Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Best Bang For The Buck

Posted by marcus on 12/15/2016 at 3:57 PM ET 250 Points
I have designed a health supplement that uses 21st century delivery methodology to get the supplement's nutrient content directly to the core of your cells without degradation, meaning that you get almost 100% of the value, the goodness, delivered ready for use.

We have some amazing testimonials, a website with a cartoon explainer video, some great content etc. and have it manufactured in the USA to exacting quality standards. It's quite simply a life-changing product.

The big question I have now is how best to market this product on a budget of $3,000 per month in order to get the highest return for the marketing dollar so that we can earn enough to not only keep ourselves gainfully employed, but enough to pump additional dollars into more and more marketing and product development?

In other words, what advertising medium is going to give me the biggest return on dollar input (ROI) and are there any go-to people on the tips of your collective tongues that I need to get in touch with to help me get to where we need to be.

I'm awfully good at designing a great product and getting it to my facility, but insofar as selling it is concerned, not my skill set. If offering advice, can you please cite real life relevant examples of why you believe your advice will work.

Many thanks in advance,
Marcus of Living Spheres
www.livingspheres.com
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 12/15/2016 at 5:55 PM Accepted
    You approached this backward. You are supposed to create the business and marketing plans BEFORE you devote resources toward product development (and production).

    But you are where you are. We faced a very similar situation a few years ago with a specialized supplement. In the end the client realized that the plan should have come first, and they essentially started over. (We worked with them on the plan.)

    The bottom line is that you need to decide what success looks like for you. Then you develop marketing plans to achieve the goal. If those plans cost more than $3,000 a month, you have to either: (a) find more money, or (b) adjust the goals. As the saying goes, there is no free lunch.

    If you really want to try to do this on your own, you probably ought to start by identifying your primary target audience and learning all you can about what they want/need. What do they value? How do they make decisions in your category? Where do they learn about new products? What are they using/doing now to accomplish their objective?

    Because your product is a supplement, you need to be very careful about your claims. Ditto for packaging. Lots of things to consider. Not really ideal to wing it if this is your first foray into marketing. Your website doesn't help because there is waaaay too much copy and no readily apparent clue as to who the target audience is or when/why they might want to use the product. (Difficult, but not impossible, for supplements.)

    Use your $3,000 a month for some good marketing advice up-front.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 12/15/2016 at 7:10 PM Accepted
    The best advertising medium for this kind of product is probably PPC via Google and Facebook.

    But before you invest anything in PPC (and let me preface this by saying you're not going to like this): you're not ready to market this stuff to anyone.

    You may think you are but you're not.

    Here's why:

    Your video is too short and offers no benefits.

    Your testimonials aren't on screen long enough for anyone to read more than the first five words.

    And your content is badly written, vague, and confusing.

    If you move ahead with your plan to spend $3,000 on advertising per month, you'll be bleeding cash from day one. Even if you ignore all the advice that follows, and even if your invest every dime from sales after expenses into more PPC, it's likely you'll run out of both money and credit before you've had the chance to resolve your first 90 to 180 days' worth of wholesale accounts payable.

    First, your site has a serious credibility and message issue.

    You don't tell me up front what your product does. This messages needs to instantly hook me and keep me connected. You need to help people think "Shut up and take my money!"

    At the moment, you're not doing this.

    On one of your pages your headline reads:

    "We Believe Our Liposomes are the Best Available and Here's Why".

    Sadly, what you believe is irrelevant. Your beliefs offer no benefits to potential buyers. None.

    What conditions does your product treat or cure? I've no clue. What major benefits have multiple, independent specialists seen in control groups as a result of using your product? I couldn't tell you because you don't tell me.

    Then there's this from your home page:

    "Contains Glutathione, the master antioxidant, and several other 'miracle' ingredients to provide superior elimination of free radicals and oxidative stress particles, providing enhanced brain health, eye health, cellular health in all regions of the body."

    "Several other 'miracle' ingredients"?

    "Oxidative stress particles"?

    Huh?

    Just one complaint filed with the FTC or the FDA regarding these wild claims and what appear to be wholly substantiated sources and the U.S. Justice Department will be all over you like oily hummus dripped on a cheap suit.

    Your claim in your video that "we get ours" [phosphatidylcholine] from sunflowers is confusing.

    Who "we"? Which "ours"? Do you mean your company? Or human beings? Either way, you're confusing people.

    Start again by rewriting copy such as this:

    "All natural phosphatidylcholine is classified as lecithin, which is a description of purification rather than a material identification. We use natural non-hydrogenated sunflower phosphatidylcholine, derived from non-GMO certified sunflower oil from Europe. It undergoes a several-step solvent-free purification and filtration process to ensure the utmost purity."

