Article 21 : Use the Internet To Build and Expand Your Soap Business

This is the last day of our 10-day mini course and we've covered a lot of ground. Here's a recap of the topics that we've discussed:

• Identifying the market for homemade soap
  
  
• Factors that make soap products special in the mind of consumers
  
  
• How to spot trends and apply them to your product
  
  
• Identifying and determining your target market
  
  
• Information you need to create a business plan
  
  
• How to create a unique selling proposition that will make youstand out from the crowd
  
  
• How to determine how much to price your products
  
  
• Communication and trade channels you can use to reach your customers
  
  
• How to offer great customer service

We've covered so much and yet there's still so much more to discuss. If you want to continue to read about the topic of setting up a soap making business, as well as learn the tricks and techniques of making perfectly blended homemade soap, be sure to get a copy of the book "The Super Soap Making Book". This book contains all the information you need to be able to create soap

products and market them successfully.

Now is the best time to get a copy while you can still enjoy a $5.00 discount off the regular price of the book. When you get your copy, you also receive a FREE book called "A Guide To Soap Making 

Essential Oils" which talks about how you can use essential oils to enhance the fragrance of your soap products.

I'm sure you'll agree with me when I say that when it comes to starting something new, having the best sources of information at your fingertips will really make a difference. If you're not sure about this book, you'll be relieved to know that it comes with a 60-day money back guarantee which protects you from spending money on something you don't need. No explanations, no questions - if you don't like the book, just send an email and your purchase gets refunded in full.

This could be the best investment of your soap making career. Learn more about it here:

[your hoplink here]

When it comes to setting up and growing your business, you want to take advantage of inexpensive and effective communication channels to reach out to your customers. And this is precisely what the internet is for. The internet is changing the way we do business. Just take a look at these advantages:

• You can reach a market that goes beyond borders. You can sell internationally.


• Communication is instant and happens in real time, even when you are dealing with somebody halfway across the globe.


• Purchase and payment confirmation also happens instantly.
  
  


• Shipment schedules can be tracked online

In fact, potentially, you can even just set up your business online and make money even if you don't have your products on display in a store somewhere. Your production can take place at home. You limit your spending, but the opportunity for growth is tremendous.

Here are some tips to maximize your presence on the internet:

• Actively participate in forums. Being a good netizen will help you build your credibility and reputation.
  

  
  
• Publish articles. Write articles related to soap making, gift giving, choosing the right kind of soap, etc. In these articles, put a link back to your site for people who would like to learn more.
  

  
  
• Create a mailing list. Get people who are interested in your product to sign up to your mailing list. This will allow you to get in touch with them whenever you have promotions or new products.
  

  
  
• Get a payment gateway for your site. Make it easy for your customers to but from you. Make sure you have payment facilities that they can access to purchase from your site.
  

  
  
• Get affiliates. Affiliates are sort of like freelance sales agents who get a commission for every online sales referral they generate from you. It's a great way to get traffic to your site, and to generate sales.
  

  
  
• Offer live chat. Again, make it easy for your customers to get answers to their questions. Consider the feasibility of allowing a live chat feature on your site.

These are just some of the things you can do. When it comes to the internet, there's a lot of possibilities you can explore to grow and expand your business.

I hope you learned a lot from our 10-day mini course on how to start a soap making business. If you want to learn more, you can always get a copy of, "The Super Soap Making Book", which discusses this topic of setting up a soap business even more. You can learn more about it here:

To learn more !

To your success,

P. S. There's no better time to learn about soap making and starting a soap making business than now. And you can do just that when you get a copy of "The Super Soap Making Book". Here are some of what you will gain from this book:

• Learn expert techniques on how to create perfect batches of soap using various soap making methods


• Learn how to tweak recipes in the book and create your own homemade soap recipes
  


• Safely and confidently handle the chemicals used in soap making


• Be inspired by the various product and packaging ideas discussed in the book
   


• Confidently set up a successful soap making business

Get the full scoop here:

The Super Soap Making Book:
A Beginner’s Guide To Soap Making

To learn more !

NOTE: Picture (s) and content are original and should not be used without permission of the author - Christophe Leroy - aka cleroy61, Copyright 2013, All rights reserved.

All third party products, brands or trademarks listed above are the sole property of their respective owners. No affiliation or endorsement is intended or implied.

Article 20 : Great Service – What A Big Difference It Can Make!

As products become more and more generic, service becomes an important point of differentiation, a critical factor that determines which businesses survive and which ones fail. Even if you're just starting out, deciding to create great customer service from the start can help you gain loyal customers early in the life of your business.

Creating customer loyalty is such an important part of any business. It's a concern for companies big and small, new and old. And that's because businesses nowadays recognize the importance of

creating positive customer experiences in getting their clients to continue to do business and to get referrals to other potential clients.

From the last mini course, you've probably realized how expensive it can be to gain new customers. To make your initial investment work in marketing to new clients, you have to be able to take care

of your customers and generate repeat business and referrals.

