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SomaVita: A years work on my supplement company [Progress]

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Ben Adams

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Originally posted this in INSIDERS but reposting it so more ppl can see.

It's been almost a year since I read TMF and came up with the idea of starting a supplement company. I believe I started around March.

I have not been working on it full time (i'm a college student and worked over summer) and at first progressed very slowly as I spent months just researching the market, reading threads, reading books like Ca$hvertising, and coming up with ideas and tweaking formulas for my supplement.

I thought i'd give kind of a progress thread to summarize what i've done so far and whatnot. I can say without a doubt that doing this was one of the best decisions of my life i've learned so much about how to start a business and feel infinitely more knowledgeable than when I started. If I had to start all over again and form another business I could get to where I am now in probably 1/4 of the time.

The Vision:
I've always been passionate about optimizing health and hormones. I wrestled in high school and have had an immune disorder and concussions that forced me to be very conscious about my diet. I began experimenting with different supplements to help with lifting probably around 14 (pre workouts, creatine, dest boosters etc..). That moved onto supplements to help my general health and brain health (b12, l-theanine, nootropics, different herbs etc...). I would research supplements for fun and try a bunch to see which ones worked.

Having always known being a 9-5 wage slave wasn't for me, TMF was what finally kicked me into action. I begun brainstorming ideas, narrowed it down to two and I chose the supplement idea.

How my business stands out:
My idea was to fix something currently wrong with the supplement market and create a trustworthy brand. The problem was that supplement companies always seem to not care about the user, delivering them underdosed products made in China, possibly cut with fillers. After I became very knowledgable about supplements, I would almost always create my own stack as opposed to buying an overpriced, underdosed supplement from a major brand. So my vision was to create a supplement line with quality ingredients, full doses, and only use ingredients shown in scientific trials to be effective. I wanted to create a line used for multiple different things (ie: a mood supplement, a nootropic blend, sleep supp, multivitamin, t-booster etc..). These could then be bought in packages together, as well as monthly subscriptions. This is still my vision.

My process:
To start out, I had to choose which supplement to create first, I chose the mood-booster. I spent probably 2 months researching doses, using my own experience as a base of knowledge. I looked into different manufacturers, bought bulk powders of multiple different ingredients, and tested stacks on myself. After a while, I had narrowed down the ingredients and serving size to not compromise on quality or potency.

I knew I wanted to contract the manufacturer after I had already developed everything else, so I went to work on my website. I researched other companies to see their layout, looked through more threads on sales funnels, landing pages, etc.. Ordering a sample order was way too expensive from any manufacturer so I ordered more bulk ingredients, a mortar pestle, scale and capsules to create my own samples to give to my friends and myself.

I got their testimonials, continued to work on my website which was a landing page with an email sign up (I never got anyone sign up), I began writing a few blogposts, and I designed my label and logo. At some point pretty early on I registered for an LLC and purchased a barcode for my label.

I went through many periods where I would feel too scared to continue and not want to spend the $3000 on the first batch of bottles. I thought of every reason in the world about why it wouldn't work and no one would want to buy it. I spent $15 on a google adwords campaign to see my conversion rate in email sign ups, I recieved 0 email signups and this did not help my confidence.

I had been messaging a few forum members who run supp companies who said they thought my site looked good and I shouldn't worry so much, I need to just order the product then figure out how to sell it.

Bare in mind I was and still am 100% confident in the QUALITY of my product, I believe I have the best mood-booster on the market today, as well as the best bang for your buck. I know this as i've tried many mood-boosters to see how they compare, and how I see my friends and customers react to it in amazement of how well it works. A certain group of people mildly enjoy it and then there are a smaller percentage of people that are diehard fans, absolutely love it, i'm a diehard fan of it and I have probably used too many bottles of my own supply than i'd care to admit!

