Hot Mamas-to-be. Blanqi’s Given Birth. Now What?

Well, let’s be honest. I have no interest or skills in running a fashion business, and especially a maternity line. But that small matter aside a business is a business, and they all need to be promoted. Grow or die.

Blanqi is a new maternity thingy that I, with my man-afflicted-brain, think of as an athletic supporter for your baby bump.  It’s a comfort and control thing. If you’re interested then get over there and see it for yourself.

As for the ideas I have about promotion I am offering the following unsolicited advice.  I first became aware of the Banqi line last evening on the 11 o’clock news.  A local reporter did a nice puff piece on this local business. Moms doing their thing, and making a business.  Wow. Very good news.  I’m all for it.

The challenges to get a new product created, and put it into some major retailers have been overcome. The Blanqi items are there in the mall, and it’s time for the next step, blasting out of the atmosphere into zero gravity. Welcome girls.

My advice from my little promoter chair is pretty basic but it’s helpful to me to play this role out in my head…This sort of think is good practice for me.  If Blanqi hired me the advice I’d be giving [ off the top of my head in no rational order..] is:

1. get a Press Release out now about the local news coverage. A google search under ‘news’ yielded no result. – get a press release out via PRWeb.com, [even if it's only the $80 version.]  Issue 1 or 2 a month as news-worthy events or milestones are reached

2. keyword research – what are the hot keywords that you need to be using in your copy to attract more sales and what are the ones that lead to sales? Watch your  google analytics in your web pages and start building this vital list.

3. Offer some free ‘thing’ on the web page to begin building your email list.  there are countless maternity stories and articles that you could offer as a free digital download.  I’d think about getting little celebrity interviews about an actual pregnancy and offer the mp3 audio to your registered users. think behind-the-scenes VIP list – email lists are money

4. Articles – start filling the article directories with pregnancy articles from every conceivable angle. Backlinks from these will add to your web juice.

5. Your Facebook page is nice but need pimping out with a larger graphic and call to action. Engage with polls etc.. it’s mostly fine now but extra pages of interest will help. Ask some questions and take some risks here. these are your friends, and they’ll be your most gentle crowd.

6. your alexa.com ranking over 3+million and PageRank of 2 is weak but has established an online presence. You need to build this hard and fast with on and off-page promotional strategies.  Build Web 2.0 properties like Squidoo, Hub Pages, YouTube channels etc to bring in more horsepower. Maintain a small budget of $200-500 per month to outsource all this and keep it up forever.

7. Phone-size your Blanqi. Moms-to-be with Blanqi money have smart-phones and mobile optimized site is soon-to-be standard

8. build a photo site – like Flickr.com where fans can upload their baby(bump) photos! Get them in the act and bring in ever more content.

9. commit to online privacy and security and make it obvious that no facebook security woes are going to catch your fans off guard. Make it a digital Blanqi to control the web risks with comfort and style!

10. see NameChk.com and start registering your brand’s name in social web sites. Posterous, foursquare,  Flickr, and other top properties are available now. They will disappear if you don’t act quick. Youtube, Twitter, and WordPress are already gone.  I’d commit to another brand-line like “BlanqiMoms ” “blanqilines” “blankiwear” “blankershaper” as a plan-B

11. Keep having fun.  You seem to be and the be yourself and trust you gut is the best advice for anyone that’s made it this far.  You seem to be having a good time with the journey and that really is a joy to watch.  Thanks and cheer to your unstoppable success!

bonus – have you set up a Google Alert so that you’ll receive a notice whenever Blanqi is mentioned online? If you have you will get an email telling you about this article not long after I hit the publish button.

Go Get’em!