Sunday, July 19, 2015

The Beginning of Branding Watermelonski



So, here we are at the beginning of our “brand”.  Watermelonski! 
We design beautiful illustrations and then turn them into beautiful tunics.  Our idea is creative inspiration in fashion. Easy enough. 

But, as I have discovered, having an idea and starting a business are like two totally different planets! Yes, they are definitely in the same galaxy and they are not so far apart but it’s a pretty big trip to get from the idea the business. I don’t know, maybe it’s more like one planet and a few satellites orbiting around but in any case it’s a tough galaxy to navigate. 
We are starting off pretty new so I thought I’d let you in on the journey from the beginning to the big bang ending. 



So, the idea, that was easy. The creative inspiration just spilled out all over the place.  We have our logo; it’s the cutest little watermelon EVER! 

We have a great back story that you can read about here.  We even came up with a great plan for marketing.  Social media! Yup, original, I know.  Social. Media. 

If you post it they will come.

Well it turns out there is a little more to it than that. I have had to resist the urge to fall hopelessly into the black hole of research. The possibilities are seemingly limitless and it can definitely make the journey to the world of business a little easier or at least more interesting.

I have read a ton and now that I have it all down, albeit in theory, I feel comfortable enough to write about it; Mistakes, missteps, triumphs and all.  They are, after all, learning moments in any case.  I’ll start where I started, Facebook.  


Marketing on Facebook!

First of all let me say, it’s a definite must-do! Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, you just gotta do it. 

So, here’s where we are on our brilliant plan of Facebook marketing:

We set our page up, if you haven’t “liked” us yet we hope you will soon. It’s easy click here. We invited all our friends to join, it was all so easy just sit back and watch the likes come rolling in. 

20 likes.  20 likes?

Where were the rest of our likes? Well, as it turns out just build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. You see, my partner and I are not exactly posty (Bloggers are supposed to make up words, right?) on Facebook.  We shared and liked and even posted a few things occasionally but things have changed.  We now have lots to post about; new things and new thinks.  

We are getting great feedback too.  We know that a lot of our FB friends already wear tunics on regular basis, and we dared to ask one special lady if she would like to receive a tunic from us, and tell us her honest opinion about it.  Her acceptance flattered us.  She is posty, she adores tunics, and we know she doesn’t hold back when it comes to an honest opinion.  Here’s what she posted on her FB wall:



"Design and material are perfect. It shows what it's supposed to show, and hides what it's supposed to hide. I'm not taking it off ever. And the best part, my tunic has a book on it!It is all connected."

So here is a shout-out to Alis for sharing her big heart and positivity with all of us.  She got our Facebook rolling with 120 likes in two weeks! This is the link to her blog Citaj knjigu ("Read books"). It is in Croatian; never the less, it’s great so check it out. 



So, before I break it all down for you let me tell you where we are today number of likes 170 and counting!  Money spent, zero!  Getting our name out there a little more every day, priceless.  We took some hints from Neil Patel (Love him! I just might be his number one fan.)



Here’s the rundown according to Neil Patel (I just love saying his name):

1. It's all about content! Polish your About section, and profile and cover photo, too! > Done!

2. Invite your friends to like your FB page, and ask your friends to invite their friends. >Done! I shared Watermelonski FB page on my private wall with public option, so my followers can see it, too.

3. Share it on Twitter and/or Instagram > Ouch :) We are at the beginning there as well, so we’re postponing this step for later.

4. Dress your web with FB buttons > we are blogging, and there is FB button by default. Done!

5. FB ads > Must focus on this one, too!

6. Add FB button to your blog > Done! By default



We’ll keep you in the loop on how we’re doing.  So far we are loving Facebook!  


Let us know how you’re branding. 

Love,

Watermelonski Gals