So with the encouragement of some forum members I pulled the trigger. It was a lot of back and forth emailing and getting documents signed and answering questions with the manufacturer. I told them I wanted to order it in sept/oct and it took until mid december to actually recieve the order. I was ecstatic with my label design and ready for some sales. After a lot of procrastinating for 3 weeks as I said I needed to optimize my website and learn how to ship my product (lol) I finally put it up for sale. I knew I wouldn't get any sales without traffic yet, so I begun messaging instagram accounts that had to do with things like yoga and meditation, offering a free bottle in exchange for a review. Only 2 people agreed to it, one ignored my messages after I sent it and the other enjoyed my supplement, but due to her also being a pilot, she said she could not endorse it because she was afraid she may get her license revoked if some of the ingredients may hurt her ability to operate machinery.

Back to square one I continued to update my instagram to try and gain followers organically. I also posted on some blogs trying a little guerilla marketing, I got one traditional sale like that and then I had an idea to begin accepting Nano (a feeless instant cryptocurrency that I had invested in and was active in the community). I got my friend to make a reddit post on behalf of me on the nano reddit and got around 10 sales through nano over the course of a week. I'd finally begun to taste some sales and gain motivation. This Nano sale is how I got my first taste of a positive market reaction from someone that wasn't my friend in real life. Only a week after sending a customer a bottle he emails me asking if he could buy 3 more for his friends and said he's "absolutely in love with this product". That validation was worth its weight in gold, especially considering he was only like my 5th customer that I didn't know irl.

I also had the idea of sending free bottles for youtubers in exchange for reviews. I was really confident in receiving good reviews as this product will sell itself once I get my marketing right, it seriously is that good. I emailed probably 50 youtubers, 12 agreed. This was in late february and out of the 12 I sent it to and sent follow-up emails to, only 2-3 have responded saying they're going to do the video or are working on it. I have a feeling i'll get at least one review from this guy who has 11k subscribers, but probably no others. This should happen soon based on what he said, and having a video review should be a huge bonus to prospective customers if I can advertise the vid on social media and my site.

The last 3 weeks i'd begun researching fb ad campaigns, and ran a few and have been in the process of optimizing them. My cpc has gone down from $1.80 to just under a dollar, although I only have gotten 2 conversions with $50 spent. This is a problem with my site so just the other day I moved most of my product info from the home/landing page to my product page, I may send people from the fb ad straight to my product page as well to increase conversions.

Additionally, a few weeks ago i took a whole day out to visit local businesses and pitch my product. I started with an organic supermarket that I thought was a single location but was actually a chain, so I gave the manager a bottle and she said she would try it and send it to hq if she liked it, but warned me they're going to want a big discount if i were to supply them. I next went to an actual family owned supermarket and the manager loved me and my product. She gave me the forms required to make a deal with them, but it required me have my liability insurance to cover them as well under my policy. I'm only under my manufacturers insurance right now, and extra liability insurance would cost $2k+. Since I only have around $400 in sales and am 3k+ in the hole from manufacturing cost and other expenses i'm not comfortably putting this much more money into it without consistent sales. Although as soon as I hit 2k in sales i'd have no problem using all of it for the liability insurance. I went to two smoke shops after that, the first one wasn't interested atm and the second one is a chain of 8 locations. The manager loved it and she bought a bottle off me on the spot for her personal use actually. I gave her another bottle for the business owner, she said she would contact him to see if they could supply it in all 8 stores. It's been a few weeks, I tried calling the other day and left a message so I may go in again soon to see where I stand.

Moving Forward:
I've learned a lot and taken a lot longer than I should have due to procrastination and fear to get where I am now. My marketing skills are definitely what's holding me back and I still 100% believe that with the amount of value my product provides for the price will allow it to sell itself once I hit a certain critical mass, so it's just a matter of conveying this information better.

I recently got an ig ad made on fiverr that looks really good for a giveaway I am planning on having for 10 bottles. Not sure if i want to wait until I have more sales for this though as it is kind of expensive in that I have to pay for rafflecopter, give away product and lose shipping money, spend money advertising etcc...

