Esther Salata and Benny create a safe outdoor environment with Benesafe Solutions

What do you do when you want to send your dog, Benny, out to play but you don’t want to use harsh or toxic chemicals in your yard to keep away mosquitos, ticks, and fleas? If you are Esther Salata AND you have degrees in Conservation Ecology and Environmental Science and Ecology, you create a natural lawn and garden spray. Of course you name it after Benny!

Enter Benesafe Solutions. Benesafe uses a proprietary blend of non-toxic ingredients to keep outdoor areas free from annoying pests. Best of all, it doesn’t harm people, pets or “good” insects like bees and butterflies.

The Issues

Growing a small business has many challenges. For Esther, her current distribution channels were not driving sales to the level she wanted. She knew there were better ways of thinking about sales, marketing, and branding, so she turned to TAP for guidance.

What did TAP do?

TAP consultants Jessica Ziegler and Jessica Mashkevich worked with Esther to do a deep dive into branding, distribution channels, and marketing collateral.  

• They created a competitive analysis for Esther and discussed how the non-toxic ingredients, coupled with its effectiveness, were Benesafe’s unique value proposition and competitive advantage.

• They conducted a distribution channel analysis and also reviewed Esther’s sales presentation. They looked at what was, and wasn’t, working and evaluated potential  distribution channels for Benesafe. 

• They reviewed label design to ensure that potential customers were getting the right message when seeing Benesafe on store shelves.

Esther also faced a common problem for entrepreneurs. It was hard to get the word out about a great product. So TAP created a calendar of activities to help guide sales and marketing, and made recommendations for better use of social media and public relations. TAP consultants also suggested how local ‘guerrilla marketing’ tactics could boost awareness.  

Taking advantage of growing environmental awareness, each of these small steps added up to an actionable marketing plan for Benesafe, allowing Esther and Benny (the official Benesafe mascot) to get the word out and build sales.

Esther wrote this in a post-project survey: “TAP provided me with two women mentors who were a perfect match for my business. They provided great perspectives that no other mentor has provided. I also feel more empowered to have such successful consultants who believe in me.”

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