    Text like this communicates nothing of value. If prospects feel they'll need a masters in chemistry to read your sales copy, you've failed.

    And as credentialed as Dr. Emek Blair Ph.D. "Leading World Expert on Liposome Technology" is, to comply with FTC material affiliation regulations, you'll probably need to disclose his role with Valimenta, the company I'm presuming you're using to manufacture your product under their private labeling system.

    You may think I'm being mean here, but I'm not. I'm telling you all this to PROTECT YOU.

    Show prospects video interviews with real users.

    Pile evidence on top of evidence that this product does what you say it does.

    Show "as see on" on XYZ TV show testimonials.

    Show a list of independent medical efficacy reviews

    Do EVERYTHING you can to build and reinforce your credibility.

    Then on top of all this, your shopping cart and checkout process lack substance and focus.

    Where are your pre-transactional incentives (discounts on multiple buys)?

    Where is your limited time trial?

    Where are your free samples?

    Where is your post transactional up-sell (more of the same for less? Related products at a discount?)

    Where is your discounted continuity offer?

    Where is your rock-solid, cast-iron, 365 day, total confidence or your money back in full guarantee?

    Where is your social media community of raving fans?

    I know of only one person qualified enough to help you turn all this around. He's one of the top people in the world of online sales. What he doesn't not know about sales funnel creation isn't worth knowing.

    And although he charges $25,000 a day for consultation fees, he's worth every dime. And no, it's not me.

    Fix some of the things outlined above and I'll give you his name and details.

    Again, and to be clear, I want to help you succeed.

    If you do nothing else, if you think I'm completely full of crap and out to shut you down (I'm not), do just one thing for me.

    There are hundreds, probably thousands of "supplement" sites like yours out there and most of them suck donkey balls.

    But the ones that really DO knock it out of the park? They use a formula.

    So, if you ignore everything above, do this:

    Find GREAT sites you like, admire, or think rock and take notes of their whole sales process.

    Become a secret shopper. Analyze everything about them. Everything. Text. images. Videos. Shopping carts. "Buy now" buttons. Upsells. PPC ads. EVERYTHING.

    Go through their whole shopping process, from social media to fulfillment. Order their products. Scrutinize every detail. From PPC ads to the quality and contents of their packing materials and address labels. Learn from their processes at every step, from landing pages to drop shipping, and apply what you learn to your product. Then launch, test, split test again, and tweak as needed, learning at every step.

    Do NOT copy them. Emulate them. Mirror them. Then regroup.

    Merry Christmas.

  • Posted by cookmarketing@gmail. on 12/15/2016 at 7:28 PM Accepted
    Business is hard ain't it...the most important few words to understand...

    It's not what you want to say; it's what they need to hear.

    There is a lot of talent on this site, do your business and yourself a favor - hire some one who knows what they are doing and help you through this
  • Posted by marcus on 12/16/2016 at 1:22 PM Author
    Thanks so much for the great advice. Shoe string startups are never any fun.

    BTW, I am not private labeling, I own the formulation and have a formulation patent pending, so the product is very unique.

    I did hire someone to do some funnel pages for me, and they are completed, but not live as yet. I just have a hard time believing in funnel pages and online marketing. Based on the great info provided here, I probably should just shut up and let them do their jobs! :)

    Also, I did complete an exhaustive business plan prior to running off and building the product. I do have a good sense of who the target audience is - they will be primarily women aged 25 to 60, job holders, more than 1 year of college and living in major cities. Women in this category make up the majority of supplement buyers globally. They also care more about their health and take supplements as a preventative measure, not like guys who just take them to fix stuff :)

    My original business plan called for an extensive radio advertising campaign. I had allocated an initial sum of $65,000 for the campaign launch - a $15,000 10-day blitz trial, and $25,000 per month for the first two months contract period. We believe that the ROI would enhance the ad campaign and allow us to expand it. I planned to engage the same advertising company that put together the ad campaigns for Dr. Black's Texas Superfoods, and another nationally recognized pet supplement brand that this company basically put on the map.

    I also had funds allocated for a professional website design, and yes, $20,000 allocated towards a marketing consultant just to look things over before we set off down the road a ways.

    Unfortunately, the roughly $180,000 I had looked to invest in this startup derailed when my home sale fell through (I was selling one of our homes to fund the venture - we own 2), so I am now only left with $50K, hence the shoe string approach. I could wait until we receive other offers, but this is not a good time to be selling a home and I don't want to wait until the spring or perhaps even summer 2017 to at least get things moving. So, I basically had to do the website myself and limit advertising funding, inventory levels etc. etc.

    Thanks for the great advice, truly appreciate the time and expertise. I'll take it all on board and will apply what I have learned here today. Thank you.