Ig influencer: Am still looking for a good ig influencer, may have to shell out the $100 for one of those services that puts me into contact with one

video content: hoping for this review to come in soon, I am also planning on videoing my friend reviewing it as well this weekend

fb ads: I'll continue to run the $5/day ad to see if my website changes I made yesterday will allow my ads to be profitable

Local sales channels: I plan on checking in with that smoke shop, and doing the deal with the supermarket once I get more revenue to buy the insurance. Additionally I am thinking of becoming a vendor at the farmer's market, i'd like to make some sort of pamphlet first though to have at my stand, and perhaps find out a way to give out a free samples (not sure if i could just legally put the pills in little bags and hand them out as they wouldn't have label info or warnings)

Other than that my vision is still having a whole line of supplements, I just need to make enough sales to invest in the production of more.

here's my site, any constructive criticism is welcome, home page still needs to be changed to be more about my brands mission vs my specific supp i'm selling

www.somavitasupplements.com

ig: SomaVita LLC (@somavita_supplements) • Instagram photos and videos

fb: SomaVita

Overall, this experience has been amazing and I can't believe i'm lucky enough to be in the position to create something like this by having free time outside of school and having enough money saved up to start it. Actually the month before I started I raised $1000 from watching garyvee's flip challenge, I spent a whole month flipping game consoles it was super fun. Everytime I take action and overcome an obstacle that has been in the back of my mind it feels like i'm a warrior conquering a monster, i'm slowly developing my soul and growing as a person. These mini victories come after slumps of laziness, stress and doubt. I'm pretty used to these by now so whenever I have those negative emotions I know that all I have to do is keep on working at it and i'll eventually figure something out. If i were to never sell another bottle again I would still be very grateful for this experience and attempt my next venture with vigor. I seriously hope this is not the case though and it will take a lot for me to give up on this venture, I am in love with it.

Side note: This past month I wrote an affirmation on my wall about providing value to the world and having confidence that my business and investments will make me millions. I feel somehow it has actually helped as i've been so productive this month.

Big thanks to MJ and this forum for being an invaluable resource of information, motivation and connections. I will try to update this thread on my progress if anyone is interested in at, as it'll probably help keep me accountable and procrastination is my worst weakness.
 
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Ben Adams

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Recently joined a bunch of fb groups and have been experimenting with posting on them for free advertising. Got banned for a few days for spamming but it's been getting me a good amt of traffic for free.
 

MoneyDoc

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Hey man, one of my brands is also in the supplement space. We both know that this is a crazy competitive industry but very lucrative. We also both know labeling and branding is SUPER important.

To be as nice as possible, I don't "dig" your label. Back in the day when I saw supplements with labels like these paired with a white bottle, I automatically thought "cheap". The text, the logo placement, the color choice, just doesn't give off a "I need to try that" vibe. Try going for a more modern look. Very simple. Very clean. Very powerful.

@Walter Hay has a great book on the power of labeling.

Just my 2 cents.
 
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MoreVolume

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Hey man, one of my brands is also in the supplement space. We both know that this is a crazy competitive industry but very lucrative. We also both know labeling and branding is SUPER important.

To be as nice as possible, I don't "dig" your label. Back in the day when I saw supplements with labels like these paired with a white bottle, I automatically thought "cheap". The text, the logo placement, the color choice, just doesn't give off a "I need to try that" vibe. Try going for a more modern look. Very simple. Very clean. Very powerful.

@Walter Hay has a great book on the power of labeling.

Just my 2 cents.
His product has already made its way into stores so obviously someone likes it lol
 

Walter Hay

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Your label design is acting primarily as a differentiator, but should be a sales medium. It looks pretty, but doesn't get a great message across. Labels should sell the product.

Choice of blue for label and site is spot on, and fits with the research I quote in my labeling book. Here is how I sum up blue in Chapter 10:
"BLUE: The preferred color of men. It’s associated with peace, water, tranquility, and reliability. Blue provides a sense of security, curbs appetite, and stimulates productivity. The most common color used by conservative brands looking to promote trust in their products."

It is worth noting that blue also has a strong appeal for women.

You do find critical and sometimes helpful comments on the forum, but ideally you need discussion with people you can trust, and who won't just say what they think you want them to say.

Never rely on Spell Check software. If you write your own copy, have it checked by someone else. There are mistakes in your very important disclaimer box. If you read it I doubt that you will pick them up so here they are:

All statements by SOMAVITA LLC and regarding ElevatePlus have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Any advice or claims on this website is not medical advice has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with your physician before taking this or any dietary supplement. ElevatePlus is not meant for children under the age of 21, pregnant or nursing mothers, or anyone with a known medical condition. There is no guarantee of specific results and results can vary.

