

Ask HN: How to market Fat Ninja Hot Sauce - seasoup

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.<p>I've gone through the process of finding bottles, designing a web site:<p>http://www.fatninjahotsauce.com<p>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.<p>Thanks!
======
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!

~~~
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.

------
sga
The following link has some good disscussion that is relevant to your
scenario:
[http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=2003...](http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=20033)

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.

------
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.