So how can you create great service around your product? Here are some tips to get you started:

1. Identify the points at which customers interact with your product. You have to look at your business from the point of view of the customer to experience and evaluate it the way your customers would. At what points do customers interact with your product? Do they see it on the web? Do they order online? Do they go to your store or a partner establishment? Are they the consumers of the product or is it a gift item that's passed on to other people? Map out these interaction points so that you can see where and how adding services can benefit the customer at those points.

2. Solicit customer feedback. Be proactive in getting your client's feedback, both positive and negative. Talk to you customers so you can see opportunities where you can improve your product and service offerings. Get their opinion and ask them why they prefer to do business with you and not with another company.

3. Make it easy for your customers to get in touch with you. Do not limit yourself to a small set of communication channels. Make yourself available through the internet and through the phone. Make it easy for your customers to reach you. Another thing is do not put too many layers in between you and your customers. This will help you stay attuned to the needs of your customers.

4. Empower your staff. Train them on how to take care of your customers. Give them authority to make certain decisions. Make great customer service everybody's responsibility. Cultivate a business environment that encourages everybody in your business to recognize the importance of keeping your customers happy.

5. Identify the needs of lucrative sub segments of your target market and meet them. As you get to know your customers better, you may be able to observe sub segments of your market that are lucrative and that would pay for additional services. Be sure to meet the needs of this sub segment so that you can continue to grow them. For example, if you have overseas or out of state clients who order your soap products, offering assistance in packing and shipping their orders can be a service feature you can offer them.

In our next - and last - lesson, we'll discuss ways you can use the internet to grow your soap business.

Talk to you soon,

P. S. "The Super Soap Making Book" was written with the beginner soap maker and soap entrepreneur in mind. It assumes zero background knowledge and promises to teach you the tricks and techniques that expert soap makers use to create perfect batches of soap. Whether you intend to engage in soap making as a business or as a hobby, this book will be able to offer you invaluable

information to that end.

To know more about this book, visit this site:

The Super Soap Making Book:
A Beginner’s Guide To Soap Making

To learn more !

NOTE: Picture (s) and content are original and should not be used without permission of the author - Christophe Leroy - aka cleroy61, Copyright 2013, All rights reserved.

All third party products, brands or trademarks listed above are the sole property of their respective owners. No affiliation or endorsement is intended or implied.

Article 19 : On The Subject Of Reaching Out To Your Customers...

When you are starting out, every penny you spend in marketing and reaching out to customers should count for something. And that is why it is important to choose well and to evaluate the various communication medium and channels that you use.

One of the most popular media that you can use is the Internet. It is effective and inexpensive to set up. And with sufficient knowledge in internet marketing, you'll be able to get your message across to people who are interested in the product that you are offering.

There are many ways to make use of the Internet. Nowadays, you are limited only by your imagination and by how much you know about the internet. Here's a list of the ways that you can use the Internet to make your product known:

• Create a website


• Leverage on your network of friends by creating an account in the various social networking sites (like Facebook and Multiply)


• Create a seller account in various auction and selling sites (like Ebay)


• Build an affiliate program where you offer a commission to other webmasters who promote and sell your products


• Participate in forums and tell people about your product


• Create articles about your product and post it on various article directories


• Create ads (banner ads, pay per click ads, text ads) and have them posted on relevant sites

Aside from the internet, there are other non-traditional and even trade channels that you can use. You can join trade fairs, weekend bazaars or have your items consigned. You can also organize events such as soap making demonstrations or soap making classes to get the word around. You can negotiate for x-deals with media companies like radio stations or newspapers to plug your product. The nature of these activities is such that you can keep you business at home while trying to build your reputation.

Every time you have marketing activities like the ones mentioned earlier, it is important to always evaluate how effective it is after every event.

Understandably, you may not always expect to immediately turn a profit when you are starting out and just trying to establish yourself.

And so, at this early stage, you may want to define efficacy in terms of how many people you were able to reach or how strongly you were able to deliver your key communication messages. Later on,

when you're more established, you'd want to add another measure - and that would be the sales you generate from that activity or event.

Setting up a business is something that takes a lot of planning. If you want to learn more about this topic and about creating your own unique soap products, be sure to get a copy of "The Super

Soap Making Book". This book will inspire you and train you, so you gain skills you need to create wonderfully unique soaps as well as tips on how to set up a successful soap business. Click on this

link to learn more:

To learn more !

In our next email, we will talk about a very important component of any business - service.

Talk to you soon,

P.S. If you haven't checked out the book yet, now's the best time to do so. It's probably the best investment you'd make towards your goal of creating perfect soap batches and setting up your own successful soap selling business. Order now and take advantage of these amazing offers:

- Enjoy a $5.00 discount off the regular price - time limited offer!

- Get a FREE BOOK "A Guide To Soap Making Essential Oils" and learn how you can personalize your soap products using amazing scent blends.

- You are protected by a 60-day money-back guarantee. Get a copy now. If you don't like it, you can always return it within the guarantee period. If you are not satisfied, you get a full refund and get to keep the book and the bonus product for free!

