OK, I’m ready for the next step!
Before reading this post, take a look at our 9 Ways to Clean Up Your Online Presence so you can setup for our Next Step Marketing techniques.
By now, you should have photos of your business, an elevator pitch, a domain name, a business address and have added/updated your uniform information across the board. Just doing that will gain your online exposure and increase traffic to your website, your eBay store and foot traffic - if you’re a consignment store. When you’re ready to take it to the NEXT LEVEL, add these steps to your routine.
- Google Analytics :: Start to track WHERE your online visitors are coming from with this incredible free tool. When you start to see your top website referrals, you’ll know where to focus most and possibly move to paid advertising. We’ll do a separate post on this because it can go deep…
- Email Marketing :: Send out an email marketing campaign to your existing customers. If you’re a consignment shop, create a new commission plan with a discounted % to entice them to come in. When creating a discounted commission plan, keep it universal such as “Discount Plan” while using the SellerVantage Referral Source to track where the customer is coming from. SellerVantage has built in reporting to tell you how many customers have come in and how much money you’ve made from that referral.
- Build your Social Media presence :: This cannot be ignored for your business because this is the way people are finding out about your services. No one flips through the big Yellow Pages book anymore!
- Start a Blog :: Getting the hang of social media? Take it even another step to start a blog. Change your .com into a WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger or whatever way you find to put your information out there. Personally, I like WordPress because there are tons of templates you can choose from, you can make it look like a website and the blog seems separate. Other blogging sites focus on the blog first.
“What am I going to blog about?” You’re an expert in your division, share some information about certain products that you’ve learned. While selling on consignment, I found out the hard way that certain dolls have their maker’s stamp on their lower back! Never would I have thought I needed to undress a doll to take a photo of the brand. Blogging this experience makes you that much more of an expert in the division of dolls, and can potentially bring more business doing doll consignment…if you want to do that. - Connect your Social Media with your Blog Posts :: Take the link of your blog post and post it on all your social media outlets. Do an email campaign every once in awhile showcasing the blog posts you’ve written up. You want to keep your current customers, customers. Show them your expertise and don’t let them forget about your services.
Feel free to leave me a comment below on what you’ve found helpful! Contact me if you want one-on-one consultation.