On Line Business

Interesting about the packages, clever marketing too.

 

Those with an on line business how did you research your product? and why did you think it would sell?

 

By accident really, by selling personal stuff on eBay.
First it was pool tables, then gym equipment.
Demand was strong so investigated further, tested some more by doing some local trades by buying and selling for profit, then took a punt by importing in quantity and it paid off immediately.

Back in the day, it was easy to research eBay sold items when there use to be lots of auctions and you could see the demand and prices paid.
You can still search items sold these days and prices paid, which is very helpful to determine market demand.
You can pretty much tell how much profit is available by researching sold items and the volume for certain products by various sellers.
However, eBay may only represent a small portion of a businesses sales, they may be doing plenty of sales directly off eBay also.
So eBay is a great initial indicator of the current market demand.

 

Before you get to the "selling" side of it ... does when know where she's going to source the products and what makes them unique/desirable consumers?

That could determine a lot of how she goes about onselling.

Does she have room to store the stock in all sizes - or is every piece a handmade/upcycled one off - where do they come from - what would be her minimum order if in bulk - if mass produced, who else is selling them for what price - what price can she get them for - has she calculated in postage (damned expensive in Aust)?

I know simply having 3 varieties of garlic (and bugger the sizes) can get complicated at times!

 

My advice would be the following:
- have a niche. Don't just sell "clothes", sell knee-high socks to goths. It is easier to market to 4,000 people with the same taste rather than 4,000,000 people who have about 400 different tastes. You can always expand your niche later on.
- join facebook groups for the area of interest she has. If she wants to sell soaps, join soap groups, or natural product type groups. What people talk about in those groups will help her research and market her product.
- join online business facebook groups. Lots of sharing of info on there about packaging, shipping, advertising etc
- advertise on Facebook - absolute must, must, must. Again with the niche concept - advertise and target to her specific customer.
- think about what solves a customer's problems. One part of my previous business was a monthly kit for people who didn't have the time or knowledge on what products worked together. It was good to have that stable monthly income.
- if she sells on Ebay, Gumtree, Facebook, Instagram, she should still have her own website. If one day any of those big sites decide to change a policy that wipes her business out, she will still have her own website. She can start on the other sites, but eventually, she should have her own store.
- Having goals and concrete steps can help keep a person motivated. A goal of "get up Wednesday and photograph 10 products and write descriptions" is achievable when motivation is low. In those instances, you start to count success as doing that one step instead of wondering why you aren't a millionaire yet.

If it were me, I would:
-find a niche
-build a website
-get on Facebook for research and business groups
-advertise on Facebook

"Modern funky" maternity clothes could work but she needs to niche down more - is she thinking 20-25 yr old mums, or 25-35yr old mums or 40yr old + mums. You can't really say a mum is any one age demographic anymore. All of those age groups would see modern, funky differently.

Being vague and general is too much work and very little success for a small business. She should try and come up with a description of her "typical" customer.
eg. She is 25yrs old, pregnant with 1st child, works part-time in an office admin job. She wears a lot of black, prefers boots and goes to clubs 1 night per month
vs
She is 40 years old, pregnant with 3rd child, works in a bank and gardens every weekend.

I think anyone can see those 2 women would dress differently and both think they are dressing modern,funky. As a small business, your daughter should only try to sell to 1 of them.

 

good advice.

 

The last story on this link was featured on 60 Minutes, they have had massive success.

Simple idea turns into $20m business

 

@MTR is there absolutely no interest from her in joining your property empire? When she realises how hard it is out there to make money she might become more receptive to your mentorship and start chasing you to divulge all your secrets.

I won't 'force' my kids but I sure do hope they will have interest to join my business later on. Hopefully 18 years of indoctrination will do the trick

 

Its not that easy, yes eldest daughter is interested in property investing and I think with the US stuff that I am now doing there may be a real possibility of her getting involved in this.

MTR

 

Yes - and sadly people see that and think they can do the same. There must be millions of online businesses that barely struggle to pay the billls

 

One of my friends has a small online business she runs on the side. She sells designer clothing, accessories, handbags, makeup etc.

Its still a side business but she does pretty well out of it. She has her own website but also sells on facebook (buy, sell, swap groups), ebay and gumtree. She also attends markets and clothing swaps. She is good at getting her name known and has many repeat customers.

 

The following on online marketing and branding may be useful.

I have a small sideline that I've developed from writing articles, a website, YouTube videos and most recently (and most successfully) writing books on a special interest hobby. Overheads are minimal and what little I've paid on marketing has returned a little more than what it cost. Instead there's a lot of word of mouth that generates sales. I'm 100% online - I don't spruik my products at meetings or shows beyond wearing a T-shirt I got done. The Australian market is too small for a niche area so it's essential that the products can carry well overseas.

More recently I've been thinking how you can fit various parts of the online world fit together to generate sales. This has needed to be done in a generally acceptable manner that is not seen as promotion. You don't want to be regarded as being pushy in a field that has a strong non-commercial/ practical/ improvising/ DIY ethos).

I think it's better to master (say) 3 carefully chosen types of social media than be mediocre at 5 or 6. Eg I don't do Instagram or Twitter. However in this niche area I have a very high profile on YouTube, a high profile on the web and a reasonable profile on Facebook (creating your own page is free and a no-brainer for any online business IMHO). Your target market and message will influence what you choose.
My online approach is roughly the following:

1. Website (established 1997). Features articles and projects that my audience would want to read. Includes modest advertising but little revenue. But a section of it contains launching page for ebooks (which have become the main business).