Words in red:

and delete. is should read are. has should read have. children should read children or any person. (This last point is subjective opinion and you might prefer to leave it as is.)


I would prefer a more precise wording where you have is, and what I would use is "does not constitute"

I hope this is helpful.

Walter
 

Ben Adams

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Your label design is acting primarily as a differentiator, but should be a sales medium. It looks pretty, but doesn't get a great message across. Labels should sell the product.

Choice of blue for label and site is spot on, and fits with the research I quote in my labeling book. Here is how I sum up blue in Chapter 10:
"BLUE: The preferred color of men. It’s associated with peace, water, tranquility, and reliability. Blue provides a sense of security, curbs appetite, and stimulates productivity. The most common color used by conservative brands looking to promote trust in their products."

It is worth noting that blue also has a strong appeal for women.

You do find critical and sometimes helpful comments on the forum, but ideally you need discussion with people you can trust, and who won't just say what they think you want them to say.

Never rely on Spell Check software. If you write your own copy, have it checked by someone else. There are mistakes in your very important disclaimer box. If you read it I doubt that you will pick them up so here they are:

All statements by SOMAVITA LLC and regarding ElevatePlus have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Any advice or claims on this website is not medical advice has not been evaluated by the FDA. Always check with your physician before taking this or any dietary supplement. ElevatePlus is not meant for children under the age of 21, pregnant or nursing mothers, or anyone with a known medical condition. There is no guarantee of specific results and results can vary.

Words in red:

and delete. is should read are. has should read have. children should read children or any person. (This last point is subjective opinion and you might prefer to leave it as is.)


I would prefer a more precise wording where you have is, and what I would use is "does not constitute"

I hope this is helpful.

Walter

Yeah I looked into the psychology of colors for marketing before designing all this. I think a problem with the label is the picture quality I will get a better picture to cutout and use on my site soon, since you and the other poster have mentioned it and in real life i've gotten nothing but positive feedback on the bottle design even from people I don't know i'm assuming that's the issue.

Just made the changes, how does this sound now?
"Any advice or claims on this website does not constitute medical advice and have not been evaluated by the FDA."

Hey man, one of my brands is also in the supplement space. We both know that this is a crazy competitive industry but very lucrative. We also both know labeling and branding is SUPER important.

To be as nice as possible, I don't "dig" your label. Back in the day when I saw supplements with labels like these paired with a white bottle, I automatically thought "cheap". The text, the logo placement, the color choice, just doesn't give off a "I need to try that" vibe. Try going for a more modern look. Very simple. Very clean. Very powerful.

@Walter Hay has a great book on the power of labeling.

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you for being honest I know my label doesn't have the standard look of big block letters and whatnot that most labels had, I did that on purpose to give it a certain look, as I said above I think part of the issue may be the picture quality I have so i'll try to get that fixed asap.


Also if anyone has any suggestions as to how to improve my conversion on my site besides the label/picture quality i'd love to hear them. I'd like to think that it looks pretty good but my conversion rate says otherwise, maybe more social proofing or information?
 
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Walter Hay

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I am nowhere near your target market so my opinion about your site design won't help you, but I do understand marketing psychology.

Your returns policy could be a turn off for someone spending only about $30. Paying to send the product back on top of the hassles in re-packing and mailing would be too much of a deterrent to many people.

I suggest offering free postage on returns. This will appeal to most people and make them far more likely to risk placing an order.

In practice, when someone requests a refund you reply with an email telling them that you would like them to keep the product, and maybe give it to a friend to try. Even if they insist on a refund, you should do so without requiring them to return the product.

Your cost in losing a half bottle would probably be about your purchase cost, but your generous policy could turn an unhappy customer into an ambassador for your brand. You don't want the half bottle back. That's too risky and you should ditch any opened returns anyway.

My apologies for my typo in my original reply. Where I wrote: "Any advice or claims on this website is not medical advice and has not been evaluated by the FDA." should have read:
"Any advice or claim on this website does not constitute medical advice and has not been evaluated by the FDA". The green word is correct.

Regarding your label, the color and design look good, but probably more attractive to an older age group rather than the younger ones you would be targeting.

