Sales channels to reach your customers
Selling through retailers, wholesalers and other distributors
Selling through an intermediary may be a more cost-effective way of reaching your end-customers than selling to them directly.
If you are targeting business customers who prefer to deal with large suppliers, selling directly to them may not be a realistic option. Instead, you might aim to supply wholesalers who have existing relationships with those businesses.
If individual consumers buy low value quantities of your products, the best option might be to target retailers that sell similar products. Or you might choose to focus your efforts on a relatively small number of wholesalers who can in turn supply your products to many retailers.
Other distribution channels may also reach your end-customers. For example, technology suppliers often sell to resellers who can configure and install the technology to suit end-users’ particular needs.
Managing your distributors
You need distributors who will value your product. If they sell competing products, what will make them push yours?
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Think about how you set your prices. Distributors will be more enthusiastic if they can make a large profit – but setting too low a price will eat into your own margins.
Effective advertising and promotions can be vital. As well as marketing to the distributor, you can promote your products directly to end-customers. Distributors will be keener to stock and sell products that their customers are asking for.
The key terms of the supply relationship should be covered in a written contract. Key issues might include:
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how much stock the distributor will hold
what the distributor will do to promote your products
how quickly you can resupply and minimum order levels
whether the distributor has exclusive rights to your product (for example, in a particular territory)
what happens if either you or the distributor want to end the relationship
Business ideas, Marketing and sales , promotions and advertising ideas , articles
Online Marketing
Online Marketing of Information is one of the few types of businesses out there that is still generating millions of dollars and doing it via the internet.
The 8 Steps To Starting Your Own Online Marketing of Information Business
Now is NOT the time to sit around in your business holding on to your wallets and sitting frozen on what to do next. Its time to TAKE ACTION! No, Im not suggesting you have to spend a lot of money either, although if youre really struggling or unsure of what to do, hiring a coach like me of course would be well worth the investment.
What I want you to look at though is your current business model. Is it the same as it was 5 years ago (or more!)? If so, I would suggest you look at some opportunities and possibilities that are all around you to TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL.
If you are just starting out in business then pay particular attention because this online marketing of information business model is working for tens of thousands of entrepreneurs all over the world. There are billions of dollars being made online RIGHT NOW even in this economy.
People are still spending money. If the ones youre talking to are not spending then its simpleyou either need to talk to different people or create a product or service that people ARE BUYING right now.
It can be that simple.
No, you dont have to know a lot about computers to do online marketing.
No, you dont have to know how to design a website or blog to do online marketing.
No, you dont need to travel all over the place meeting people to do online marketing.
You can do this from your home with a computer. You want to surround yourself with people and mentors to support you in building, growing and maintaining this business because when its up and running and youre marketing it effectively you will be able to work from anywhere in the world you want. The business literally can run itself with a little bit of automation and systematization set up.
When I changed my entire business model to this online marketing model I immediately got back 50 hours per week that I was spending working on all my clients work or busywork. I now spend that extra time developing new products and services, marketing, thinking bigger, building relationships, coaching with my coaches and mastermind group and traveling to events or networking locally to fill my funnel.
Most business owners that run traditional businesses without this type of online marketing model dont have the time in the day, week or even each month to be doing such tasks. You may not have time to work your business like you need to really see it grow and to make more money!
So, where do you start?
Step 1Brainstorm and Research
Something youre passionate about but also will make money.
Meet with other people or a coach that is doing this type of business and throw some ideas around. Determine if theres a market for what you come up with and how the business will make a profit too; these things are often overlooked. Many people follow their passions first; they start marketing or branding without even testing to see if anyone wants to buy what theyre offering or if they can even turn a good profit.
Now IS THE TIME to take action in your business. Its time to think bigger, dream bigger, make bigger goals and take bigger leaps of faith in order to truly get the business and life of your dreams.
