing customers who have bought something from you, especially if they are looking to you for additional products.
Now we are talking about you selling perfume, for the first time, so these existing customers are NOT people who have ever bought a fragrance from you. But perhaps you design clothing or jewelry. Perhaps you already have your own line of cosmetics which is not at all difficult to develop as many private label vendors can help you. (Perfume is a different story.) Fashion, jewelery, and cosmetics buyers are all naturals for "your" perfume if they are already enthusiastic about your brand.
But with a bit of creativity in your presentation you can sell perfume or cologne to other types of customers if they are sold on your brand. Follow the new fragrance launches in trade magazines and you'll quickly notice that all sorts of product categories have spawned perfumes. Think of Hummer, the car, and then Hummer, the fragrance for the car. Nike, a shoe company, has its fragrances, Gap has theirs. A very wide range of consumer goods marketers have launched fragrances. The only real limitation is developing a creative link -- a hook to connect your existing customer franchise with your new perfume.
If you are a musician with fans, giving live performances, why not sell fans "your signature fragrance?" Market it to them when your performance has them enchanted.
And don't forget how stockbrokers and insurance salespeople make their first sales. Their trainers teach them to sell to friends and relatives to begin generating both commissions and leads. Then it's friends of friends, friends of relatives and so on, always asking for referrals from the people they just sold. Sure, it's a slow and difficult way to get going but you learn a lot from face to face selling. And when you've sold enough bottles to have gotten enough feedback and testimonials, you can begin to take your story to retailers.
These are just a few possibilities you might explore.
A natural market is a following you already have, a ready made market for your perfume. The most logical market is existing customers who have bought something from you, especially if they are looking to you for additional products.
Now we are talking about you selling perfume, for the first time, so these existing customers are NOT people who have ever bought a fragrance from you. But perhaps you design clothing or jewelry. Perhaps you already have your own line of cosmetics which is not at all difficult to develop as many private label vendors can help you. (Perfume is a different story.) Fashion, jewelery, and cosmetics buyers are all naturals for "your" perfume if they are already enthusiastic about your brand.
But with a bit of creativity in your presentation you can sell perfume or cologne to other types of customers if they are sold on your brand. Follow the new fragrance launches in trade magazines and you'll quickly notice that all sorts of product categories have spawned perfumes. Think of Hummer, the car, and then Hummer, the fragrance for the car. Nike, a shoe company, has its fragrances, Gap has theirs. A very wide range of consumer goods marketers have launched fragrances. The only real limitation is developing a creative link -- a hook to connect your existing customer franchise with your new perfume.
If you are a musician with fans, giving live performances, why not sell fans "your signature fragrance?" Market it to them when your performance has them enchanted.
And don't forget how stockbrokers and insurance salespeople make their first sales. Their trainers teach them to sell to friends and relatives to begin generating both commissions and leads. Then it's friends of friends, friends of relatives and so on, always asking for referrals from the people they just sold. Sure, it's a slow and difficult way to get going but you learn a lot from face to face selling. And when you've sold enough bottles to have gotten enough feedback and testimonials, you can begin to take your story to retailers.
These are just a few possibilities you might explore.
Don't forget -- you can learn a lot by participating on our "Marketer Most Likely To Sell The Most Perfume" contest. It costs nothing to participate. You have nothing to lose.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Contest Update #3
Contest to find the "Marketer Most Likely To Sell The Most Perfume"
How much perfume must you (think) you can sell to win?
To be a winner in the "Marketer Most Likely To Sell The Most Perfume Contest" you have to demonstrate, through a simple marketing plan, a strong probability that you really can sell perfume, as per your marketing plan.
But how much perfume do I expect you to be able to sell? The number is important for planning purposes as a strategy to sell a few dozen or a few hundred bottles of perfume will be quite a different than a strategy for the sale of tens of thousands.
The number here is... a few dozen or possibly a few hundred -- possibly even a thousand or more bottles. But, in my original planning for this promotion, I was looking for someone that might be able to sell seventy six (76) bottles for $20 or more each.
For me, after giving the marketer six bottles free and then having them sell seventy bottles -- which I would sell to them at $10 each -- I would come out with a small but comfortable profit. You could think of this as a small deal.
But -- thinking bigger -- if a number of people went out and started selling one of my fragrances (each with their own name and artwork on it), my "small" deal would become a bigger deal. And if one out of ten marketers started to really make sales, all would to go nicely for both of us.
I have seen too many people try to sell perfume with unrealistic plans and, in the process, spend money to produce more bottles of perfume than they would ever be able to sell. When a deal is successful it's easy to gear up production. But when you sell five hundred bottles, which could be very profitable for you, and have paid to produce 10,000 bottles, you now have a big loss where you should have reaped a profit.