If you want to leave it as is, I suggest that you use one of the image enhancing methods I recommend in my labeling book, that is, an unprinted gold foil seal. These cost peanuts, and can be stuck on, just overlapping the edge of the label. Using the seal says: QUALITY.

Walter
 
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Argue

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Hey @Ben Adams,

I checked out your site and it can use some improvements. Some parts of the site don't follow the basic principals of UI. Improving the UI can help with conversions.

Here are my suggestions:

IHYsIzt.png


1. Increase the <h1> heading from 38px to a bigger size. 42px looks better, increases visual hierarchy, and establishes a clear message.

2. Next, decrease the size of the logo just a tad. The logo should not be bigger than the main heading <h1>. H1 always has the most importance.

3. Third, remove the line height. The current line height is too large, spaced out. Ruins readership, causes high bounce rates. Use the default line height. Then, align left your paragraph. The centered style makes it hard to read.
  • Note: The heading and paragraph clash. Make the heading extra bold, and the paragraph medium/or normal. Lastly, you should use the Proxima Nova typeface.
4. The CTA button is plain. Add more contrast/color to the button.

7ZVMQUZ.png


5. The images that say partying, etc are too large. Decrease the image size & the font size. Currently, where "partying" is, the font size is bigger than "take a chill pill."
 

Ben Adams

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Thank you @Walter Hay and @Argue for the great suggestions, my UI looks a lot better i've done all but made the bottom picture words smaller as my friend set that up for me through something other than ss so i'll have to figure out how to change it. The gold seal sounds like a great idea if you think it'll look good with the contrast of the blue with the bright gold. Do you think just left of 'Dietary supplement 60 veg capsules' would be the best place to put it?
 
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Ben Adams

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Update: discontinued facebook ads as I was getting around 1 sale ($20 profit) for every $25 of fb ads pretty consistently.

Messaged a bunch of ig accounts the other day a bunch responded, I already bought a shoutout from one w 22k followers for only $10, got around 35 more site visits but no sales, will continue to do these as the cpc is way lower than fb.
 

ZeroTo100

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Update: discontinued facebook ads as I was getting around 1 sale ($20 profit) for every $25 of fb ads pretty consistently.

Messaged a bunch of ig accounts the other day a bunch responded, I already bought a shoutout from one w 22k followers for only $10, got around 35 more site visits but no sales, will continue to do these as the cpc is way lower than fb.

Question - have you tried multiple ad sets? Who is your target? I would be going after YOGI's and that type... Also, what about offering an affiliate program? I know that if you can put a really good offer together, one that's better than whats out there you can win over a lot of affiliates. @walterhay makes some great points about labeling too that I suggest you take into consideration. You also have a broken link to your clinical trials that takes you to square space. Be careful with posting clinical trials that are false or misleading!

What I would do, once you have your labeling all squared away and your website...I'd put the product on Amazon and utilize FBA

Lastly, you should try to create some type of funnel using your blog pages. Let me know if you need some help with outreach. I can give you a few tips...

Good luck man.
 

Ben Adams

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Question - have you tried multiple ad sets? Who is your target? I would be going after YOGI's and that type... Also, what about offering an affiliate program? I know that if you can put a really good offer together, one that's better than whats out there you can win over a lot of affiliates. @walterhay makes some great points about labeling too that I suggest you take into consideration. You also have a broken link to your clinical trials that takes you to square space. Be careful with posting clinical trials that are false or misleading!

What I would do, once you have your labeling all squared away and your website...I'd put the product on Amazon and utilize FBA

About the label I already have my bottles made so I can't change anything until I sell all my existing stock (500 bottles)

Lastly, you should try to create some type of funnel using your blog pages. Let me know if you need some help with outreach. I can give you a few tips...

Good luck man.

I spent around 5-6 weeks running multiple ad sets and changing the copy to optimize the cpc and yeah my target audience were people that liked pages such as onnit.com, nutraceuticals, yoga, music festivals, etc..

Hmm an affiliate program is not a good idea, i'll have to research how to set that up on squarespace and how to advertise that to affiliates. Each bottle costs around $6.50 to produce plus $3.71 for shipping so that leaves quite a bit of profit I could give out to affiliate marketers, as much as $10 per sale.