Step 2Choosing the Right Business Model
That fits your Lifestyle
What do you do exactly? Do you have memberships? Are you product focused? Are you service focused? Do you do live events? How about affiliate marketing, or teleclass series? How about ecourses and more?
Im talking about leveraging your expertise, knowledge, systems, services, information, etc. into products and services you can create one time and then sell over and over again via the internet.
If youre already marketing information online you still may want to pay attention because I can almost guarantee that you will be negligent in one, two or even maybe three of the steps I plan to cover. Changing these things in your business could generate tens of thousands of dollars in your pocket if you tweak a few things.
We know millions of people are still spending money. The question is how do you get a piece of that pie?
Well, Step 2 in this process is Choosing the Right Business Model.
For example, if you love to speak to groups, teach, educate and lead workshops, yet your #1 goal is to be at home with your two little kids each day after school and on weekends, it would be very important NOT to start a business where you will spend time over the weekends out of town or conducting workshops, retreats and live events, right?
Instead you might choose a model where more phone and internet interaction is present or where you write curriculum that you can email out or teach over a webinar rather than live.
Here are some examples of online marketing of information business models:
Running online memberships interactive or not, they can include many features and benefits but the goal here is teaching 1 to many instead of 1 to 1 to leverage your time.
Product focused websites this can be good if you have a lot of great information that people want and are searching for (That is the key. Its one thing to think your information is important and great but its another thing to actually make sure people want it.)
Service based websites and companies you can work with customers 1 on 1 or 1 to many in a teleclass or webinar series (live or recorded), or in ecourses (automated).
Hosting live events either small groups and retreats or really large seminars with multiple speakers. These can be big money makers in various ways.
Affiliate marketing you can promote everyone elses great products and services and make money doing it!
You can do a combination of these things too; I do them all!
Now, granted you cant just plop a web page up or a blog and think people will come and buy right away. You still have to set up systems, your support team, build a responsive list and manage ongoing marketing campaigns. There is more to do but the first thing you want to do is think about the type of model that will best fit your lifestyle AND will help you provide your gifts. (Note from Tomtheres a great Business Ideas Goal Setting Form that you can download in pdf form and use to evaluate whether your potential business model fits the lifestyle you want.)
The goal isnt always about money and if you dont do this step before leaping into business, you could end up working yourself into a JOB.
We want you to develop a business model that fits your life, your family but also inspires you and motivates you each day to give and live your purpose, share what youre passionate about so that others lives will be changed for the better. Thats the ultimate goal I would hope for most of you. Now, where the money comes in is setting this business up right from the beginning and not trying to do what needs to be done halfway. The SYSTEMS are the key to you living the life of your dreams with a much easier business model where you dont have to work so hard.
Ive done it, hundreds of my friends have done it and you can too. Id love to show you how!!
Step 3Develop and Price your Products, Programs and Services
What will you sell? Something tangible or yourself?Well, Step 3 in this process is Figuring Out What to Sell and How to Price It.
So, what will you sell?
Will you sell yourself and your time? Will you sell hourly, monthly or annual coaching or consulting services, packages or programs?
If so, how much will you charge per hour, per month, etc.?
Will you definitely charge what youre worth or will you charge less thinking that people wont pay what you think you are worth? Be careful undercharging or under valuing yourself. I say you charge what youre worth and then find the people who agree and will pay you that fee.
What is included in your services call in hours, 1 on 1 calls, group Q&A calls, in person meetings, emailing, critiquing, resources?
What can you also offer as a bonus to get people to sign up?
Will you sell your information and expertise? You can put almost anything you know about into an information marketing product these days. Of course you do want to make sure people want what youre selling so doing surveys and research first is critical.
You can write an article, read it on a teleclass for a product, then record it too and you have an audio recording or CD. Transcribe the call and edit with the article and maybe beef up a bit and you have the ebook to go with the CD!
Or record yourself talking about a topic, transcribe it and you create the product it can be that simple.
There are numerous other ways to create products to sell talk to me for more ideas!!
