The Indie Beauty Network
Our marketing case study this month is Donna Maria Coles Johnson, founder of the Indie Beauty Network; a for-profit membership group that supports people who make handcrafted cosmetics, soaps and other natural products. Don’t miss Donna Maria’s brilliant marketing system (more like a weekly cycle) that she describes below.
IBN is the Internet equivalent of a television station, as you’ll see below when you read about her marketing activities. Donna Maria began by broadcasting information through special interest groups and Listservs in the early days of the Internet. Although her legal, business and marketing skills are still the cornerstone of her business, the way she makes them available to her members has shifted dramatically as the Internet has changed.
Her broadcasting has grown to include information posted on Facebook, Twitter, her blog and her weekly newsletter. You can read the complete article on my blog; whether you do that or not, don’t miss her system that I describe below for using Facebook, Twitter, her blog and newsletter, and her radio show to work the Indie Biz marketing magic.
What marketing did you start with?
Indie Beauty started at the beginning of 2000 with a free weekly newsletter that I sent to people I had connected with through e-groups on Yahoo and AOL, answering their questions about the business side of making cosmetics and aromatherapy products. I then self-published a book about how to make aromatherapy creams and lotions, which established me as a credible voice in the community.
At first I gave away everything I did. I was fortunate that people began joining me, and companies wanted to act as sponsors because they wanted to reach home-based cosmetics crafters. Membership was free until April of the year I started, then all the information went behind a membership website and I started charging people a membership fee to get access to everything.
It was obvious to me that I needed to behave like a media outlet (i.e. I broadcast all kinds of helpful information to members through as many outlets as I can, and members pick and choose what they want to get and when they want to get it). Creating this media outlet created credibility, which in turn attracted new members, as well as sponsors.
What marketing do you do now?
My free, weekly newsletter is in its 10th year of publication. I have also have had a weekly internet radio show, interviewing business people, authors, and other people who can help our membership succeed, since 2005. I post the interviews on i-Tunes (they’re free), blog almost every day, post tweets on Twitter daily, and use my Facebook fan page. This is a lot of work, but also backed by a great deal of help from the members. They make it work. I provide the platform.
Here’s an example of how this marketing system works. Every Friday is Facebook Friday on the fan page. Every week we talk about how members can use their Facebook fan pages more effectively for their own clients.
I post a question or tip on the Indie Biz fan page, and that starts the discussion. Other people post questions and comments about what works and what doesn’t, so we share a lot of information with each other.
Over the weekend I do a blog post based on the questions and answers from Facebook Friday.
Monday, the newsletter goes out. Each week I feature a member of the Indie Biz Network in the newsletter, which encourages the person I feature to share the newsletter with their own network. I help the member by featuring her, and she in turn helps the Indie Biz Network by sharing the newsletter with her people.
On Wednesday we go back to Facebook for Workout Wednesday. Since the business of crafting products is sedentary, we share what we do to stay fit, eat right and stay healthy.
I put out tweets on Twitter all week about the person I am interviewing on the radio and the information we share on Facebook Friday and Workout Wednesday. I meet new people on Twitter, and also use Twitter to mobilize my followers to advocate for our interests. I recently mobilized a group of Indies (who were also some of my followers on Twitter) to make their voices heard in the Colorado legislature, when it was considering passing a bill that would have been detrimental to us. Interestingly, I’m using social media more and more in the advocacy work I do for the Network.
How do you stay consistent with your marketing?
I do the same thing every day for marketing. I have systems in place, so that 70% of my marketing is a set routine.
Any advice for us?
Big companies re-use the same content in different media outlets. All small businesses must figure out how to do this as well; people are trying to find us in all different outlets and if we aren’t there, they’ll go somewhere else.
You also have to be willing to experiment, even if technology intimidates you, and you have to be willing to stick with things because sometimes results don’t appear immediately.
There is a lot about the Internet to be wary of, but if you aren’t on it in a way that makes you available to your customers, you can’t survive. If people find you on the Internet but there’s no activity on your website or Facebook page or Twitter account, they’ll think you’re doing nothing, even when you are.
I have a member who is persnickety and who emails me every time she sees something she thinks is wrong with the Indie Business site. At first, I found this annoying. As part of our ongoing conversations I tried, and finally succeeded, in getting her to put up a Facebook fan page for her business. Her criticism used to drive me nuts; but I spent 30 minutes going through her fan page and saw who she was as a person. It made all the difference.
This is the power of social media on the Internet. My final advice is this: you have to take the time to understand social media and how it can help your business. Your clients are looking for you. You need to help them find you.
How is your marketing working for you? Got any good ideas to share? Post them below.
Tags: Blogging, Email Newslettert, Marketing, Social Media, Twitter
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