Shirley James of Ormond Beach, Florida writes:
“A partner and I have developed an activity-based trading card for tween girls (ages 7-12) called, UgoGrl at http://www.ugogrl.com/. The cards encourage them to become physically active, mentally challenged, creatively inspired, and socially responsible. This is accomplished across six catgories of real-life fun. Each card has a tip, suggestion or idea to try.
“Our target market loves them, but the problem is getting them into the marketplace. The major retailers purchase trading cards through a pay-on-scan contract–a situation that requires more capital than we have, and more risk than we are willing to take. We added a shopping cart to our website 18 months ago but the sales have been slow. We need help developing a strategy to educate parents and tween girls about our product.
“Our second product was developed as a means to earn enough capital to advance the UgoGrl Activity Cards. We developed a line of paper air fresheners with artwork from the cards. We have just fulfilled a chain-wide order for Wal-Mart. Our ‘Get Fresh’ Mood Enhancing Air Fresheners are now on the shelves! It has been a huge success for us, but we’re faced with the same problem–how to market them on a shoestring budget.
“Hounds, please help us out! We are two fortysomething stay-at-home moms, each with four kids. We need a home run.”
Shirley,
Try connecting with organizations that promote the same messages as your upbeat, colorful cards for girls. They might be interested in using your product as give-a-ways to promote their own message. Maybe something like Girls Inc. might be one to share your product with. You might also get in touch with the National PTA organization and associations of school counselors and physical educators.
As a mother of two and author of the bilingual picture book for girls, We Are Girls Who Love to Run, I’m open to discussing how we can help one another! I think we share a mission of helping girls reach their potential and discover how physical activity enriches their lives.
Good luck! You go, Moms!
Hello Shirley,
I think your idea is fantastic! I recommend pitching your idea to the Donnie Deutsch program. He loves ideas like yours, especially from self-motivated stay at-home business moms. I can give you a producer to contact…send me an email through my web http://www.lisalockwood.com…all my best!
Lisa
It sounds like you have three problems:
1) money
2) publicity
3) web sales
my question to you is why are you afraid of taking on more risk? at some point (I presume) your goal is to sell a whole mess of cards, which means a whole mess of orders and inventory, etc.
throw away the idea of shoestring budgets forever. who needs ’em?
to solve 1)
find a factoring company. take your orders from wal-mart or target, etc., to the company and once they see you have a large order, they give you the capital you need to fill it (technically they buy your receivables, not loan it to you), and out comes a percentage for their troubles.
or
rewrite the business plan and figure out how much money you need to fill these orders for the next year, and ask someone rich for it. there is more money looking for great ideas/companies/products like yours, than there are great entrepreneurs like yourself making it happen. there is a private world of money looking for that 30% ROC. If you don’t know what ROC means, look it up on wikipedia! it’ll make you rich.
2) find a partner, a huge company whose products complement yours, and ride their coattails. again, they are looking for the next big thing, and you just may have it.
3) web is only one channel of sales. open others.
summer is coming, contact summer program leaders, camps etc. and also teachers of 3rd-5th grades. They might be interested in using your program for their summer sessions.
Hi Shirley-
Cute idea. I have a few ‘shoestring’ and guerilla marketing ideas for you:
(1) Try partnering with a company that sells a self-esteem based game, software program or book geared toward your target group. See if they would be willing to offer some kind of coupon and maybe build your trading cards into their price. So every time one of their products is sold, you get a sale as well. You can pay them their reseller commission and keep the difference.
(2) Contact some camps and conferences geared towards girls/women/parents or even socialization, quality of life well-being and other related themes. See if one- they would be interested in purchasing the cards and giving them away in a thank you bag and/or two- if you could speak there or host a workshop on tween and self-esteem (you will have to get creative with your speaking topics).
(3) Mom’s groups, community centers and after-school programs in your county/state may be a good way to put up a little stand where people can take a flyer or card.
(4) Don’t be afraid to contact schools. See if the schools might want to send home a note to parents. Or contact the school system and see if they would be willing to send out the notification on your behalf.
