Jo Soard, known as The Chocolate Lady, founded the All-In-
Chocolate
Shoppe/Jo's
Kandy Kitchen in 1976. What started as a hobby has grown into a nationwide business that uses 150 lbs. of chocolate a week to create specialty chocolates for customers such as Mobil, Embassy Suites and Dollywood.
Jo can be reached by phone at 800-4-
CANDY-3 or by e-mail at all_in_
chocolate@
msn.com. You can also visit The All-In-Chocolate Web Site for more information.
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Jo Soard
All-In-Chocolate Shoppe/
Jo's Kandy Kitchen
Owner of a specialty chocolate company "The key to my marketing strategy has been active networking. Interestingly, getting people to talk about your company is exactly the affect that specialty chocolates have on people when they receive them. And, when you don't give your chocolate business card to someone who knows about it, they'll ask for one.
When I network, I hand out a small packet that contains one of my chocolate specialty samples and my business card. I change the samples to reflect upcoming events, such as Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc. We have over 3,000 molds available to make unique chocolates that can fit any marketing strategy. I make sure that people know that we are the only shop that specializes in fresh, custom-made chocolates. People know this is true when they taste the samples I give them.
The most important result people receive from giving specialty chocolate is having themselves or their company remembered. Think how a chocolate business card will stand out in someone's mind. Chocolate is a marketing tool with a double impact because you can make an impression on several senses at once: sight, touch, taste and smell.
We've created chocolate tool kits filled with chocolate tools to emphasize a customer's repair services. People imprint their logos on chocolate business cards and hand them out at trade shows or send them as thank-yous. We've made chocolate houses as thank-yous for real-estate transactions. The key is using your imagination to create a chocolate speciality that will help the customer get remembered...and they'll continue to remember how you've helped them. They'll be back for more.
We're now receiving orders from all over the country due to our Web Site. It's important to make sure that you include your site URL on every piece of marketing material you hand out - stationery, business cards, flyers, etc. I recently purchased a series of ads in bridal magazines and made sure that each ad included our 800 number and the Web Site address. We're getting more and more online visits and orders every day. Our site is not on a secure server, so we made sure that people can print out a fax order form from the site on their printer that they can complete and fax to us. People feel comfortable about doing that, especially with credit card orders.
Don't be afraid to be different in your marketing. If you have a trade show coming up, have chocolate bars imprinted with your booth number and the message "Come by for a sweet deal". Mail them to your clients a week before the show to remind them that you're going to be there. Marketing with chocolate can lead to sweet success.
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