  • Posted on 12/16/2016 at 2:23 PM Moderator
    So what is your goal now that funds are scarce? You need to re-frame the goal and develop a marketing plan that is consistent with the new goal.

    Trying to bite off the original goal with an inadequate budget is almost certainly going to fail, and you'll be out of money before you know what works and what doesn't.
  • Posted on 12/16/2016 at 5:43 PM Moderator
    If this were my product/project I wouldn't launch until (a) I had nailed down specific sales volume and profit goals (by month), and (b) we had a test plan in place so we didn't spend all the money before we knew what was working and what wasn't. (Launch in a small geographic area. Then expand as results point to the elements that are working. Etc.)

    Don't be in such a hurry to launch.

    Worth checking out: MarketingProfs seminar for new businesses, with a How-To Guide: https://www.marketingprofs.com/marketing/online-seminars/110 . Or similar information in the report here: https://bit.ly/SstLq2
  • Posted by marcus on 12/17/2016 at 6:04 PM Author
    Thank you, Michael, for again taking the time to offer sound advice.

    My goal now, that funds are scarce, is to do three things:

    1. Work with a good direct response advertising agency to run radio ads and negotiate a payment method that reduces the upfront impact and backloads the costs once sales are made. I have an appointment with one such agency on Monday to discuss. My family own a local radio station in the Midland Odessa region of West Texas and they have suggested that for an attractive healthcare supplement, they will negotiate. Plus, the family will run an ad campaign in the region at no cost of course.

    2. Open up an Amazon store - I have approval now, so can align Amazon with my funnel pages that offer upselling as mentioned above. I asked my Click Funnel copywriter to help me with the Amazon page after getting your feedback :) Marketing is obviously just not my bag. We'll have that done by the end of next week.

    3. Work with professional copywriter and ad producer, as part of the Click Funnel program, to run targeted Facebook ads on a budget of $100 per day, making adjustments as necessary to zero in on the highest conversion traffic using the click funnels that have been created. I've got enough funds to keep that up for a few months in isolation of sales but, as I mentioned, they will be making specific adjustments along the way to make sure we get the highest possible through traffic.

    After the advice given by you and Gary above as to the need to shred the website (advice well received, I might add), I have decided to direct all traffic to the professionally written Click Funnel pages rather than use the website at all. We'll be redirecting the web addresses to the funnels from middle of next week.

    I have passed on the above feedback to the Click Funnel designer to make sure they are cognizant of the issues you guys raised and take the necessary.

    As for sales targets, this is where I really do struggle. I am finding it very difficult to get any meaningful information on what constitutes a realistic expectation based on the above 3 approaches. I've heard some wild and impossible sounding 'results' using the click funnel methodology. I have no idea what to expect from the Amazon page, but I understand that there are certain things one can do to drive business to the Amazon page, which I'll spend some time learning about over the next few weeks. I also have no clue as to what to expect, if anything, from a Direct Response radio campaign.

    The obvious goal here is to enjoy a healthy return on investment. Peter Burkhard took Doctor Black from $12,000 per month in sales to over $650,000 per month in sales inside 3 months. Now that is a phenomenal result and not in any way typical, but the investment was 38% of sales, so that's only a 2.63% ROI, not exciting when you consider the industry average for the health supplement category is between 6 and 8. That is the ROI I am hoping for, around 6 to 8 for every advertising dollar spent.

    Because the product is so effective, and relies on continual use for maximum benefit, I forecasted a returning customer conversion rate of 70%.

    Based on the above, month one forecast was $18,000 based on an advertising budget of $3,000. Month 2 forecast was $42,500 based on a 70% return customer conversion and advertising budget of $5,000. The budget is currently slated to be spent on targeted Facebook advertising at $100 per day. Obviously we would not expect that level of growth to continue for ever (would be nice), but I imagine that as we make a concerted effort to expand our email lists and market to existing customers and then continue to reach new customers and markets, we will see healthy growth for a while at least?

    We would pour a high percentage of profits back into advertising in order to overcome the initial brand inertia.

    Does this sound in any way realistic to you? The Click Funnel pages have been professionally put together and contain all of the elements that were called for in your initial comments and although the ad budget is not huge, I could front load the 12K reserved for advertising so that we could bring in more initial success (do 6K for 2 months etc). I'd love to know your recommendations when working with such a small and finite budget. Don't be gentle :)

    Many thanks again,
    Marcus
  • Posted by Shelley Ryan on 1/5/2017 at 11:46 AM Moderator
    Hi Everyone,

    I am closing this question since there hasn't been much recent activity.

    Thanks for participating! And a special shout-out to Gary Bloomer for the "oily hummus dripped on a cheap suit."

    Shelley
    MarketingProfs
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