While Kalvitis believes that word of mouth is an extremely important avenue for getting information about his product out to the public, he has also utilized direct-mail campaigns, trade shows, and newspapers. When sending out press releases or direct mailers, he made sure to include newsworthy information about his product.
"They want news, not just a description of products," he said. "So [you need to have] some angle or story about your product or an aspect of it. For example, one in my latest book is that I have a puzzle that is so unique that I have a patent pending on it. There's nothing like it. Then, I try to add in other information that promotes the product line in general."
"Having a patent pending on a puzzle is kind of goofy," he continued. "It is so unusual that it makes people stop and say, 'Wow, that's something else.' Look for an angle that makes people say 'wow' about your product."
While some people may do a lot of studying and data analysis to determine their target audiences, Kalvitis found his audience the old-fashioned way; he went with his gut. He advises against spending too much time studying and trying to decide where to market your product. Even though you want to make the biggest splash and see the best results, he warned, you should be wary of always preparing and never taking the plunge by actually putting your product out there. He said that you can always modify your approach as you move forward and learn more about the process.
As with any process, Kalvitis thinks there are good things and bad things about the path he has taken. While he likes the control that he has over his product and its exposure, he admits it would be nice to have more money and expertise to contribute to the advertising campaign.
"I am careful not to spend too much, to work myself slowly up to a big expenditure. Experimenting here and there to see what works best takes more time if you have less money to work with," he said. "Also, because I am not an expert on marketing, I try to get opinions from those who are who can give me ideas or tell me things I never thought of. Sometimes it is disheartening when people tell you things you don't want to hear, but I try to be objective, which can be very difficult sometimes."
As an overview, here is a quick 10-point checklist of things you need to do in order to market your own product effectively provided by Rob Engelman in an article on www.pertinent.com:
- Focus on your core competencies.
- Develop a clear and concise message.
- Create collateral materials.
- Join networking groups.
- Network every day.
- Leverage your current customers.
- Develop alliance partners.
- Become an industry leader.
- Don't be afraid to try.
- Brainstorm with others.