(5) Child Therapists/Children’s doctor offices- See if you can find a directory and ask them if they might be willing to do some distribution for you.
Hope this is enough to get you started and trigger some more ideas.
Good luck.
Shonika
Start blogging about, and create list of the exact situation that you really want! This is a perfect time for you to make your mark and to attract the perfect investors if you want to go the traditional route, or just re-invent it and do it HOW IT WORKS for you!!!!
Women are the most profilic bloggers online and I am sure they all want to make their girls even happier, I would start chatting about being mompreneurs, and you could even see how some of these ladies would like to invest in your cards, I think it’s a truly wonderful idea and much needed!
Create your own culture and I would find some girls of your target audience to start a little group in return for something they love, and then get them to blog, facebook and put stuff on Myspace for you! With a bit of supervision where necessary. I mean given that they are your target audience, you could even part with a bit of the company to them, which I am sure they would love as would their parents.
So, I’d get the Secret, or ‘Ask and It’s Given,’ to understand the Laws of attraction and get really clear on the situations and the finances etc that you ideally want.
Get blogging to other mums, and consider asking for them to invest in your company, this could even be short-term as long as they see the ROI, I am sure it would work!
Get contacting some of the girls and get them involved, as a kind of support / creative group, to blog, facebook etc. they are your target so are your best possible voice!!
The beauty with the net is that the old style of anything is being blown out of the water. It’s interactive now, it’s peer-voted, so blogs and social media are soooooooooo important as it’s now a two-way conversation online between you and your target market:)
Wonderfully cool idea:)
Namaste,
Carrie Eddins
brainyblondbusiness@gmail.com
“encourage them to become
physically active, mentally challenged, creatively inspired, and
socially responsible.”
These are almost an exact duplicate of the goals of the Girl Scouts (and probably other similar organizations). Maybe explore tie-ins to them.
Try to get your poducts placed beside Scouting items in hobby shops, sports stores, camping/outdoor stores and other places that sell Scouting gear. I can also see your product as a give-away at events and conferences that promote development of girls’ interest in challenging careers. After-school care programs (often run by YMCAs) might be interested too. What about product placements on those preteen shows?
Good luck.
I know my friend’s tween daughter spends a lot of time on the computer. Find out where tweens hang out online and see what opportunities there are to reach them/encourage them get them to promote the cards to each other. As a reference, maybe keep an eye on Webkinz which are also collectible and coveted by this age group.
Also, a general marketing note: There are two parts that need to be addressed when selling a product-features (what it is) and benefits (why do I want it, what does it do for me?).
From what I saw, your site gives examples, has some activity areas, but you’re leaving it to the viewer to infer the benefits. You don’t have to hit them over the head, but don’t assume they know just because the boys do. You said these are a first for girls, so explain why they want to buy them (over other choices they have), and why parents want them to have them.
One way to do this is to add some testimonials, get photos (with permission) of girls playing with the cards or doing the activities (if I missed them I apologize).
I think you should also add a “for parents/teachers” page and include testimonials, stats and facts, and FAQ.
One last thought-approach home school groups as they are always looking for learning/teaching tools.
I wish you the best.
Cheryl Pickett
publishinganswers.com
First of all, I really think the descriptor of the game needs to be changed. While most of it is fine…I don’t want my daughters (or son for that matter)to become “mentally challanged.”
It’s great that they are challenged mentally and the game has the student use her brain, but be careful of the unintended “negative” that appears in the description.
Check with you local Parks & Recreation office or Community Education office to see if they have groups organized for ‘tween girls this summer. Perhaps they would like to have some cards for the girls on those days when it rains or an activity is cancelled.
I had a difficult time finding any “real” information about your company on your website. I finally found something the media did, which caused me several more clicks. And I couldn’t get the whole thing up on the screen. I would suggest that on your website that you put on “About Us” your story of how you came about developing this product. Your story should be unique and if well-written, it will be great advertising. The public loves reading about how someone came up with the idea to create a product.
Hmmm–nobody has suggested partnering with schools and offering the cards as a fundraiser. The schools become your reseller network and take the retailer commission.
Shel Horowitz, author of five marketing books including Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First