Thank you for that catch I fixed the link.

Unfortunately amazon will not sell one of the ingredients (phenibut), they removed it a few years back.
 
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Walter Hay

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Thank you @Walter Hay and @Argue for the great suggestions, my UI looks a lot better i've done all but made the bottom picture words smaller as my friend set that up for me through something other than ss so i'll have to figure out how to change it. The gold seal sounds like a great idea if you think it'll look good with the contrast of the blue with the bright gold. Do you think just left of 'Dietary supplement 60 veg capsules' would be the best place to put it?
I would suggest it is best to put it near the top rather than near the bottom. Our eyes tend to read from top to bottom.

The position I would choose would be to the left of your logo, as far as possible so that at least 1/3 of it is visible from the front, and with a small overlap above the label. Don't go higher than the curve of the bottle, but you want it to be noticed, and the overlap will achieve that.

You can use a simple, plain multi point star, or you can have it embossed or printed. Embossing will be the highest cost option, but some suppliers carry inventory of embossed seals.

Walter

Walter.
 

Ben Adams

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I would suggest it is best to put it near the top rather than near the bottom. Our eyes tend to read from top to bottom.

The position I would choose would be to the left of your logo, as far as possible so that at least 1/3 of it is visible from the front, and with a small overlap above the label. Don't go higher than the curve of the bottle, but you want it to be noticed, and the overlap will achieve that.

You can use a simple, plain multi point star, or you can have it embossed or printed. Embossing will be the highest cost option, but some suppliers carry inventory of embossed seals.

Walter

Walter.

So if i'm understanding this correctly, would this be the correct position and size, kind of half off the label and just a plain pointed gold star such as this? https://www.staples.com/JAM-Paper-R...-100-per-size-200-set-22623933/product_369812


Update: @MoreVolume has been helping advise me for a lot of my venture, can't thank him enough. But after talking to him today I realize its obvious I need to invest a good chunk of money into sort of revamping my website, hiring a good copywriter, graphic designer, getting model pics and making a commercial, so that's what i'm going to be mainly focusing on in order to look more professional and represent myself to be a more trustworthy, bigger brand. Not sure if I mentioned it before but the whole web design and most of the copy was done by me, most of the graphics are either stock photos or designed by my ex gf (even the logo), with the label design being one of the only things i outsourced.
 

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Walter Hay

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So if i'm understanding this correctly, would this be the correct position and size, kind of half off the label and just a plain pointed gold star such as this? https://www.staples.com/JAM-Paper-R...-100-per-size-200-set-22623933/product_369812
Yes, but I would use the small star until you can afford to have it embossed or printed.

Walter
 
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Ben Adams

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Thought i'd update my progress. Rough few months due to some personal issues but i've purchased liability insurance and got it stocked into a local supermarket. Have also been cold calling smoke shops in my state to try to get it stocked in more stores. I chose smoke shops as the effects are similar to kratom in terms of relaxation which is very popular in headshops. So far 3 have agreed to try out a bottle I followed up on one who said bc she's a new manager she's not able to stock any new products for a month or 2 and still waiting on the other two managers to try it.

I may try fb/ig paid ads again to see if I could make that profitable, I had no luck with ig influencers when I tried it a few times so paid ads would definitely be better. I also had a brochure made which is helpful if I want to try and sell it at a farmers market or table at the supermarket to get sales and also for mailing bottles to stores to try.

Also am working on getting professional photos of the bottle once I have those i'll try the ads again to see if it helps conversions.

I'm kind of feeling stuck and as if nothing i'm trying is working, I know the product is phenomenal and if anyone on the forum would like to try it I can give you a bottle for just the cost of production and shipping if you'd review it on here and my site (just pm me). Since I know the product is good and my reorder rate/reviews are really high, I know that it's everything else i'm doing (or lack of doing) in terms of marketing that is holding me back which is frustrating.
 

MoreVolume

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Thought i'd update my progress. Rough few months due to some personal issues but i've purchased liability insurance and got it stocked into a local supermarket. Have also been cold calling smoke shops in my state to try to get it stocked in more stores. I chose smoke shops as the effects are similar to kratom in terms of relaxation which is very popular in headshops. So far 3 have agreed to try out a bottle I followed up on one who said bc she's a new manager she's not able to stock any new products for a month or 2 and still waiting on the other two managers to try it.