So, how much is your expertise worth? Well, look around at other similar products, compare price and content then start somewhere and possibly test out different prices or survey an audience to see what they would spend. Typically for an information marketing product you can charge 10 times the amount it actually costs to produce if youre selling a hard copy product. If youre selling a digitally delivered product, you can do it for less and focus on volume sales.
Will you hold live events, retreats, workshops, seminars or other in person meeting? You can sell those one by one or in a series and if you record those or videotape those then you have a home study kit!
Pricing for events is hard to generalize. Some bigger 3+ day events typically go for $3000, others can go for less. It depends on your goals for your event and what else you have to sell at the event too where else you can make money
.
You can do a combination of these things too; I do them all! But you do typically want to start with ONE thing first, then add to it and so on.
Now, granted you cant just plop a web page up or a blog and think people will come and buy right away. You still have to set up systems, your support team, build a responsive list and manage ongoing marketing campaigns for any of these things to sell properly.
Ive done this and taught hundreds of my clients how to do this and you can do it too. Id love to show you how!!
Now IS THE TIME to take action in your business. Its time to think bigger, dream bigger, make bigger goals and take bigger leaps of faith in order to truly get the business and life of your dreams.
I help you go from INSPIRATION TO IMPLEMENTATION!! Lets brainstorm on whats possible for YOU!
Step 4All About Logistics
If you figure out what you want to sell and just go out there and try to sell it but you bypass setting up the systems and automating them, then youre defeating the purpose of doing an online marketing business in the first place. Youll be running around trying to manage and process the orders manually wasting a bunch of your time and money if you dont set up the business the right way FIRST. So, what do you need to set up exactly?
Business Basics
You really should consider getting a business license even though youre selling online
You should definitely get a business bank account; dont mix personal and business funds
You may need business cards if you network in person
You must have a website and web presence professionally designed mind you or at least a blog to get you started depending on your type of business! See Toms note at the bottom.
Start putting everyone you know into a contact database on the computer. Do this right away or pay someone to do it but if you wait it will be way too big of a chore. Start with an Excel spreadsheet if you want, it doesnt matter in the beginning; you dont need any fancy software right off the bat.
Technology
Since youll be selling online, youll want to get a shopping cart hooked up to your website.
Youll need a merchant account company. This can be your bank too but this is the liaison between your shopping cart and your bank account. (I recommend PracticePaySolutions.com as one option. I have others too.)
I also recommend signing up for an online data backup system because you never know when your computer might freak out and you dont want to rely on backing up yourself or it wont get done! (I recommend Mozy with unlimited backup for $4.95 per month or 2GB Totally Free Online Backup! Compliments of Mozy.)
Outsourcing
I do recommend you hire a bookkeeper as soon as possible to manage your sales and using Quickbooks. Its much easier starting with one right away so your books dont get out of hand.
I do recommend you hire a Virtual Assistant to handle any of the technology or shipping aspects of running your business right from the start otherwise you will spend too much time on those tasks (web changes, processing orders, fulfillment, blog updates, some social networking, etc.). You never want to do anything (even in the beginning stages) that you dont like to do, dont know how to do or that someone else can do much faster or cheaper than you can. Think about what your time is worth.
Now, granted there is way more to set up but these are the basics; Ill get into much more detail in the next step!
Step 5Setting up Systems
Whats the process? How do you take visitors through your sales funnel? Who is doing what? What is automated through your cart or site? What needs to be done manually?
Step 5 in this process is Setting Up Your Systems. (No, not the sexiest of steps, I know)
If you figure out what you want to sell and you just go out there and try to sell it but you bypass the part about setting up the systems and automation then youre defeating the purpose of doing an information marketing business in the first place. Youll be running around trying to manage and process the orders manually wasting a bunch of your time and money if you dont set up the business the right way FIRST.
So, what do you need to set up exactly?
What will your processes consist of?
