There is so much more to marketing a product, or group of products, than simply listing them on a price list, putting them up on an online auction or displaying them in a retail location or online shopping cart. With so many “me too” products, all coming from China and Asia, what can you do to make your sales proposition seem more inviting than others?
With the plethora of outlets for so many different products, all competing for the consumers’ hard earned disposable income, proper marketing techniques are required to move your products into the consumers hands. Where to start?
FREE! Is always a good attention getter and should never be overlooked when promoting a product. It can be buy one, get one free. Or buy this and get that free. You should promote this as a Bonus, not an every-day event, but something special, with a stated time limit to create instant response.
While instantly moving product is a great result, building an expanding customer base should also be part of your marketing effort. Why settle for a one-time sale when you have an opportunity to develop a returning customer? So, instead of turning over the free item right away, possibly you could require a registration of some sort in order for the buyer to get their free goods.
Offering samples is another way to get your products out. Of course, it does take a product that will bring the buyers back to you. This requires two things – a unique product that they can’t buy just anywhere and a product that will live up to the hype you create. If you are selling “just another whatever” save your time and costs, this will not produce the results you seek.
Get endorsements. It’s great to get them free. Simply having quotes and maybe pictures of average folks who can back up your claims for the product are great selling points. Having a friend who is a local, regional or national personality of some sort or another, who will speak in behalf of your product can be a real blessing.
Even having a friend of a friend who can get you in touch with a celebrity endorser is great! You may have to put out some cash, some free goods, or both, but if you can get someone with name recognition to endorse your product, it may very well be the least expensive promotion you have done.
No, you’re not going to get TV star or sports hero for a free lifetime supply of your product. But maybe the now retired local news announcer whose name is well recognized, the “didn’t quite get elected” politician (“I may have lost the election, but I found a winner with whatever”), the other local and regional folks who are more than anxious to have their face seen, under almost any condition.
Free Shipping! From “As seen on TV” to buying online, most people expect those immortal words “Plus shipping and handling”. Show you are different. Stand out from the crowd. You can very often capture all or most of your cost with a higher base price, if you can put the product in your customer’s hands for a lower total cost than others.
By far the major cause of “abandoned shopping carts” with online stores is people going to the next to last step, just before payment, to find the true total cost. Save them the bother, offer free shipping and stand out from the crowd.
Standing out is what you want to do. “Here is what sets me apart from the others.” And then do something to set you apart. Make a statement. Offer a full refund guarantee. Offer a “double your money back” guarantee, if you have the profit to cover the few who will buy just for the refund.
Or, come up with a “guarantee” no one will want, but will make you stand out in the minds of consumers. In my area, and I’m sure in others, there is a garbage collection service with the guarantee “Satisfaction Guaranteed or Double Your Garbage Back!” I doubt anyone has ever taken them up on it, but it is a sales message that stands this company apart from the others.
As with so many things in business, think outside the box.
The purpose of this article is not to give you an exact blueprint, since everyone reading it would get the same blueprint. The purpose is to stimulate your mind and get you to that “Oh Yeah!” moment when you come up with your own idea of how to incorporate your own specific ideas into the broad outlines offered here.
You can offer “me too” products at “me too” prices in the same old “me too” manner of most of your competition and possibly survive. Or, you can take those same products and use some of the marketing tips offered here and rise above your competition in both sales and profits. The choice is yours.
With the plethora of outlets for so many different products, all competing for the consumers’ hard earned disposable income, proper marketing techniques are required to move your products into the consumers hands. Where to start?
FREE! Is always a good attention getter and should never be overlooked when promoting a product. It can be buy one, get one free. Or buy this and get that free. You should promote this as a Bonus, not an every-day event, but something special, with a stated time limit to create instant response.
Offering samples is another way to get your products out. Of course, it does take a product that will bring the buyers back to you. This requires two things – a unique product that they can’t buy just anywhere and a product that will live up to the hype you create. If you are selling “just another whatever” save your time and costs, this will not produce the results you seek.
Get endorsements. It’s great to get them free. Simply having quotes and maybe pictures of average folks who can back up your claims for the product are great selling points. Having a friend who is a local, regional or national personality of some sort or another, who will speak in behalf of your product can be a real blessing.
No, you’re not going to get TV star or sports hero for a free lifetime supply of your product. But maybe the now retired local news announcer whose name is well recognized, the “didn’t quite get elected” politician (“I may have lost the election, but I found a winner with whatever”), the other local and regional folks who are more than anxious to have their face seen, under almost any condition.
Free Shipping! From “As seen on TV” to buying online, most people expect those immortal words “Plus shipping and handling”. Show you are different. Stand out from the crowd. You can very often capture all or most of your cost with a higher base price, if you can put the product in your customer’s hands for a lower total cost than others.
By far the major cause of “abandoned shopping carts” with online stores is people going to the next to last step, just before payment, to find the true total cost. Save them the bother, offer free shipping and stand out from the crowd.
Or, come up with a “guarantee” no one will want, but will make you stand out in the minds of consumers. In my area, and I’m sure in others, there is a garbage collection service with the guarantee “Satisfaction Guaranteed or Double Your Garbage Back!” I doubt anyone has ever taken them up on it, but it is a sales message that stands this company apart from the others.
As with so many things in business, think outside the box.
The purpose of this article is not to give you an exact blueprint, since everyone reading it would get the same blueprint. The purpose is to stimulate your mind and get you to that “Oh Yeah!” moment when you come up with your own idea of how to incorporate your own specific ideas into the broad outlines offered here.
You can offer “me too” products at “me too” prices in the same old “me too” manner of most of your competition and possibly survive. Or, you can take those same products and use some of the marketing tips offered here and rise above your competition in both sales and profits. The choice is yours.
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