I may try fb/ig paid ads again to see if I could make that profitable, I had no luck with ig influencers when I tried it a few times so paid ads would definitely be better. I also had a brochure made which is helpful if I want to try and sell it at a farmers market or table at the supermarket to get sales and also for mailing bottles to stores to try.

Also am working on getting professional photos of the bottle once I have those i'll try the ads again to see if it helps conversions.

I'm kind of feeling stuck and as if nothing i'm trying is working, I know the product is phenomenal and if anyone on the forum would like to try it I can give you a bottle for just the cost of production and shipping if you'd review it on here and my site (just pm me). Since I know the product is good and my reorder rate/reviews are really high, I know that it's everything else i'm doing (or lack of doing) in terms of marketing that is holding me back which is frustrating.
IMO you're not utilizing IG the way that you should be.
Ill put it this way. A majority of my referrals come from Instagram, and you know your product has more of a mainstream appeal than mine.
IG ads would def help you....But I think your problem is your lack of engaging content. You don't post that often, and when you do, your posts don't have alot to do with Somavita, and what it can do for potential customers

You're going to have to find a way to attract a "community" to your page. Ill use my brand as an example since we're in the same industry.

As you know my brand has 2 IG pages. The "friendly" one, which you have seen. Not alot of followers. I simply post ads and promo clips.

But I also have the "naughty" page with 3,000+ organic followers. That's where all the referrals come from.
With the content on that page, I'm able to attract a certain community (horndogs). I'm able to give them what they want (nice visuals and sounds), while also spreading awareness about my brand.

I'm not saying create a new IG page, but you need to create content that gives people what they want, in a way that also promotes your brand.
Informational posts. Ads displaying situations relevant to your customer base (studying, working out, etc.). Clips from people reviewing your product.

What you should also do is research which hashtags would be relevant to bringing in new customers. People underrate the importance of finding the right hashtags

You need to remember that you're a marketing company over anything else.
 

Ben Adams

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IMO you're not utilizing IG the way that you should be.
Ill put it this way. A majority of my referrals come from Instagram, and you know your product has more of a mainstream appeal than mine.
IG ads would def help you....But I think your problem is your lack of engaging content. You don't post that often, and when you do, your posts don't have alot to do with Somavita, and what it can do for potential customers

You're going to have to find a way to attract a "community" to your page. Ill use my brand as an example since we're in the same industry.

As you know my brand has 2 IG pages. The "friendly" one, which you have seen. Not alot of followers. I simply post ads and promo clips.

But I also have the "naughty" page with 3,000+ organic followers. That's where all the referrals come from.
With the content on that page, I'm able to attract a certain community (horndogs). I'm able to give them what they want (nice visuals and sounds), while also spreading awareness about my brand.

I'm not saying create a new IG page, but you need to create content that gives people what they want, in a way that also promotes your brand.
Informational posts. Ads displaying situations relevant to your customer base (studying, working out, etc.). Clips from people reviewing your product.

What you should also do is research which hashtags would be relevant to bringing in new customers. People underrate the importance of finding the right hashtags

You need to remember that you're a marketing company over anything else.

As always thanks again for the help. I've always thought of the ig content as a supplement to other forms of marketing and, as a result, i've put little effort into it. You make a good point and this is a free way to grow my customer base, I agree my ig is subpar, I haven't even posted on it in a few months. I think it would be beneficial to make a posting schedule and create posts in advance, i'll just have to brainstorm what content to put up and if I need to hire a graphic designer to help out. I'll also look into optimizing the hashtags. I've been putting 20-30 hashtags in each post but I didn't do any research into the best hashtags to use.

I also still have the option of doing a giveaway, but I might hold off since it'll cost a few hundred for rafflecopter and the advertising.

I'll be graduating in the Fall so I have to really step it up. Ideally if I can grow my business i'll continue to work this job on the side while I focus on growth. If not, my grandpa has offered to pay for law school for me, but the goal is to escape the rat race not get deeper into it.
 
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