2. YouTube channel (established 2008). Frequently added to it has had thousands of subscribers and millions of views in a niche area. Videos are often technical and practical in nature. Videos are monetised but revenue is comparatively modest (nowhere near time-effective if considered on its own a business). However it's been a hugely successful way of selling the ebook and helps communicate image. I'll talk more about videos later.

3. Amazon ebooks (from 2015). This has been the big earner and the engine of this 'business'. You keep nearly 70% of sales revenue and being electronic you're not handling paper or problems with its distribution. But I don't think they would have been anywhere near as successful as they have been if it was not for the YouTube and Facebook promotion and website backup. You can also do paperback books in some markets (but not yet Australia).

4. Facebook & other online forums. The business has a page that includes news of new book releases, extracts from books and other material of interest to the target market. Also important is participation in niche groups and niche online forums. Rules for these vary but you wouldn't want to be using posts to spruik your book too much or too often. But sometimes you're allowed a signature block that mentions your business with a link. In some cases it's OK to give a good answer to a question raised on a forum and then to mention there's more information in your book or a video you've done. Bear in mind these niche forums are a near perfect fit for people who will buy your books as you basically have customers identifying themselves through their interest.

5. In-person presentations. Available to speak to local clubs etc. Enjoy doing but likely minor effect only on sales as most are not local.

So basically the main product is books. The website supports the books but offers a lot of free content your market would also like. Same with YouTube content which can raise awareness. If you've got a popular YouTube channel that has high penetration in your specialist area then your viewers are very likely to want to buy your book. 99% of videos are stand-alone content rich - ie not sales spiels. But they may include an ad for the book at the end. Or feature me wearing a T-shirt featuring my product. It's easy to design T-shirts. You don't need a fancy logo. Just something that is readable on camera. Order at least one T-shirt for your business. It's cheap marketing and brand reinforcement especially if you make videos.

As for the video content, the following is more speculative but may tap in to product ethos, brand image, customer emotions and assist marketing. Videos can communicate this well.

The special interest I write on has many sub-interests including pursuing it outdoors. Another market leading small business in a similar field to me has made being on mountains a focus of its image. I live near a beach so commonly use this as a filming location (the backdrop is better than home with the main problem being wind noise).

My target market is northern hemisphere, a bit older than me and (in some cases) could do with losing a few kg. The beach setting I film in probably pushes a healthy, more outdoors image. I'm no athlete but am not overweight. I possibly remind viewers of their younger selves. Probably not a bad thing for image - tapping into nostalgia can be a powerful emotional force in marketing for some market segments and we've seen this hugely in politics as well.

My products support and advocate a low-cost simple and minimalist approach. This includes getting outdoors and having fun with the minimum 'stuff'. There is a strong 'take only what's needed' ethos. This keeps the game easy and accessible to as many as possible (and thus a bigger market!).

To help unspoken 'positioning' it wouldn't hurt to show your values or ethos through sensible clothing and location choices when making a video. For me it's shorts & t-shirt at the beach. For me this is where I normally go and what I wear so there's no 'putting on an image'. Definitely avoid boldly branded clothing unless it's your own merchandise (other peoples brands will sell them not you!).

Don't be afraid to articulate values in your advertising blurb, Facebook posts or videos. Your own unique content is probably best (if you're in that game) but even sharing material from like minded people can help.

The above are some thoughts on synergies between various online media and how they can reinforce each other. It should be possible to achieve a lot while spending almost nothing on marketing.

Using different types of media to provide content people will enjoy and come back to is free advertising and helps articulate values which may be attractive. I'm not sure whether this bolsters sales (as the products themselves are good) but it wouldn't do any harm provided you're authentic and credible. And, similar to a job well done, there's an intellectual satisfaction in coherence formed from you being a successful arranger and conductor of the various pieces that make a successful online product.

 

FB works really well but needs to be used what it's intended for.,
Relationship marketing not direct selling.

 

This..
perfect ....
no further comments required

 

if business was so easy everybody would be doing it and partying it up on caribbean island!!

 

Business can be ****ing hard, but the results are not linear.
Related to that delayed gratification thing, which most people aren't willing to be a part of.
GaryVee FTW !

 

I was gonna do a long post but @ramblin72 covered all my points perfectly. Re read that post. My only difference is I would do the facebook/instagram stuff first, build a tribe, and test the market before I bothered to build a website. If you can't sell 1 item of clothing by posting on FB in maternal tribes of fb fans you shouldn't bother with a website. Get 1 happy customer (even if the clothes are giveaways) and get them talking about how amazing the stuff is online and you have the beginnings of a business.

 

it all comes down to getting targeted traffic making money online. I would suggest she checks out industry forums for generating traffic and learn from others. Here are a few links to get her started:
Learn about SEO, blackhat/whitehat traffic generation and checkout the My Journey's & money making boards at www.blackhatworld.com
another one that is popular is www.warriorforum.com but I prefer BHW personally. There is a new Facebook group worth joining as well: http://facebook.com/groups/ABestWeb/

 

Agree with all the technical tips, eBay etched.

But also Maybe get her to research Sophia Amoruso founder of www.nastygal.com. She started by selling on eBay. She found a niche market, made sure she had perfect photos of her clothing on attractive people and then boomed and she was a nutjob.

I find learning about others who have done what you want to do is helpful for ideas and inspiration. If your daughter can find the best way to target her niche audience and display her clothing on the types of people she is targeting (pregnant women) and I would invest in getting High quality images taken, if I was to sell clothes online. I think professional high quality images of products/clothing stand out from the crowd and show the customer that you are a professional and serious business, that values quality. For all they know you could be a large business running out of a factory, doesn't matter if it's a teenager working from her bedroom. Image and perception are everything and then not letting customers down is everything else when starting out. The rest will come with time. One terrible review in the beginning could end her gig instantly.