Are You Too Small for Product Placement? The Foundations You Need Before Influencer Growth
Today we're going through product placement. It's one of the things I get asked about a lot, especially now with the rise of influencers and content creators. Everyone always asks me: at what stage in my business do I need to look at product placement?
Back in the day, product placement used to mean putting your products into TV shows, into magazines, into people's offices. Now, with the rise of influencers and content creators, product placement is so much easier to access. Most of you will have heard of Stacey Solomon. She did some amazing things over the last couple of years for small businesses and independent businesses by championing them — actually going out and finding small businesses, finding products where people had put their heart and soul into them, and then putting them on her Instagram.
It was great for the businesses that were set up for it. But there were some businesses that just weren't set up for it. The pressure and the demand actually made these businesses suffer, which was such a shame because there were some amazing businesses among them. The ones that were geared up for it, that were ready for it — it worked wonders. They managed to tap into that and get phenomenal growth. For the ones that weren't set up for it, I know at least one that actually shut down because they couldn't cope with the demand.
So really, it's about knowing whether you're ready for an influx of growth. Are you ready in your business for that influx of growth? For getting sponsorships, getting people to look at your products, getting influencers to look at your products?
People don't have to be famous in the traditional sense. A content creator or influencer can have more pull than some celebrities. And if they're working within your niche, then having some sort of collaboration with them is absolutely amazing. But you do need to make sure that your foundations are right in your business before you look at things like that.
I would always say: if you think you're ready and you've got it, go for it. Go for every opportunity. Get yourself out there. Speak to people. Network. One of the cheesy lines from back in the day is your network is your net worth. And even though it's cheesy, it is quite true. The more people you speak to, the more conversations you have, the more likely you are to get sales — because they'll talk to people. Oh, I know this person that does this. I know someone that does that. Let me put you in touch. I bought this fantastic product from this person — have a look. Those conversations are priceless and they are amazing for small businesses.
So how do you make them work for your business? By setting up your foundations. Look at your systems and your processes.
Just sit back and imagine. Tomorrow morning you wake up and you've got a thousand orders. Can you make a thousand of your products within a three to four-day turnaround? These are the sort of things you need to look at when you're considering growth, when you're considering product placement. You can't say to a Stacey Solomon-level audience that your standard turnaround is ten days. People may be happy with that ordinarily — but can you actually make a thousand of them in that time frame?
If you can't make them yourself, have you got the facility to bring people in to help you? When I was making my candles, I had a couple of really big orders from new companies in Europe that were amazing. But they all came through at once, and I was sat here thinking, I can't make that many candles by myself. Luckily, I had my husband, and my daughter, who came to help me. Granted, they weren't always happy about it — but they came and helped me get through it.
That's when I started looking at my processes. Looking at what I needed to do to make production faster. Looking at how much stock I needed to keep on the shelves to keep my standard orders moving when a big influx came in. So if you can't make them yourself, can someone come in and help you?
Is your product easily shippable? Is it something you can put in a single box and go? Or is it a big item — huge boxes? Are you going to try and get huge boxes to the post office, or do you have a system in place with DPD or Yodel where they'll come and pick up?
These little things — packing all the orders, then getting to the post office before it closes, getting to the local Yodel shop before it closes — these are the things that can trip up your business in the long run.
So if you're looking at working with influencers, if you're looking at developing a network of people you can send promotional items to, who'll do reviews for you — whatever your process is, ask yourself: is your make-and-pack process ready to scale? Is it ready for growth? Can you grow with it?
These are things you have to test. Can you make things in advance? Can you hold a stock of items, or do you not have the space?
I'm actually sat in my husband's office right now. It's our garage that we've had converted. Underneath this very attractive backdrop are all the shelves I use. This space was originally created for me to manufacture candles. I have shelves for stock, shelves for making supplies, and a packing station. I could literally open the front of the garage and let people come in and collect orders — because we used to do a click-and-collect service. There were a lot of trips to Ikea, but the space was designed to make the flow as easy as possible. To have as much storage as possible. To pre-make items and have them ready to go.
My most popular items were always made and on the shelves. During manufacturing runs, I'd make extras of my most popular items at certain times of year so I always had stock. If I got a last-minute order, I could send it the same day and it wouldn't cause a problem.
So look at the items you have, and the space you have. Can you pre-make things so they're ready? Have you got the space to section off part of your garage, or put a workspace in your garden, where you can put items together and say: right — if we got a thousand orders tomorrow, I'd only have to make half of them. I've got 500 sat there. Or 60 sat there, and it takes me three days to make another 60.
You know your lead times. These are the questions you ask yourself when you're looking at growth. It's not easy. It's fun. It's scary. But I've had as many tears in this garage from too many orders as I have from not enough. We cry over not enough orders, over wanting to grow, over wanting fantastic things — but I've had just as many tears when an influx of orders came in and I thought, oh my God, what am I going to do?
Being prepared, and looking at these things, is what prepares you for the future. For potential growth.
The question I started this with was: are you too small for product placement?
No. You're not too small for product placement. You're not too small to work with influencers. You're not too small to get yourself out there. But you might be too small to cope with the outcome of it.
Positive or negative — there's always a consequence to action. And if you're out there taking action, that's a brilliant thing. But can you cope with the consequence of that action? Have you got the facilities set up to actually go through the whole process?
Not everyone wants growth. Some people want to make some nice things, sell some nice things, pay off a few bills, have their pin money. Some people want the shop. Some people want the international sales. It's okay to want either side of that.
But if you're looking at product placement, if you're looking at influencers, if you're looking at advertising on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook — if you're looking at pushing for more sales — look at your systems. Start at the foundations and work it through. Go through each stage of your process from make to ship and ask whether you have the capability for growth.
At what point is enough growth? How many items can you make in a day? What's your limit? At what point have you gone too far? At what point do you say: okay, we need to get staff. Okay, we need to look at a warehouse. Okay, we need to look at funding.
Try to figure out your bottom-line numbers. Go through each stage of the process. And hopefully I'll see you on the influencers' websites — showing off your wares, showing how amazing your handmade products are.
