How does one market a good product?

[eyeontheprize]

These ladies I know make tamales that are just outrageous. They make several recipes and email around 10 people to take orders. They charge $15 a dozen and deliver them, but for the quality it is worth it.

They could do something with this product, but I wonder how.

[NJCher]

1. question

What are "recopies?"


Cher

[eyeontheprize]

3. LOL

Spell check makes me brainless.

We have a language barrier, so this is my interpretation.

-Shredded pork with green chilies and tomatillo

-Red chili with shredded beef.

-Cheese and poblano

-Ground beef with potatoes and carrots.

[Ian David]

2. Who is their targeted audience?

What is their desired result? To get individuals to buy them? To get companies to order them for their employees? To get restaurants to stock them?

You need to answer those two questions before you ask how you will REACH a targeted audience.

[eyeontheprize]

4. Yeah.

This may not be possible. Now they sell them to the people they know, as far as I know they don't have broad aspirations. The thing is that if they clicked with the right people they could have a profitable little business.

[Ian David]

6. If they don't want to get rich, then reverse-engineer them for yourself.

Just don't ask for the recipe, or that's stealing.

[eyeontheprize]

8. Huh.

I'm not creative enough, but accepting the project on their behalf might be a way to go.

[Auggie]

5. When you have the answer let me know

Seriously -- I might start with a news release and send to the local papers. Get P.R. going. Establish a fan page on Facebook. If there's a local radio station give some to the on-air talent. What you're trying to do is create buzz with the limited resources you have. Attend all the local food fairs, donate to food banks (great P.R. there). Establish tie-in partnerships with artisan breweries, wineries, etc. Pass out flyers -- the usual stuff.

[eyeontheprize]

7. Great ideas.

I'll suggest them. They have absolutely no start up money, but some of what you suggest can be done for nothing.

Thanks.

[Auggie]

12. I forgot Farmer's Markets (if you have them in your area)

Good luck. Where are your friends located?

[DontTreadOnMe]

9. you NEED a web site

1. with GOOD photos of the products. If you do not know how to take photos, hire someone to take food product photos.

2. Put all the ingredients, nutritional info, and text all about the product. Don;t have to make the customer email you to ask a question about something. Think of every question you need to answer up front.

3. Include all information on HOW to order the item. This includes delivery options. Total cost.

Having a website like this is YOUR online pamphlet and brochure. You can point anyone to this website, and have business cards that you can hand out with the URL and email and phone number to contact you.


Now here is the part that everyone stumbles on. How do you accept payment on a website?

To take credit card payments online can be VERY expensive, if you go through a bank with a merchant account. Small start-ups can't afford these rates. So the best way is to setup a FREE PayPal account.
PayPal is a division of Ebay, and how most people pay for stuff on Ebay. It is easy to setup an account, but you need to link it to your checking account to become a verified member of PayPal. You want that, your customers will trust your site as being real. PayPal will offer any customer a refund if not satisfied.

Once you have a PayPal account, you can have a one page website, with one product, with a PayPal button to "Order" Very simple.

THe next step is to create a FREE Facebook account, and there you can do "social networking" with friends to help advertise your website and get word of mouth to customers. This small food recipe type business is more successful when you rely on getting "word of mouth" to get orders in the beginning.


If you do not have computer skills, you can hire someone for about $500 to setup your webpage, take the photos of the product and "help" you setup your Facebook account. Now YOU need to be the person who does the Facebook posting and networking. You need to learn how to make friends and post stuff on Facebook. You need to learn this and do it daily to promote the business.

You can get 1000 business cards online for about $15. Hand them out to all friends and post them in local stores... everywhere.


You mentioned that you have 'no startup" money. Well you need something to start. Nothing comes for free. Having a "good recipe" alone will not cut it.


Good Luck.

[eyeontheprize]

10. Thank you.

All wonderful ideas. I'll pass them along.

[The_Commonist]

11. I'll take a dozen of each kind, please!

Do they accept PayPal?
Ship them frozen?
You get the idea...

[eyeontheprize]

13. I'd order them from a

specialty site for twice the price, seriously. Maybe not as often as I get them now, but they are a treat.

No, this is an entirely local venture. They are delivered warm and they only make them one day every other week. Everything you suggest is smart, for this to be a real business they'd have to make them out of a board of health approved kitchen for this to work. Now they work from home. I know they are obsessively clean, so the venue isn't an issue for me, but those damn authorities...

[BobTheSubgenius]

14. I once saw a short documentary about people who had started a business out of their homes.

The story that sticks in my mind was about a guy who was convinced his grandmother's recipe for Russian mustard would sell, so he started making and packaging it in his home.

He had to put in stainless steel counters in his kitchen and a few other health dept. req's, but he managed to get all that done. He started marketing, which included samples to grocery stores, delis and so on. A couple of years later, he was in this documentary and expecting to sell 1,500,000 jars of mustard that year.

It can be done. Best of luck to you all!

[pokercat999]

15. I once worked in a bakery in Melbourne, FL. The owners

started in their garage making Pennsylvania Dutch pastries, bread, cakes and pies. They peddled their goods in their local neighborhoods until the county found out and forced them to close until they got inspected and business licenses. The garage was not zoned for a business so they rented a small commercial space in Eau Gallie, got legal, and soon had lines around the block on Sunday morning. A year or two went by and they had seven local delivery trucks and a wholesale business in Tampa and Miami. Things were going really well but the business failed because the owner could not manage his cash flow. He did all his business in cash right out of his pocket. It was something to see. Every morning the driver salesmen would leave with trucks full of goods and when returning each night the drivers would "cash out". That is they would pay for the wholesale cost of the baked goods, they kept the rest. Pure capitalism at work.

[Name removed]

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