My Newest Best Friend in Marketing

July hasn't been the most productive month of 2010 for my candle business. I got distracted by a new project of mine... poetry. At least once a week I post a new silly rhyme to my blog about something I saw on the internet or TV, in magazines, or better yet, in real life. Once I had my first 5 or so poems, I decided to send one to my favorite local newsletter, edhat.com. They send out a free newsletter every day with links to pertinent news, questions & comments from readers, event photos... all kinds of fun stuff that (for me) makes it feel like the new millenium version of a little old town meeting. And, ever since I sent my first blog link, edhat has been sharing my poems with their readers each Sunday. Thanks to blogger stats, I know that quite a few people have clicked through to Rhyme Me a Smile from edhat links.

This week I decided to finally getting around to sending out those prizes I displayed in my last blog post. I had intended one for edhat and one for someone else, but in the end decided to offer both to my new best friend in marketing. This week's newsletter already has a fantastic free ticket opportunity, but soon you shall see Homemade by Hoyt products being given away. It has turned out to be an even better marketing strategy than I expected. In exchange for the prize donations, edhat made me an advertisement for free and posted it to their website. It popped up earlier today at the top of the browser page while I was trying to figure out why the sheriff's hellicopter was flying around the Noleta neighborhood. It was pretty exciting to get answers to my breaking news question and see my brand new personal advertisement simultaneously! If you live in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, or Ventura Counties, I highly recommend signing up for your local edhat newsletter and advertising through them if you are a business owner. If you don't live in the area... well, start searching for your best friend in marketing. He's out there.

Today's Forecast: Scattered Creativity

If someone had read me a forecast on how much progress I would make in June for the various "to do's" I have planned for Homemade by Hoyt... it would have predicted scattered creativity. I have made progress on a few ideas, but nothing has truly been completed. Thankfully, I did complete the candle inventory, so I was able to place it back in storage instead of having it spewn all over my only table / work surface.

The first thing I have been working on is... I plan to offer up gift sets of my products to two entities that have giveaways in my community. I'm not really sure how they choose the prizes they currently offer but think there is a good chance they would be interested in my handmade crafts... and I wouldn't mind getting my name a little exposure in front of their "customers". I know I'm being vague, but I don't want to reveal the complete details of my idea yet. However... hopefully, sometime in the near future, two lucky someones in the greater Santa Barbara area will win the two gift sets shown here. Both contain sage green colored, tibetan black tea scented candles and a bar or two of my vegan hemp soap. It definitely wouldn't be the largest prize either place has given away, but it could be one of the most unique.

Tonight I started a different project... going through all the magazines and other stuff I have stacked around the house and picking out what I want to save for collaging onto recycled jar candles. Things have definiely piled up since I last did any decopaging... and maybe I'll do more soon. I could use a bit more inventory online and my tub of jars is overflowing! If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is... of course, that won't help the July "forecast" be any more focused than June, but any progress is good, right?