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Ask HN: How to market Fat Ninja Hot Sauce

5 points by seasoup ↗ HN
Hey guys, I got a different sort of site then those normally submitted on here. I'm selling a physical product... my Fat Ninja Dragon Balls Hot Sauce. It's a home made hot sauce that everyone I've had try it says that I should sell it. It's very spicy, and has a smoky flavor to it. My wife and I put in on almost everything. We love it.

I've gone through the process of finding bottles, designing a web site:

http://www.fatninjahotsauce.com

hooking it up to paypal, designing a label, etc, etc. I'm now ready to market it. Anyone on here have any ideas for some cheap or free online marketing methods? Love to hear them.

Thanks!

12 comments

[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 36.1 ms ] thread
nudge
Find some college students and offer $100 to anyone who can drink an entire bottle. Film it. Put it on youtube with a link to your homepage at the end of the video. If it works, run a whole series of hot-sauce-abuse videos. Just make sure you get people to sign waivers first.
seasoup
That sounds really funny, but my stomach is hurting just thinking about it!
qq66
I remember hearing about a kid who chugged a cup of hot sauce on a dare maybe 10 years ago and died. Not sure if it's urban legend or not, but obviously if you had paid the kid $100 to do it you would be in a heap of trouble.
icey
Eh, people eat Bhut Jolokia peppers all the time on dares, I haven't heard of anyone dying from it. I spent 30 seconds googling and couldn't find any instances of anyone dying from hot sauce, save one fellow who died after a hot-sauce eating dare; but the article doesn't say what the cause of death was.

Anyways, it might not be a bad idea for some viral videos assuming the OP spends more than 30 seconds researching, involves a lawyer, draws up liability waivers, etc...

Scott_MacGregor
In addition to your internet marketing, go in person to all of your local grocery stores, give the mangers a special free small trial bottle and ask them to order a case.

Get it in the local stores, and then go national.

To build a local customer base (cash flow), ask the store to feature it on an endcap even if you have to give it away at cost.

seasoup
Sounds like a great idea, thanks!
qq66
Also, you can "droplift" -- print up a label with a bar code of another hot sauce at the price point you want -- and leave them surreptiously on store shelves. Have directions on the label to a website where you can order more.
GrowWebs
I would also try marketing to Firehouse Subs. http://www.firehousesubs.com/

If you have never been, they make delicious subs and have a large selection of hot sauces. Probably over 50 different types in each store.

oomkiller
The key to retails products is distributors. Get enough local support (this also tests the market to see if it's a viable product), then contact distributors to talk about regional, then nationwide distribution. You should also get a website running where you can have it shipped to you. Finally, it's hot sauce, don't be stingy with free samples!
pedalpete
Try to get your product used in bbq or cooking competitions. I saw something like that on the Food Network where the whole show was about different Hot Sauces and how they were judged.
akshaybhat
Do you have proper approval from FDA? I believe if you are hoping to mass market the product anytime. I feel you would require some kind of FDA approval/certification process. Also does your bottle has proper food label which lists ingredients and nutrition info. You might find this comment annoying but be prepared to gather and print such information on the bottle if you wish to stay clear of any headaches (or worse lawsuits) in future.
sga
The following link has some good disscussion that is relevant to your scenario: http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=2003...

Also I remember seeing a variety of "homemade" fare being pitched on Dragon's Den (Canadian version) in the past. You might consider trying to track down videos of these pitches as there may be relevant info regarding the marketing steps the entrepreneur has taken and what the Dragons suggest. For example there was an episode about "Ebesse Zozo Hot Sauce": http://www.cbc.ca/dragonsden/pitches/ebessezozo.html

I wasn't able in the short amount of time that I looked to track down a copy of that episode.

Interestingly (given comments below about a video) there's a video of a kid drinking Ebesse Zozo Hot Sauce .. not very entertaining mind you and only 435 views: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg8wcn7xHA4

There's also info here about Denzel's Hotsauce: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Denzels-Hotsauce/37098955726

Reading through the wall posts should act as a great source of ideas for the various methods this person is using to market their hotsauce.