This article assumes that you have a few things already up and running in your product stealth kit.
Hence the title - Got the Basics, Not Getting The Conversions?

Some of the basics:

• good user friendly website
• basic level of SEO
• product photos
• sending out regular press release
• social media pages up and active
• a buy-able product

Conversions can be a quite a different ball game to product awareness. Think of it as your next tier. Now that people know about your product, why would they buy it? This post doesn’t talk about price comparison – so make sure you consider that. It talks about love. Getting love. Sharing love. Making your product speak the language of love.

Say for example, you have a leather accessories product range. How do we get conversion happening?

Here are a few things to think about and implement.

I’m looking for a wallet. I’m researching and asking around about which sort of a brand is best. What would I do?

I’d go to a few of my favourite sites (perhaps Refinery 29, Broadsheet, Kickstarter, Hard To Find and a few independent blogger sites that I like; Ms. Critique, Reading My Tea Leaves etc)

I’d look for relevant hashtags on Instagram

Ask some of my friends who have a style I like

I’d search on Facebook

I’d definitely search on Pinterest

I might search for an independent brand on Etsy (this is actually how I found my phone cover, it had a wallet doubling up as a phone case)

Or perhaps a brand that featured at the Big Design Market

Or I might go look up that brand a popular Instagrammer shared a while back

What would you do? Would you shop the same way? What would your friends do? What would your target market do? Are you appearing in these ways? Get there and get bought.

The best sellers are the ones with the story.

Its the reason why Kickstarter works. Aside from appearing in multiple places – another way of getting brand love is to have a story.

What makes friends from strangers? We get to know them. In the same way, people want to get to know your brand.

What’s in the name? What’s behind the founders? What happened when you took that photoshoot? How did you get to know that model? Who’s hands stitched the leather to the lining?

Tell us the details. We want to know.

Two great brands which tell a great stories are Matter Prints and Everlane.

Niche it

Perhaps your bag is best for designers or photographers.

Or perhaps they’re best for bankers.

Find out whom they’re best for and HONE in on that profile. Who doesn’t want something made for them? It’ll make me feel loved, understood and unique (of course there are a bajillion designers and a bajillion entrepreneurs out there – but in my group of 500 Facebook friend, I often feel like I’m one of only a few). Targeting everyone is the worst mistake brands make. Kish+Co targets interesting, creative marketing brains and entrepreneurs who value the edgy and creative. We actually don’t want everyone. That makes the relationships we have even more special.

Also – people will do the selling for you. Once you deliver an excellent experience and an excellent product, we intuitively WANT to share. We WANT to tell people about it. Trust this mantra and do the best you can on YOUR END of the deal. Here is another great niche brand btw.

That one crazy thing.

Sometimes you just need to make it to Buzzfeed. Change your perspective and sit on their side of the desk. They’re looking for crazy things to post about that will ensure their links get some major clickage.

I met the talented Georgia Perry and we talked about how her pins went out the roof after she got some shares over night on posts like Buzzfeed. Have that one thing worth talking about. Perhaps one of your wallets has a Sound of Music print on it. Perhaps one of your totes is made of cheese holes. You might only have 100 of these made into production in the assumption that they won’t sell, but they make for a fine Cheese Lovers / Sound of Music lovers story.

I can see the headlines right now. 10 Things All Cheese Lovers Need Right Now. Boom. The traffic it will generate to your site will be worth the risky investment. Just make sure it’s well worth talking about and you send out your press articles in order of importance.