#I like very niche things and I'm terrible at advertising | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

patriciavetinari · 1 year

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What are your favourite perfumes right now? Are there any that you have on a wishlist at all?

Fantastic, you're enabling me to ramble about perfumes. Thank you. Please do it again.

Anyway, I haven't been into perfumes long, but I come back to them regularly hunting for new ones and I want to at least do a course of perfumery (I've read you need a chemistry degree to do perfumery properly but who knows).

I like perfumes that smell fucked up and that don't smell like perfumes. I don't know how to explain but most advertised ones and like, celebrity perfumes smell like perfumes, with this really clear alcoholic base smell and very typical sickly sweet flowery aromas. Men's ones all smell like axe body spray. Like what comes to your mind when you think of that spongebob perfume department meme. I hate those.

I like stuff that smells weird, deep, fucked up, and doesn't have that strong alcoholic smell. It should be a smell that makes me want to reinvent my entire personality to fit it. I like less known and/or fully niche perfumes that usually deliver complex challenging smells that not many people would like. It's the only luxury thing I will put money aside for and spend it without much regret.

Just last week I discovered a niche brand called Orto Parisi, it's italian. One of their scnets has the most fantastic review on fragrantica, I'll post it later, but I plan on slowly acquiring about 4 out ot 9 or so scents they have so far. Last week I got this one, it's called Boccanera, to me it smells like hot chocolate made with cocoa powder, chili, no sugar, and bog water instead of milk. Absolutely fucked up smell and I love it. I want to have sex with me when I wear it. Wearing it today, but I will save it mostly for winter, it's a bit warm for spring and summer.

Orto Parisi also have scents of lava and the muzzle of a gun after it was just fired (Terroni) and also one that literally smells like someone coming in from the rain in muddy leather boots and sitting by the fire (Cuoium). I NEED those.

Another everyday favorite is L'Heure Verte by Killian. It smells like a candy shop that specializes in black licorice and absinthe. To me it's a smell of old timey apothecary. Makes me feel like a sexy pharmacist that will sell you stuff to kill your husband, have an abortion or have safe sex. I'm mostly not a fan of By Kilian scents, but this one is an exception and I need 10 liters of that.

Another niche favorite is L'Enfant Terrible, by a niche brand Jovoy, and that's the bitch that got discontinued, causing me great sadness. I will be saving whatever I have left, about half a bottle. It smells to me like hiding in the forest after you've assasinated a monarch. Very unisex, very weird, unconvential woody scent that kicks you in the nostrils giving you a nosebleed and then makes out with you.

The one on my wishlist I guess (aside from aforementioned Orto Parisi ones) I think would be 2 from Histoires de Parfums, I might change my mind on them, but I liked them in the shop. Their whole deal is making parfumes based on a year in history, I liked 1828 and 1969:

#perfume #please ask me more about perfumes #long post #undescribed

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okaywowcool · 6 years

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I'm getting together my designs and what not to make clothing and lingerie. I had been planning in opening shop on Etsy, but I've read alot negative changes. Is there another platform I could use?

if you have a significant following, i would just launch your own website and then work on expanding your following and driving more people to it. unless you have a very specific niche (which, it’s hard to tell from this ask–clothing and lingerie are both extremely competitive, even if you’re serving an underrepresented market) you’re going to have trouble standing out in organic search results period, and trying to wrestle with etsy’s SEO is kind of tough–i recommend doing research on this before launching if you can.

people make fun of folks on etsy and ebay with titles like “pink crop top tshirt cropped tee pastel cute summer (etc…)” but the reason folks do that is they’re trying desperately to get their shit noticed in a sea of folks who have the following or $ to pay for better advertising anyway who are spending it on etsys’ promoted listings, or who are just getting featured by etsy randomly and raking in views, which then pushes them further to the top.

if you don’t have a following, you should definitely be working towards getting one. it’s a lot easier to build a brand if you’re being active on social media and trying to get people excited about what you’re doing. but if you’re small, and just starting out, etsy isn’t a terrible choice.

