A few years ago we came up with the idea of placing brand messages/ads on the back slips within fortune cookies into targeted Chinese restaurants (don't worry, we leave the generic fortune on the front). We allow brands to play with the fortune so it leads into the ad but to make sure it stays generic- ex 1-Slip-Front- 'You will meet someone amazing tonight' Slip-Back- Ad message relating to Match.com or Eharmony etc. ex 2- Slip-Front- 'A dollar can change your life forever' Slip-Back- Ad message relating to a state lottery or casino etc. The founders spent many months cold calling and won over a few major clients- state lottery, politician etc. Unfortunately the business isn't sustainable if we don't change something- How do we scale our business? We have an online presence at www.fortunecookieadvertising.com but no current staff. We have channels into 40,000 Chinese restaurants distributing over 14M cookies daily and exclusive agreements with the largest fortune cookie factories in the country. Our issue is with sales- What is the best way of getting ad agencies, OOH consultants, alternative media agencies, brands to notice us? Do we hire business development or sales specialists? Do we focus on a specific type of online advertising? We can't continue at this pace and are looking for the best advice. Thanks in advance!
13 yr business growth specialist here and mentor at ATL Tech Village. I think I need a bit more information before rendering any advice. This is what I understand so far - you have an idea, a website and some cold-call originated sales. Were any of these sales significant? Did they renew? When you said, "we have channels" did that mean, "we have exclusive agreements with these companies" or that you know who they are? When you originated the idea and began talking about it, who in the market space (other than yourselves) got genuinely excited about it? For anyone to suggest an answer to your question (cold calling or otherwise) would be a guess at best or irresponsible at worse (cash burning) until we know exactly who would "care" about your offering - your solution. Once we know this we can then decide how best to approach a marketing and selling strategy.
Answered 9 years ago
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