Marketing ides

Source: Fastlane by MJ
1) Press releases ... a great way to get FREE publicity. Because the cause is good and somewhat newsworthy, there is a good chance that it might be given airtime on major news outlets. If not, the release still might get picked up on news aggregators on other websites. The other benefit to good PR is you might get calls from media outlets that want to use your product in some sort of promotion (A cable TV cooking show for example)

2) Partner with websites that cater to your target market. Could be gourmet foods, chefs, recipe sites, or even charitable foundations. Obviously, the type of partner / joint-venture arrangement is dependent on your offer and what you are capable of supporting, tracking, and executing. It can be an extravagant arrangement involving revenue shares, product placement, or something as simple as link exchanges.

There are two entities you can approach -- 1) The product (jams, jellies) and 2) The good cause of helping disadvantaged children.

I think as you dive into marketing, you will see which entity approach provides you the most traction.

3) Traditional PPC campaigns targeting all your products specifically. I'd think that your keywords would be fairly cheap -- examples, "peanut butter jam" "amish family recipes" etc. When you start dabbling in the generic words "recipes" then things get quite costly and competitive.

4) Traditional SEO -- again, each product you offer should have its own page that specifically promotes that product. This will help your organic rankings for specific product searches which is how most people search.

5) Affiliate programs -- start your own affiliate program or join a management network. When your affiliates sell your product, you pay them a cut. To find affiliate networks that you can join, hit Google and type in "AffiliateNetworks". Do your diligence on these as they can get costly and some have affiliates that are just plain horrible.

6) Attempt to create a community whereas users can see the benefits of their work. As with all donations, people LOVE to see their money at work. If people don't see their money at work they are less likely to give. I know this is a content issue moreso marketing, but creating community generates traffic and buzz. Word-of-mouth is the best marketing tools available. Perhaps a "Children who have been helped" and their pictures and what kind of help they received.

7) Free giveaways - Promote a giveaway, a contest, or something and promote it on your site, your MySpace/Facebook pages etc. Perhaps a "Jam of the Month?" or a contest? Giveways are great -- just an example right here -- the daily visitors here spiked 40% when I offered D. Kennedy's FREE book. While the traffic spike might be temporary, it surely will increase quality users over the long haul which is the long-term goal. Contests can also be promoted via Press Release.

8) Post articles to article websites pertaining to either Amish Recipes or charitable causes. Allow users to DIGG them. Same goes for your own website.

Source: Fastlane by Andrew
I would suggest focusing on the public relations side and hitting it really hard. Ignore the advertising and SEO for now. Your business sells itself so you already have an edge. Build a contact list of journalists -- newspapers, magazines, cable news networks, local news networks, blogs, major web sites, and so on. Every single contact you make needs to be very focused and tailored to that specific individual. Look at previous work the reporter has written and figure out how to tie that into your first contact. Having the personalized approach is critical, and you will get responses, guaranteed.