No need to wait. Click on this link now:

The Super Soap Making Book:
A Beginner’s Guide To Soap Making

To learn more !

NOTE: Picture (s) and content are original and should not be used without permission of the author - Christophe Leroy - aka cleroy61, Copyright 2013, All rights reserved.

All third party products, brands or trademarks listed above are the sole property of their respective owners. No affiliation or endorsement is intended or implied.

Article 18 : Learn How To Price Your Products Competitively - Get The Formula Here!

When determining how to price your products, there are several things you need to consider. Obviously, you want to price it within the range that your target market is willing to spend. You also want to price it good enough to recover your costs and keep a nice profit for your efforts.

Depending on how you plan to market or to sell your product, you may need to have more than just one price for a certain product. You might want to have a retail price and a bulk selling price. You might also want to think about giving a percentage off or a commission to re-sellers and sales agents who are willing to help you promote and sell your products.

Before you can price your item, the first step is to identify your costs.

To identify your costs, you need to list down all the ingredients you need for each bar of soap and put a dollar value to it. And I mean ALL the ingredients - every drop and every ounce.

Once you've accounted for the cost of the ingredients, you need to add a value to the labor costs that went into product creation. That means identifying how much time each person involved in the process spends in creating a bar of soap, and the computing the cost of those minutes or hours.

Next, you need to account for the cost of the packaging material that you will be using for each bar of soap.

Once you have these 3 components of your product cost, you can now compute for your wholesale and retail prices. You can use this formula as a guide and adjust as necessary:

Wholesale Price

[(Cost of ingredients) + (Cost of labor) + (Cost of packaging)] x 2.35 = Wholesale Price

Retail Price

(Wholesale Price) x 2 = Retail Price

If you would like to read more about pricing and marketing strategies that you can apply when setting up your soap business, this book has it - "The Super Soap Making Book". It has what you need to start a soap making business, including information that will teach you all about making unique homemade soap that you can create for fun or for profit. Head on over here to learn more:

The Super Soap Making Book:
A Beginner’s Guide To Soap Making

To learn more !

In our next lesson, we'll talk about ways that you can reach out to your target market - cheaply and effectively.

All the best,

NOTE: Picture (s) and content are original and should not be used without permission of the author - Christophe Leroy - aka cleroy61, Copyright 2013, All rights reserved.

All third party products, brands or trademarks listed above are the sole property of their respective owners. No affiliation or endorsement is intended or implied.

Article 17 : The Secret To Get Your Soap Products Noticed and Stand Out From The Crowd

There are many ways to stand out from the crowd. But having that for a goal is simply not enough. You need to think about being consistent in what you are trying to say about your product while getting your target market's attention.

In the previous emails, we talked about how to identify what your target market likes. And then, we talked about creating key communication messages to communicate the features and benefits of your product as they relate to your target market. 

When figuring out ways to stand out, making sure that they're consistent with your key communication messages will reinforce the position that you want your products to have in the hearts and minds of your target market.

So, what are the ways you can stand out? Here are some ideas:

1. Creating a unique product - creating soaps that are unique in appearance (shapes and colors) can help people take notice of your product.

2. Using signature scents - play with different scents and find a blend that's appealing to your target market

3. Add special properties - your products can also stand out if the have properties that make them special such as curative properties or soothing properties.

4. Packaging - using colorful packaging materials, or unique and unexpected packaging materials will definitely help you catch the attention of your target market.

5. Selling concept - instead of selling by bar, how about selling by weight, or by jar? Or how about creating selling packages?

6. Endorsements - being endorsed by a well-known person will help your product gain recognition fast.

7. Selling location - selling in unexpected places can help your product stand out.

8. Pricing strategy - using price as a way to get attention can be tricky. You don't wan to price too low that it makes it too hard for your to breakeven.

I'll repeat this because it's important. Standing out for the sake of standing out doesn't work unless it's tied to your key communication messages. By having it consistent with your overall message, you'd be able to create a stronger identity for your product in the mind of your target market.

In our next lesson, we'll talk about pricing - how to price your products competitively for wholesale and retail transactions.

Talk to you soon,

P. S. Still not sure about getting "The Super Soap Making Book"? Then this is the best piece of news yet. Did you know that the book comes with a 60-day money back guarantee? From the date of purchase of the book, you have 60 days to review the product and decide for yourself whether it's good or not. If it doesn't meet your expectations, just send an email and you get a full refund. No need to return the book, no need to give an explanation - you get your money back and you get to keep the book, and the bonus book, for free.

Click on this link to learn more about this offer:

The Super Soap Making Book:
A Beginner’s Guide To Soap Making

To learn more !

NOTE: Picture (s) and content are original and should not be used without permission of the author - Christophe Leroy - aka cleroy61, Copyright 2013, All rights reserved.

All third party products, brands or trademarks listed above are the sole property of their respective owners. No affiliation or endorsement is intended or implied.