How will you get new prospects to enter your funnel or website?
What is your sales funnel you want to take prospects through once theyre on your list, to buy your products and services?
Which parts of this should you automate through your shopping cart?
Which parts will have to be done manually and whos going to do what?
This part is CRUCIAL to your success. Think about it this way:
If you do get an opt in box on your website and people sign up for your ezine and free offers, yet you dont have a plan for where you want to send them next via email autoresponders (that can be prewritten and set up to launch once they sign up) or your ezine call to action .they probably wont buy anything, right?
People dont typically take the initiative on your website. People are busy and if you dont SHOW THEM EXACTLY what you want them to do next, theyll move on to something else (for the most part).
Yes, you could have a really fabulous website and people could love to read it but if you arent funneling them to specific pages on that site where you want them to go to buy a specific product or sign up for a specific teleclass or seminar, they wont necessarily find their way on their own.
So, setting up the process in which you want to take new visitors through your marketing funnel is really important but 9 times out of 10 I see entrepreneurs missing this step all together.
Either youre too busy yourself or you think ok, my website is finally up, whew, I can relax now. Alternatively you think I have my ezine running every month or every other week, whew, I can relax now; now the sales will start coming in.
Nope, that doesnt happen. You have to MARKET your website and what you have to offer. And there are so many ways to market your site.
For setting up systems there are things you need to do such as:
Write really compelling copy on your website in the first place (its rare that I see good copy these days by the way; get help if you need it ask me how!)
Write really compelling autoresponders, and many of them; all with call to action on the next step
Write down the processes for everything youre doing, from getting a new visitor to your site, who will send out the initial responses to new subscribers or new contacts you meet in person, who will send out the mailed responses to these folks?
These lists or processes that you write down become your SYSTEMS and once you have written systems, you can delegate them!
Think and plan ahead for how a customer will experience your website, the process of buying a product or service, etc. For example, what if your customer buys a product but you forget to send him a thank you page and dont send him an autoresponder? You could lose the customer or he may want a refund because hes not confident that youll deliver if you arent even communicating with him about his order in any way? Plus, your original sale could be higher if you take the opportunity to up sell him right when hes buying the first thing?
Now, these four things you want to do actually could turn into 400 things quickly depending on how many products or services you offer and what your overall goal is with your website and business!
So, dont skip this step or youll get so far behind the 8-ball so to speak that one year or more into your business you will be lost and overwhelmed by all that has to get done to catch up so stop and do this now.
Step 6Hit the Ground Running
This is where you start and what you do to start making money. You should know how you are marketingreferral source or affiliate marketing, database marketing and new biz marketing, online and offline.
This is finally the marketing part of this whole equation.
So where do you start? What do you do?
Well, I like to start with free first, and then pay options how does that sound to you?
I usually recommend marketing options based on 3 different categories or types of marketing. They are:
Database Marketing
Referral Source Marketing
New Business Marketing
The reason I break it down like this is because most small business owners focus most of their efforts in only one area, going after new business, and they forget or choose not to do much to market to their databases or referral sources which are the easiest to go after! Let me explain each and give you some examples.
Your Database Marketing is marketing to everyone and anyone you know .regardless of your relationship. This includes your hair dresser, dentist, neighbors and friends. More than likely everyone you know could be a potential prospect or referral source (but well talk about referral sources separately).
Database Marketing needs to be done via email, mail, phone, visits and fax if you can the more ways the better! The goal is to be on top of mind with everyone you know (and those you add to your DB too) all the time so if they or someone they know needs your products or services, you are the first person they think of.
Database Marketing can be:
Sending out bi-weekly or weekly ezines (monthly dont work)
Holding regular teleclasses or events they can attend
Mailings to them often and consistently
Reminder phone calls and follow up calls
Networking or speaking at events they can attend
Your Referral Source Marketing is marketing to all those individuals, companies or groups that directly target your target market. They are comparable businesses to yours or big fans of yours that will be most likely to refer business to you. You want to go through your database and build a big list of these people, companies or groups that you can market to. You may even want to do a search via industry to find or connect with more individuals or companies to add to that list and market to.