i know back in the day storenvy was also a good option for folks, but i have no idea how active they are now. the whole 10% on each marketplace sale PLUS what you have to pay in fees to stripe or paypal (and what you’ll eventually have to pay in taxes as an entrepreneur) seemed like a steep cut for me since my whole thing is keeping my prices as affordable as possible for the customer, and i left the platform shortly after that.

if you have an audience you can drive to it, tictail is free and a good starter store option that has a really nice clean interface and the ability to add apps and stuff to make certain things easier on you that are (or were, when i was on it) as cheap as like $1 a month, which is kind of a big deal. the only downside is that their marketplace isn’t extremely active, so you’ll have to work to push people to it rather than them just finding it organically most of the time.

shopify is also just like, my favorite and my go-to, it’s what i use today. there’s a reason big brands like colourpop, kylie cosmetics, thinx, penguin books, redbull, tesla, and skinnydip all use shopify–it works and it’s pretty much infinitely customizable, on top of being incredibly professional looking. but you’re also going to have to be driving 100% of your traffic, as shopify has no marketplace.

i recently sat down and did some math with my own sales calculating the percentage of sales that was actually being taken from each platform, which ends up varying wildly month to month based on a lot of different factors, but once you get into around $1000+ a month in sales you start saving money by using shopify. etsy has some hidden fees that really stack up when you’re actively moving products and having to renew listings constantly. you can account for those things in your item price of course, but when you’re in a competitive market where a $5 bump makes a significant difference to a customer you can start really losing out on sales.

so…it really depends on a lot of different factors for whether launching on etsy is a good choice or not, financially. i can tell you in terms of risk, any marketplace (including etsy) is a lot less of a time commitment and initial investment than shopify is. you can launch like a 10 item collection for $2.50 and then don’t have to pay anything else unless you have to renew a listing or the item is sold. all you’d need before hand is good pictures and to set up the listings which might take you like a week for taking photos and writing your listings but then you’re pretty much good to go. with shopify, you’re going to initially have to spend at least $29, and then setting up your shop isn’t difficult, but since you have so much more freedom and things you can do it’s a bigger time commitment. there are way more choices to be made, though you could still get something barebones up i’m sure, if for some reason you wanted that.

there’s a lot more i could say on the subject, but a lot of the decision making that you’ll need to do is going to be specific to the size of your business and your eventual goals with it. there’s also no harm with trying out these services and being on multiple platforms–i’ve always done that and it’s served me well in the past in helping me find what works best for me.

#asks!#anon #okaywowtext #shop advice #advice #Anonymous #long post

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dorothydelgadillo · 5 years

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Everything You Need to Know to Build an Extraordinary 2019 Facebook Ads Strategy [Expert Interview]

"I still think a lot of people don't understand all of the potential that's there for Facebook ads," says IMPACT Facebook Strategist Ali Parmelee.

Why? Because when Ali gets a chance to look under the hood of a business' Facebook ads account -- even if they've just come from another seasoned agency -- she's often surprised at how much they're not doing with the social advertising platform.

"They're still using Facebook ads as standalone a channels for one-off promotions and sales, instead of what they should be doing -- looking Facebook ads as a full-funnel solution."

After seeing Ali speak at IMPACT Live about full-funnel Facebook ad strategies, and having had the chance to pick her brain multiple times about Facebook since THINK merged with IMPACT last year, I had two thoughts.

One, she is a Facebook ads wizard. You only need to hear her speak for about 30 seconds before that fact becomes abundantly clear.

Two, given her "wicked New England smahts" about Facebook ads, I thought it would be a great idea to sit down with her to talk about how strategic and tactical marketing professionals should be looking at Facebook ads in 2019.

Her response?

"Absolutely! Marketers need to realize that -- most likely -- what they've been doing with Facebook ads is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more things they can and should be doing. I would love for them to start thinking about Facebook ads as part of their entire digital marketing strategy, not just a standalone piece."

