Here are 10 ways to improve cash flow to your product-based business

1. Implement a marketing plan. This will give you direction and strategy. While you’re cooking that up…
2. Offer an entry-level product that gives people instant gratification
   For a book business, this would be a free or $0.99 book 1 of a series. For a knitting business this might be baby socks or cute finger puppets that are quick to make and can be priced cheaply to get people to fall in love with your products (and get cash flowing). For a soapmaking business, a travel soap or an unscented, plain soap that people can buy for less could work well.
3. Offer gift vouchers for key holiday dates. A £10 gift voucher means someone has given you that money upfront, which is immediate cashflow, and someone else will now come along and use that voucher to place an order, which will probably be worth more than the original gift voucher. Events to promote gift vouchers: Christmas, birthdays, Valentine’s day, Mother’s Day. Once a week put up a gift voucher promo post (assuming you post daily… see point 1).
4. Make it as easy as possible for people to buy from you. That is not always what you think. Here’s 10 reasons why you should stop selling via a Facebook page right now. Make the buying process as smooth and uncomplicated as possible. No copying and pasting links. No clicking to your profile to see the link in your profile. No long convoluted messaging or clicking to find out what you sell or where you deliver to. Bung your products on a popular and easy to use online store and spread the link liberally (where appropriate). Little roadblocks can put customers off, even if the process seems straightforward to you.
5. Show up every day on social media with a cute photo of your products or a teaser graphic for fiction books. A long running story, such as positioning your soaps and captioning them with “Eastenders” type stories (get it? Soaps?) will get people to start looking for your content. Make sure each post has a buy link in the comments.
6. Be a valuable resource. You are an expert at what you do. Your customers don’t know how to do it. Don’t educate them on why they need your product, give them information that helps them choose what’s right for them. Blog posts such as “how to choose the right weight of wool” or “how to knit Aran stitch” (with video) or “how to bring your soap to trace” or “how to choose essential oils for soaps” will show people you are an authority, and authority makes people buy from you.
7. Tell tales about every aspect of the creation process. For example, a Facebook or blog post about “the story of wool” telling the tale of happy sheep frolicking in fields (or jolly little esters forming communities in a glass flask, if your wool is synthetic) will capture people’s interest. Note: These are not posts to sell on, that shatters the magic. This one is long-game stuff.
8. Read the room: Are people actually aware you have a business selling your exact products? People can’t buy from you if they don’t know you are there. Take a leaf from those MLM people and share your store link somewhere at least once a day.
9. Offer add-on products. Selling the soap? Let them know you also have the shampoo bar! Selling a scarf? They might also need gloves! Selling a necklace? There’d better be matching earrings! Pair your products together to maximise the value of each paying customer (and maximise your profit). The more I buy from a company, the more I like them and think of buying from them again (yes, it’s that way around, no I don’t know why).
10. Widen your social circle! Befriend people in your target income bracket who like the sort of thing you sell. This is tricky especially for introverts. Find groups of people who like what you do, e.g. readers’ groups, “natural cosmetics” groups, ethical buying groups etc. Let posts and friendships come naturally and if you don’t like the vibe in a specific group, ditch it and find another.

Need help with your marketing plan? Email me littlemisstorrie [at] gmail.com to schedule an hour of power to get your marketing nailed down. $69.