Selling online at eBay, Amazon or wherever, one needs to still remember and use the Four Ps of marketing. You don't need to be a "big marketing expert" or consult one, just keep a few simple things in mind.
I’ve been fortunate to have taught marketing at the
university level, offer marketing advice to small and large companies, and
continue now doing so in my books, blogs, speaking events and private
consultations. Being that I’ve done this for so long, it’s easy to think that
everyone knows what I know so I have to remind myself to always start with the
basics; here are the basics: Know your customer, know your product and service
and use the four Ps to promote your product and service to that customer via in
a way that they want to be marketed. There’s a whole lot more to this and it
can be a daunting task but when you stick to these basics, with all of your
marketing efforts, you will be more successful.
Create a marketing plan around these four Ps. READ MORE: As
with anything “People don’t plan to fail; they fail to plan”. Have a marketing
plan, however basic, using these four Ps and stick with it for a while and then
continue to “tweak” it as your business grows.
Know you Product
inside and out, become an expert about it. Now “learn” it again but from the
customer’s point of view.
Price your
product or service according to what your customer wants to pay, get in the
mind of your customer here.
At what Place
will your customer find your product; the Internet, stores, etc.?
The Promotion is
the fun part of the four Ps and most creative.
This includes everything in
marketing your product or service but can be the most costly and you have to be
careful in both investing too much or too little in the areas of creating your
logo, brochures; basically anything from business cards to billboards.
Remember, it’s not expensive to use an expert in marketing your business; it’s
expensive not to.
Don't forget that you can use imprinted promotional ideas in your marketing. As a seller at eBay, Amazon and other sites, I like to build my customer base just as with my other sales outlets. I include something "extra" when I ship things to customers as a "thank you". I use things that don't add much to the shipping cost, and many times it has my imprinted information on it such as my web address, web store etc. A great place to get imprinted promo items at a great price, with great service and on time shipment is:
www.myimprintrep.com. I know because it is one of my companies! Check us out.
Ter Scott offers Marketing Coaching for your business. You can
get details at:
www.terscott.com/marketingcoach.
He also offers special rates to owners of businesses under 3 years old.
