Question

Topic: Strategy

Increasing Visibility To Faith-based Audience

Posted by Anonymous on 1/10/2010 at 4:08 PM ET 500 Points
I own a faith-based apparel and fight gear company called Divinity. We target mixed martial arts competitors, fans, and Christians of all interests. I want to increase our visibility and generate more online sales. Our current marketing plan is focused on a shoestring, grass-roots budget and the bulk of all sales come through vendor booths at local martial arts tournaments and promotions.

Ideally, I would like our product placed at the large warehouse distributors in the business - Fighter Warehouse, MMA Warehouse, and others, but I need to generate more visibility and sales to garner that type of attention and also so I can reinvest in more products (different designs and gear products).

Does anyone have any suggestions on placement ideas and guerrilla-style promotion ideas that won't dilute the value of the brand and stay within a very tight budget?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 1/10/2010 at 5:25 PM Author
    First of all Phil, the concept of combat, battle, and fighting is prevalent in the Bible - a book you may not be familiar with. Please let this note serve to other people with useless information not to post and waste their time. If you have a constructive idea, which is all I am seeking at this point, please post as it will be greatly appreciated.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 1/10/2010 at 5:28 PM Member
    Can you sponsor some of well-known fans (or find some strong up-and-coming people that would like to be sponsored)? Since your clothing has a prominent logo/name, it's the simplest way to get known - by having others see the name and spread the word. Be sure to get photos & video of your athletes in-action to highlight the connection between your brand and excellent performance.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 1/10/2010 at 9:47 PM Accepted
    Dear carringtonf,

    As a non-Christian who is married to a devout Christian, and as a long time fan and some-time dabbler in martial arts, I think this is an intelligently posed question that deserves as much intelligent help as possible.

    Are you using a blog and website combo that's been set up for key search terms such as "Christian martial arts"? And are you driving traffic to those sites, and on those sites, do you showcase your wares AND your message?

    In December, 2009 there were 2,400 US searches and 3,600 international searches for the search term "Christian martial arts".

    You're a tight niche, why not exploit the living daylights out of it?
    Posting authority-based articles to Christian martial arts forums will create interest in your products, and if you can use these posts to drive traffic to a blog and your main site, you'll create enough interest to build a loyal following—IF, you offer something up front as some kind of ethical bribe in exchange for people's e-mail
    addresses.

    You can then market specific messages to those people that incorporate scripture, Biblical teachings and lessons (The Way,
    The Path, The Light; Love Thy Neighbour, and so on), AND use those messages to offer discounts on special offers on your product range, or for classes, courses, and tips on all kinds of spiritual as well as physical self defence.

    Need help finding appropriate forums? This might help you.

    https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=CHRISTIAN+MARTIAL+ARTS+forum&aq=f&oq=...

    The more specific you are with your messages, and the tighter your audience focus, the more response you'll gain for your investment of time.

    I hope this helps. Good luck to you.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA

  • Posted on 1/11/2010 at 10:17 AM Accepted
    Your business concept would seem to lend itself to online presence, so I would invest in a great website and a search advertising program. You can spend as little or as much as you like on search advertising, and your result will be a direct function of how much you spend.

    I would also suggest that you consider a landing path approach, so you can begin to segment your audience and focus your future efforts on those most likely to purchase. Then your website can be more of a catalog for returning customers.

    FWIW, you're better off front-loading the spending on your search advertising so you can learn quickly what works best for you and then implement the winning combination sooner. If you do the math, you'll see that the return on your investment is greater when you spend more up-front ... as long as you are set up to learn from your experiments.
  • Posted by michael on 1/11/2010 at 1:40 PM Member
    I would encourage you to work with local asian associations that promote cultural awareness/understanding. Many of them are also involve in the martial arts arena.

    It's delicate in that some martial arts focus more on philosophy than technique. That would cause problems for me as a Christian.

    Michael
  • Posted on 1/11/2010 at 4:56 PM Author
    Jay - I've looked into sponsoring fighters (assuming that's what you mean instead of fans?) but the cost is prohibitive. For example, a UFC event combatant will get roughly $5,000 to $20,000 just for placement on their shorts. I'd love to be at that point, but I can't justify the expense as I would have to sponsor at least 1 fighter in a series of events to see any type of results.

    Gary, thank you for your thoughtful response. I'll start navigating through the online forums and try to increase awareness there.

    Mgoodman - do you know of any resources on shortening my learning curve for the PPC marketing techniques to help avoid some costly pitfalls?

    Michael - thanks for the response - I don't feel as though targeting the Asian community groups would be helpful. First, they're typically not a Christian audience and secondly, I'm not as interested in traditional martial arts as I am in mixed martial arts.
  • Posted on 1/14/2010 at 4:25 PM Member
    You need to walk before you fly my friend. I tried to locate your website which I'm guessing you don't have yet ... so that's a start. You can build a really nice site for as little as nothing or spend a fortune. I have a number of websites that I own and seldom spend anything having them developed. In your case I would set aside $2,500 - 5,000 and get it done right.

    In terms of developing a two step distribution model I would caution against that. A distributors job is to sell whats in demand. From what I can see you have yet to establish your brand. Focus on your brand entirely and don't worry about selling to distributors. There always seems to be this misconception that distributors are a great channel for a new product and nothing could be farther from the reality. Distributors exist to fill orders for existing demand brands. If your product is not in demand ie strong brand awareness then distributors don't need you and for the most part you will spin your wheels for nothing. Distributors that actually sell and promote, vs. just take orders, are rare. Then of course you need to support their margin and business requirements which will cost you 35 - 45% GM. Careful.

    Get a good website first and foremost and continue working the shows and supporting the channels you are selling to as that seem to be working for you. Aviod making sudden and radical shifts as you will upset your current customers.

    Cheers, Bill Moore
  • Posted on 1/14/2010 at 7:08 PM Author
    I do have a website - www.divinitymma.com - and it comes up first, second, and third if you Google "divinity mixed martial arts" or "divinity mma". The main site is mainly for SEO (something I'm working on) and the storefront is obviously promoted heavily from the homepage. To view the store directly, try www.divinitymma.com/store/

    Thanks for insight on distributors Bill - it makes a LOT of sense and I'll weigh that carefully as I move forward.
  • Posted on 1/15/2010 at 12:35 AM Author
    I would definitely be open to any suggestions for the website and making it more friendly to shoppers and increasing conversions. The main site is on a WordPress platform and the storefront is done using Magento. Both are very scalable.
  • Posted on 1/18/2010 at 10:25 AM Moderator
    A few good resources, per your request:

    Ultimate Guide to Google Adwords

    Honest Seduction

    The Big Red Fez

    This free MarketingProfs Seminar:

    High-Performance Landing Pages that Boost Your Bottom Line
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