If you are catering to a small market, advertising on a shoestring budget may be the more appropriate option.
Q: Can you tell me how I can advertise my product on a shoestring budget? I can't afford expensive newspaper ads, much less TV or radio plugs. How do I get my educational toy products known by my target buyers? I am based in Southern Visayas and I just want to start from there. Later on, if market trends encourage it, then I'd be more ambitious and go national. But that would be for much, much later.
— C. MADRIGAL, Cebu
A: You don't necessarily have to spend a fortune in advertising, especially if, as you say, you are catering to a small local or regional market.
13 PM Enterprises, who is in a similar product line, never placed expensive print ads or TV/radio commercials. It sponsored campus tournaments instead, using its products both as competition sets and as prizes put up at stake. Later, it went the route of mall tournaments.
In order to spread the costs, it always had a partner, like a school, a school organization, or the mall owner, or another company that similarly wants its products known. This same company had a stroke of good luck when one of its products was picked up by a popular radio show and played on the air everyday for almost a year!
There are many ingenious ways you can make your product known. Some have made word of mouth work. Others have engaged in exchange deals with newspapers, magazines, radio/TV stations. Subdivision-based shops and stores have made good use of moving ads — announcements on the back of pedicabs. If you cater to students, why not place ads in campus newspapers? They cost little, if at all. If you cater to households in your subdivision, you might announce in the village newsletter if you have one.
Direct mail and door-to-door promotion are also advisable if your market is contained. A store owner asked the priest to announce his openings for sales people during mass and effectively advertised his store's opening as well! Try advertising in the classified ads section — the three- to five-liner type. It will hardly cost you and may attract more customers than the pricey display ads. For radio ads, place your spots in off hours for less cost.
Can you sponsor a community event? A basketball competition, a fun run, a singing contest? As the 13 PM manufacturers did, split costs with neighbor-businesses.
At point of purchase, see what works in terms of posters, stand-ups, handouts. Some of your suppliers might help out with these materials. Some may make available display racks you can use.
Look at the competition. How do they package their products? Then look at yours. Do your products stand out on the shelves in the stores where they are sold? Packaging is your products' face to the public. It should be attractive, it should evoke "value for money." The package must, of course, include all your contact numbers so that interested parties can readily reach you.
Hope you can pick up some ideas from this response.
Source: Philstar.com
Q: Can you tell me how I can advertise my product on a shoestring budget? I can't afford expensive newspaper ads, much less TV or radio plugs. How do I get my educational toy products known by my target buyers? I am based in Southern Visayas and I just want to start from there. Later on, if market trends encourage it, then I'd be more ambitious and go national. But that would be for much, much later.
— C. MADRIGAL, Cebu
A: You don't necessarily have to spend a fortune in advertising, especially if, as you say, you are catering to a small local or regional market.
13 PM Enterprises, who is in a similar product line, never placed expensive print ads or TV/radio commercials. It sponsored campus tournaments instead, using its products both as competition sets and as prizes put up at stake. Later, it went the route of mall tournaments.
In order to spread the costs, it always had a partner, like a school, a school organization, or the mall owner, or another company that similarly wants its products known. This same company had a stroke of good luck when one of its products was picked up by a popular radio show and played on the air everyday for almost a year!
There are many ingenious ways you can make your product known. Some have made word of mouth work. Others have engaged in exchange deals with newspapers, magazines, radio/TV stations. Subdivision-based shops and stores have made good use of moving ads — announcements on the back of pedicabs. If you cater to students, why not place ads in campus newspapers? They cost little, if at all. If you cater to households in your subdivision, you might announce in the village newsletter if you have one.
Direct mail and door-to-door promotion are also advisable if your market is contained. A store owner asked the priest to announce his openings for sales people during mass and effectively advertised his store's opening as well! Try advertising in the classified ads section — the three- to five-liner type. It will hardly cost you and may attract more customers than the pricey display ads. For radio ads, place your spots in off hours for less cost.
Can you sponsor a community event? A basketball competition, a fun run, a singing contest? As the 13 PM manufacturers did, split costs with neighbor-businesses.
At point of purchase, see what works in terms of posters, stand-ups, handouts. Some of your suppliers might help out with these materials. Some may make available display racks you can use.
Look at the competition. How do they package their products? Then look at yours. Do your products stand out on the shelves in the stores where they are sold? Packaging is your products' face to the public. It should be attractive, it should evoke "value for money." The package must, of course, include all your contact numbers so that interested parties can readily reach you.
Hope you can pick up some ideas from this response.
Source: Philstar.com
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