The marketing messages that youll send to Referral Sources will be slightly different than the ones you send to your regular database of prospects and contacts and a lot different than the ones you send to new businesses.
Referral Source Marketing can be any or all of the above plus:
Invite referral sources to be guests on your teleclasses or speak at your events (and offer to do the same for them)
Invite referral sources to use your articles or information in their ezines or websites (and offer to do the same)
Build an automated online referral program (typically called an Affiliate Program I have one, check it out online!)
Send referral sources prewritten email or web copy or mailed materials they can send out to promote your products, services, events or classes (making sure you have a tracking system in place of course)
Your New Business Marketing will consist more of direct marketing to a targeted list of prospects. You can buy a list so you can do a mailing but make sure youre very clear on the demographics and psychographics of your prospects. Buy only lists that are targeted.
In addition to mailings for New Business Marketing there are many other ways to reach potential prospects. Here are a few:
Social networking is one of the most popular these days there are hundreds of sites and places to find prospects online but you can get sucked in and spend a ton of time so watch out!
Finding blogs and forums online where your target market congregates and post on them often; answer and ask questions.
Speak at events where your target market attends
Run ads or give articles to people who send out ezines to their lists who are also your target market
Most of all however, for all types of marketing, the goal should be to get them into your mailing and email database so that you can continue to market to them. Youve got to build relationships with them over time; thats the most effective way to market to anyone. People will do business with people they like, trust and connect with so make it easy for them to do business with you and refer their friends to you too!
Now, if you want more specific examples, steps and samples of ways to do all this then you really want to pick up a copy of my Ultimate Marketing Follow Up System where I lay out everything you need to do to market in all three of these areas. I give you the steps and the implementation cheat sheets on how to do this, what to say, when to send information, how to send it and even how to delegate it all so that you can concentrate on getting MORE prospects into your contact list.
This follow up and marketing tasks and other jobs can be delegated BUT you have to have the easy and proven SYSTEM that you can pass off and delegate!
Step 7Ongoing Marketing
In step 6 I went into great detail on the 3 different categories or types of marketing as I like to explain them:
Database Marketing
Referral Source Marketing
New Business Marketing
The reason I break it down like this is because most small business owners focus most of their efforts in only one area, going after new business, and they forget or choose not to do much to market to their databases or referral sources which are the easiest to go after!
Therefore, the ongoing marketing is when you continually mail, email, visit or call everyone on your list. Its fine to have an ezine (email newsletter) but you have to have MORE than that. Not everyone is going to open or read your ezine every week/month so you have to do other things.
I recommend writing up a simple Annual Marketing Calendar to include the following marketing practices:
When to send out ezines
When to send out solo email promotions
When to launch new products or services or events and what to do when for that
What to mail to your list or segments of your list and when monthly, quarterly?
What holidays to send fun things in the mail and/or email
Where and how often to speak to groups
What and when to send promotions to your affiliates
How often to post on your blog or update and visit your social networking sites
When and where to network in person
You get the idea. Are you doing this? And then are you delegating some of these tasks to a team member? If not, youre missing out on a TON OF REVENUE!
This is the kind of work we do 1 on 1 in coaching sessions. You need to lay out your marketing plans for the entire year otherwise months will flash by and you wont have done a thing! Sound familiar?
Step 8Whats Next?
This is simple. You have to test, track and tweak everything youre doing! How can you make adjustments to whats working or what isnt if you have NO IDEA?
The next step is the big picture step. You want to think bigger, that is to say, you want to look ahead to the bigger picture and what else is possible for you and your business. Often times we need a coach to help guide us through this process too because you dont know what you dont know and if you arent out there being exposed to what else is possible on a regular basis, it might be very hard for you to think up.