Before we dive in, keep in mind that when we talk about Facebook ads, we're also talking about Instagram ads. The former owns the latter, and you manage both within the same Facebook ads portal.

OK, let's go!

What Were Some of the Big 2018 "Headlines" for Facebook Advertising?

First, Stories & Bots

According to Ali, Instagram stories stole the show last year -- which is why no one should have been surprised by the fact that Facebook has been aggressively pushing their own stories feature with users. (In fact, one of Ali's clients saw more than $50,000 in product sold from a single 15-second story ad that ran during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.)

The other major innovation in the Facebook ads space was the rise of the bot.

"The other huge, huge story for 2018 are bots. If you do not have bots as part of your Facebook ads repertoire, then you are missing the boat. People are already using Messenger for the customer service, but bot advertising is massive."

Ali recommends that if you want to learn more about bots and Facebook ads, you need to get familiar with ManyChat -- they're the primary player in the space.

But for Facebook, 2018 Was Also Basically One Long Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Of course, Facebook also spent the vast majority of 2018 mired in controversy:

With Yet Another Facebook & Instagram Outage, What Are Marketers Supposed to Do?

Facebook & Cambridge Analytica Roundup: 7 Updates on the Data Privacy Scandal

Should You Delete Your Facebook Account? Responses from Our Community

Advertisers Who Sued Facebook for Inflated Video Metrics Now Claim Fraud

NAACP's #LogOutFacebook Protest Uncovers a Whole New Danger of Data Misuse

4 Key Takeaways from Day 2 of Mark Zuckerberg's Congressional Hearing

Basecamp Deleted Facebook; Here's Why They Want You to Join Them

Ali's take?

"I think people got really caught up in the idea that there's all of these privacy issues happening -- Cambridge Analytica, Zuckerberg is going to Congress, Facebook has been exploited by foreign actors, lawsuits. Those are all serious issues, of course."

She continued, "You're always going to have ebbs and flows in the marketplace where you're going to get people who say, 'I'm out. I'm done. I'm not going back there.' I mean, my mom even did it. She took a break. And now she's still back posting cat videos a month later. Facebook has become so important in so many people's lives for different ways. And I think human nature of FOMO will always help with Facebook, as well. Plus, Facebook has also diversified to the point where it is amazing to me how many people don't realize that Instagram and Facebook are one and the same."

So, bottom line, we can't tell you what you should think about Facebook. But we can tell you that it's a powerful platform with millions and millions of users -- and right now, those numbers that aren't dwindling.

It's your choice whether or not you want to leave money on the table.

What Should Marketers Focus on with Facebook Ads & Instagram in 2019?

So, we've already discussed bots. And we've touched upon Instagram stories. But what lives at the heart of the success of Instagram (and soon Facebook) stories is UGC (user-generated content) and a type of marketing many are claiming is out of fashion -- or at least soon will be.

Influencer marketing.

A New Kind of Influencer

But instead of looking toward influencers that live at the top of the celebrity stratosphere -- like Blake Lively or (cringe) Kim Kardashian -- 2019 will be the year of the nano- and the micro-influencer.

What's the difference between those types of influencers?

Ali used me as a non-Blake Lively example. Three times a week, I go to 24 Hour Fitness to pick things up and put them back down again for up to an hour. To make it fun and hold myself accountable, I post an Instagram story of my Apple Watch showing my completed workout. (I've earned the right to brag, which brings something positive out of the pain.)

I'm not at a micro-influencer level by doing that, Ali says.

"Let's imagine you're talking that to another level, where you're specifically showing video of what it looks like there -- or you're talking about how they have this brand new program -- and it's amazing. If you have a super strong following, that's where it takes your user-generated content brings you into the sphere of being a micro- or nano-influencer."

Still, it wasn't clicking for me.

If I'm a brand, why are nano- or micro-influencers more powerful than say, getting a Ryan Reynolds to do something for me?

