Partnership Marketing
Partner with a local restaurant, office park or other facility to include your herbal soaps in their restrooms. Target organizations most likely to reach your target market. For example, patrons who frequent a restaurant that specializes in organic, raw or natural foods may be more likely to want herbal soap. Or office parks that feature green or eco-friendly businesses are likely to have employees who will consider purchasing herbal, locally made soaps. In addition to supplying the soap for the restrooms, include samples of your soap in the restrooms for people to take home with them. For example, wrap a small sample of soap in cellophane, tie it with a ribbon and attach a business card with information on where people can purchase your soap. Put a basket of the samples in the restroom on display. Consider partnering with local organizations to provide soap during special events such as conferences and festivals.
Social Media Photo Marketing
Use social media marketing to promote your soaps. According to Facebook, photo albums and pictures get 180 percent and 120 percent more engagement than text promotions respectively. Take high quality photos of your soaps to share with others via social media. Use picture-driven social networks like Pinterest or Instagram to promote your soaps. Use unique soap molds and colors during holiday seasons and take pictures of these seasonal soaps to share via social media. For example, soap in the shape of a snowman for winter or a bunny for spring.
Direct Party Marketing
According to the Direct Selling Association, in 2009, U.S.-based direct-sales representatives generated more than $28.3 billion in revenue. This revenue is usually generated one of two ways, either by one-on-one marketing or via party marketing. Parties are hosted in homes or rented spaces where friends and acquaintances gather for about an hour to learn about the products. If the party is hosted in a home, the hostess usually receives free products for having the party. The advantage of hosting a party is you can market to a large group of potential customers at once, collect sales on the spot and meet people who might be interested in hosting an additional party for you.
Online Affiliate Marketing
Set up an affiliate marketing program for your herbal soaps. Affiliate programs allow people who are directly responsible for people purchasing from you to receive a small percentage of sales. Services such as Ejunkie and Linkshare allow you to set up online affiliate programs that keep track of sales and affiliate members. The best candidates for affiliate partnerships are people who are already advocates for your brand, so start with existing customers. Give affiliates simple instructions and sample promotional images or text on how to refer people to your products.