So the marketing plan I'm looking for in this contest is for a realistic program that really can sell those first seventy six bottles. And if you really can sell more, that's great. But my focus will be on your strategy for selling those first dozen, or hundred, or perhaps thousand bottles.
You can see the bottles for yourself in this YouTube video.
For contest updates, follow this blog -- or follow me on Twitter.
Contest ends October 31, 2014.
Contest details here.
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Contest Update #2
Contest to find "The Marketer Most Likely To Sell The Most Perfume"
Contest ends October 31, 2014
The Prize
The prize for the winner of this contest is six bottles of a perfume I have created but with the winner's chosen name and brand on the bottles. There can be more than one winner (I'm hoping there will be!) and all winners will receive the same prize -- six bottles of perfume with their chosen name and artwork on them.
The purpose of the contest is, for me, to find people who can sell perfume -- my perfume but under their name. Even if you would prefer to sell your own perfume this contest can be good experience for you. It costs nothing to enter and you have nothing to lose.
But today let's talk about the prize and, in particular, what it might sell for and what additional bottles will cost you, should you enter and win.
The bottle I'll be using holds one fluid ounce of perfume -- that's about 29 ml.
The bottle itself is "sprinkler neck" meaning that fragrance is splashed rather than sprayed. The bottle was produced in Italy by Baralan, a leading Italian producer of glassware for the fragrance and cosmetics industry.
No box accompanies the bottle. The reason for this is economic. The produce a box -- for six bottles -- would involve printing more than 1,000 custom boxes at a cost of around $1 or more each. If you win and you want a box, I can guide you to a packaging company that can produce it for you if you're willing to pay the price.
As to pricing, I suggest a retail price of not less than $20 but possibly going up to $35 or more, depending on the effectiveness of your sales presentation.
The fragrance itself can easily support a price of $35 or more. But my price to the contest winner after the first six bottles have been sold or committed will not exceed $10 plus shipping. In short, if you can get more than $20 for a bottle, that "extra" money will be yours, not mine.
(A historical note -- I originally purchased these bottles for another promotion in which we sold more than 1,000 bottles at $26.95 each.)
You can see the bottles for yourself in this YouTube video.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Contest Update #1
Do you want to sell your own perfume?
Have you ever tried to write a marketing plan for a perfume, laying it all out in writing how you would sell it?
If you want a good challenge that will cost you no money but will help you understand what is involved in marketing a perfume, take a flier at our "Marketer Most Likely To Sell The Most Perfume" contest. The prize for winners -- and hopefully there will be more than one -- is six bottles of perfume, one of my own creations, but with your name and artwork on the bottle. Sell them and the money is yours. Sell them and, if you want to sell more, you can have more and the price will be right.
So what do you have to do to win this prize? First you have to register for the contest. This costs you nothing and it lets me give you "hints" on how you can be a winner.
Then comes the hard part. You have to prepare a simple marketing plan. That means you have to give the project thought, creativity, and reality because the winner or winners will be the ones who prepare marketing plans which, in my judgment, they really have the ability to execute.
If you're a winner you get perfume -- to start your own business.
If you enter and don't win, you get the valuable experience of preparing a realistic marketing plan for a perfume of your own -- with some personal coaching from me.
This is a great opportunity.
For contest updates, follow this blog -- or follow me on Twitter.
Contest ends October 31, 2014.
Contest details here.
Have you ever tried to write a marketing plan for a perfume, laying it all out in writing how you would sell it?
If you want a good challenge that will cost you no money but will help you understand what is involved in marketing a perfume, take a flier at our "Marketer Most Likely To Sell The Most Perfume" contest. The prize for winners -- and hopefully there will be more than one -- is six bottles of perfume, one of my own creations, but with your name and artwork on the bottle. Sell them and the money is yours. Sell them and, if you want to sell more, you can have more and the price will be right.
So what do you have to do to win this prize? First you have to register for the contest. This costs you nothing and it lets me give you "hints" on how you can be a winner.
Then comes the hard part. You have to prepare a simple marketing plan. That means you have to give the project thought, creativity, and reality because the winner or winners will be the ones who prepare marketing plans which, in my judgment, they really have the ability to execute.
If you're a winner you get perfume -- to start your own business.
If you enter and don't win, you get the valuable experience of preparing a realistic marketing plan for a perfume of your own -- with some personal coaching from me.
This is a great opportunity.
For contest updates, follow this blog -- or follow me on Twitter.
Contest ends October 31, 2014.
Contest details here.
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