"They're more accessible," Ali pointed out. "Because people love to see themselves in these aspirational ads, and that more niche, every day-person influencer makes that much easier."

Also, Video Is Still King (Duh)

Next, Ali says video is another massive opportunity for 2019. But in a much bigger way than most marketers think, because -- as she pointed out at the start of our conversation -- too many marketers leverage Facebook as a one-dimensional platform.

"Everyone thinks you have to do 15-second, 30-second, 60-second videos ads, and that's what's going to work. I can tell you from tons of experience, that's one way to do it -- but that's not the only way. We have hugely massively successful clients where, we take their Facebook Lives -- that are in essence like mini shows that are 30 to 60 minutes long -- we turn those into ads."

An example from one of our clients.

Why do these more top-of-the-funnel, long-form videos work for brands trying to drive revenue growth?

"Because it's content, and it's helpful," Ali pointed out. "It's inboundy. You're not selling something, but it's educational -- you're going out of your way to empower people with genuinely valuable knowledge. So, who cares if it's sponsored? I'm learning something."

That's why Ali says she wants to challenge marketers to think outside the box with video and Facebook this year. Facebook Live, long-format videos... any kind of video that you can think of! Keep playing with it all and exploring.

Bots, Bots, Bots!

Also, bots will carry through to this year -- and like video, Ali encourages marketers to pretend like they're scientists in a laboratory. Now is the time to experiment.

"It's kind of like the Wild West right now with bots. There's so little known, and it's all just theory. So, be bold. Try things. But I will say, follow the rules. There are very specific rules for engagement that you have to follow with this."

What are the rules? Again, Ali says, "Get thee to ManyChat!"

Also, Don't Mentally Glaze Over Mobile

The only thing marketers talk more about than video is mobile. Mobile, this. Mobile, that. Mobile, first. Mobile, now. Always. Forever.

Unfortunately, that repetitive refrain of "Give me mobile-first, or give me death!" means that us marketers may forget how important mobile devices are to the effectiveness of more niche strategies -- like Facebook advertising and Instagram.

That's why Ali says, "Mobile is absolutely something that you have to be obsessive about this year -- from your ads to your overall digital footprint. What does it look like? How is your site working? When you're dropping people to your site, is it optimized or a proper mobile experience?"

It's not enough to ask, "Is my website responsive?"

For everything you create -- especially ads -- you need to run through the user experience of going from your ad to your landing page to... whatever comes next. You have to evaluate your Facebook and Instagram ad collateral and digital footprints from the perspective of, "What would I think of my brand and the experience, if I were to never interact with these ads or pages on a desktop?"

Ali's testing process is rigorous:

"Whenever we bring on a new ecommerce client, I have them issue me a test promo code. Then I run through the purchasing process, and I will check it on every platform to see what the experience is like. I'm checking to see if there are going to be UX problems. Is there going to be a conversion issue where, once I lead the horse to water, they won't be able to drink? That's my worst nightmare, and you'd be surprised how often businesses miss obvious roadblocks that will prevent the action they want their customers to take."

Still, Your Results with Facebook Ads & Instagram Will Only Be as Effective as Your Mindset

"You basically need to sit down and look at your entire marketing plan," Ali says.

Because if you continue to approach Facebook and Instagram advertising as if they're islands you only vacation on occasionally, when it comes to your marketing, you'll never see the results you're looking for.

Yeah, you'll see some results, but they'll be fractured. Never quite reaching the potential of what could be.

You'll never be like Ali's current client at IMPACT who saw 20% of their sales for December 2018 come from a single Instagram stories ad.

So, Ali says you need to embrace Facebook as an equal player in your overall strategy.

"What are you doing for email? What are you doing for your blog? What are you doing for video? What are you doing for your Google ads? Then, you need to ask with the same level of importance and weight, what are you doing with your Facebook ads and Instagram? Because everything that you're doing goes together as an omnichannel experience."

from Web Developers World https://www.impactbnd.com/blog/facebook-ads-strategy-tips-2019

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