Loading...
Answers
MenuWhat is the best way to market a low cost product online when factoring in the cost of customer acquisition?
We have a great product, an all natural mosquito repellent wipe that actually works. How can we best market the product online? We are finding the cost of acquiring customers via Facebook and Google Ads to be rather expensive as the product is a low cost item (.99 cents per packet).
Answers
I've watched different companies struggle with customer acquisition, and I myself struggled with it. I doesn't matter if its a physical product, a service or an app. Attention costs a lot of money, usually more than we can afford.
Paid acquisition should never be your main driver of new users, it will almost never pay for itself on its own. The only way to create a sustainable business is to have enough organic growth. I would suggest using your marketing budget not on generating direct sales but rather on cultivating channels that can grow organically.
There are many ways you can achieve this. Some tactics that are commonly used: Offer free products in exchange for "honest" reviews (https://www.amazon.com/gp/vine/help).
Find influencers (read people that are active on social media) that might have interest in your product, in your case - outdoor people - hikers, travelers, etc. Send them free samples, ask them to recommend it to their users if they like the product.
Another avenue I would suggest exploring is going to B2B or B2B2C. Camps & resorts for example would be places that probably have interest in product. Reach out to them, send them free samples. Offer them to purchase it, or to sell it in their gift stores.
I would be happy to discuss this further, answer questions and offer more advice.
Good luck,
Ron
You might look for ways to sell bulk to other businesses to include your product as a rider for other products.
Do some research about how Cindy Cashman made millions off selling her blank book "Everything Men Know About Women" by selling pallets of her books to companies to be used as riders.
She's the queen of riders.
You are correct, that item would be way too cheap for FB, but consider running a parallel page/product with a price point that is higher to suit the FB crowd and price model? Bundle in 10-20 wipes to bring the price closer to $10, and then you have room to play. FB target is anything under $30, but trust level for products under $10 is quite low from quite a bit of testing.
Related Questions
-
How can I effectively market my online business to baby boomers / senior citizens?
You have a lot of options to market to boomers and seniors. That age group is facebook's fastest growing segment. Build ads that target that age group and think about having a facebook page to supplement your efforts there. Older people search just like the rest of us as well, so build an adwords campaign around keywords that might align with your product. Contact me if you'd like to chat about some options or need some help building your campaigns. Good luck!Jonathan RundleJR
-
How does my startup hire an affordable marketing expert?
I don't even know how to answer this. Do you know what the difference between McDonalds and the local burger joint that is filing for bankruptcy is? It's marketing. McDonalds is worth billions of dollars not because of the quality of their food, but because of their marketing. Marketing is not an expense. A janitor is an expense. Your computer is an expense. Marketing is an INVESTMENT. Would you shop around for the cheapest heart surgeon? Of course not. Because you would likely end up dead. Why, then, do you shop around for a marketing expert? Are you ok with your company going bankrupt? Is that worth the small savings to you? No. Of course not. Hire someone who is good at marketing. Hire someone who knows what they are doing. Buy yourself a Lamborghini with your profit the first quarter. Get a beach house in hawaii. Grab a yacht. Or, try to find your business the cheapest heart surgeon you can and then spend the next five years wondering why such a solid business idea failed in the first 6 months. I'm passionate about this exact topic because all those statistics you read about "70% of businesses failing in two years" are solely because of horrible marketing.Ali MaadelatAM
-
How can I convince a client to sign up a 12 month SEO contract?
The best way to work around something like this is to map out the long-term strategy in phases. Build out a brief project map that outlines what they will receive within the 1-3 month period, the 4-7 month and the 8-12 month period. Set micro objectives for each period and this will give the client a bit more confidence in the short-term plans as well as the long. The key thing to remember here is that the client will often be worried about being tied into a contract that doesn't deliver results. As a result, you need to show why you need the time that you do. One thing that I often throw in is an extra incentive for longer contract lengths - for example, an extra PR/content campaign or some paid advertising extras. Try to assure them of some shorter term results that you can obtain as 'quick wins' and build their confidence this way - the major targets will always be longer term but if you can demonstrate that there will be progress between then they will be a lot more receptive.Matthew Howells-BarbyMH
-
What are some marketing strategies we can use to reach new customers?
Start with creating your USP (aka Message). This message will be the statement that sums up the reasons for doing business with you from THEIR perspective based on what THEY want (versus why YOU think they should do business with you). It may feature a unique ability your company can provide - some feature or benefit or experience that they either can't get anywhere else or that you do better than anyone else - and I'd strongly suggest it NOT be based on your low pricing. To do this - get very clear about what pain (or problem) your business gets rid of (or solves) and what promise you make to your market. For example: When you say "excellent quality" and "affordable"... what exactly does that mean and why should your market care? -How will they KNOW it's "excellent" (according to them)? And do they want excellent? Maybe they want fast... -What does "quality" mean and how will they know? If you fix my cellphone and it works... How is that qualitatively different from anyone else fixing my phone? Isn't fixed the same as fixed? -What is "affordable"? And affordable for whom? Lastly - When you say "specialize" - and then say cellphone and tablet repair... Does that mean you specialize in ALL cellphones and tablets? Because when you say "cellphones and tablets" it sounds more like you generalize in a type of handheld electronic product. A specialist is an expert in a small area of products or services. Think deep and narrow. For example - You can specialize in repairing a certain brand - Such as "we specialize exclusively in the repair of Samsung cellphones and tablets"... Or you can specialize in the repair of devices running on the Android platform.... (you get the idea) Once you find your USP - use it in all of your inbound and outbound marketing platforms. I wish you the best of luck in your marketing efforts! -DavidDavid BermanDB
-
What should I do to have my first client on Clarity.fm?
I started on Clarity just by answering questions last summer. I used to love Quora but really disagreed with a number of changes they made and so when Clarity launched answers, I started answering questions. I'm incredibly busy but let's face it: we all have extra time. We spend it looking at our phones, on Facebook, socializing with friends, whatever way each person does it, we all spend time on non mission critical stuff. Because I genuinely enjoy helping others, I treated Quora as a way of relaxing the same way others would read news sites or blogs. And so I switched all that time to Clarity by answering questions. I don't recall the exact specifics but by providing real answers (not just, "call me, I can help you), I had my first call request within about a month of my first answer. And I got a nice review. And some more questions answered, and a couple more calls, and a couple more reviews. And from that point, the call volume increased. Simultaneously, I started referring all "can I pick your brain" requests on LinkedIn and email to my Clarity account. And so some calls initiated that way. More reviews. Now, a year later, I have done over 200 calls, with the majority of it inbound from Clarity. Take it from me, if you make the time, and provide genuine help to people, you will get rewarded for it. But like anything in life, if you're not willing to invest the time and resources, you're unlikely to see any return.Tom WilliamsTW
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.
