Creating Buzz

You've heard that it's all about the presentation, right? Well, maybe it's not. When I google "Handcrafted Soap" There were over 400,000 results. They say (whoever "they" is) that if your business doesn't come up on the first page you may as well pack it up and go home. There are a lot of soap makers in the world who make a prettier bar of soap than me. So how do I set myself apart? How do I stand out?  I have to create buzz, I have to get people talking about my soap so that they and other people will want to try it. Now that I am all grown up a mature business woman, I find that a lot of my time is spent thinking up ways to create buzz.  "How do you do that?" you might ask. Well, some people blog (eh hem),-"Stupid Duck Soaps". Some people create video tutorials,-" Everyone Can Make Soap, Let Me Show You How (and buy your supplies here)". Some people may even create scandal- "Senator Caught In Yet Another Soapy Scandal" (I'm not really sure this would work).  Another way to make something seem grand is by giving it a fun name. I discovered this when my kids were small. If I was making a "throw everything from the fridge into a casserole" type meal, my family was much more tolerable of it if it had a cool name. To this day my middle daughter still remembers "Cow Pie" fondly. We would even sometimes give naming rights to a particular child for the day, they especially loved that. I believe it grew more out of exasperation than anything. With five children, every night, each one asking, "What's for dinner?" That question started to drive me crazy. When something I can't change starts driving me crazy, I start trying to have some fun with it. So, now to apply what I learned from being a mom to selling to the public, after all, it's not that much different. How do I sell this ugly chocolaty brown soap that reeks of  contains the heady aroma of Patchouli?

I spend some time thinking about who likes this smell, and I come up with the name, "Happy Hippy". People love the name, people who love Patchouli really love the name. They come by my booth, read the name, laugh, pick it up and smell it, their eyes close and they smile remembering a time in the past when that smell was everywhere they went. So I top the experience off by making it from wine from Harbinger Winery. This appeals to my local customers because Harbinger is a local winery. It does not, however solve my problem of setting myself apart in cyber space. So here I am again, how do I create buzz in an online world where there are over 400,000 soap makers and I have an advertising budget that would make most business people laugh hysterically? I blog... and I hope. I hope that people will read what I write and maybe tell their friends about this odd woman who blogs about her life, her art, her soap.... maybe they will share a link or pin a picture on pinterest and maybe, just maybe they will even buy some soap.