A friend of mine is getting ready to launch a new product for the company he works for, he ran me through a few different marketing messages then asked me which marketing message I thought would work best.

It’s  difficult question to answer, since no-one can know what marketing message is going to grab a persons attention, Or can they?

My suggestion to him, was to send out some emails to his database, and get their feedback. After all, why not just sell them what their actually looking for? it certainly makes the selling a whole lot easier.

Now, there’s no need to go out and run a full blown official survey here, just send out a friendly email, to a portion of your database, and let them know your working on a new product or service, and before you finish it you’d like some input from them. Then ask them something like this:

“What are your biggest challenges or frustrations when it comes to…”

OR

“Which of the following would you be most likely to buy in the next 60 days…”

Then sit back and let your customers tell you what they want to be sold.

Traditional Bricks and mortar businesses are facing tough times. It seems every time you turn on the news or open the papers there’s news of another retailing giant going into receivership or closing its doors. And the ones that aren’t are cutting back expenses where ever they can.

So what makes this one of the best times to get your business online? Well consider this…

As businesses tighten their belts and cut back on expenses one major area they’re cutting back on is advertising, which means there’s much less advertising noise for the consumer (and less competition for you).

Now it’s not just the retailers cutting back on expenses, consumers are too, counting each dollar and cutting back on needless expenses where ever possible, which means less trips to the shopping centres.

With Petrol prices hovering around the $1 mark consumers are trying to keep costs to a minimum so they’re going online for more and more of their shopping needs.

Not only does this save them travel expenses and time but it also makes them feel as though they’re changing their spending habits, doing more research BEFORE they make their buying decision which makes them feel good about themselves – and for good reason…

1. Internet shops are perceived to have lower prices on goods then bricks and mortar businesses
2. They don’t have to spend hours driving from store to store comparing prices – they can compare prices at 10 different stores in a matter of minutes
3. They can cut back on petrol expenses by shopping from the comfort of their own home.
4. Its much easier to research and review a large range of products and retailers on the internet. Consumers don’t want to be bombarded with the endless sales pitches from commission sales people who are desperately trying to sell them the highest value items possible just so they can get paid for the week!

The goods new is that when they’re online researching for the best deals, they inevitably end up making their purchases online – and recent economic figures support this. A recent report on ABC news stated that while retail giants where closing their doors, online businesses have experienced ongoing growth in sales.

All this means great online business opportunities for you and your business – if you’ve setup your online business system correctly all this so called bad news will turn to sales.

So what can YOU do you do with all this?

1. Develop a complete online business and marketing strategy
2. Make sure you have a strong online presence
3. Position yourself so that your prospective customers will find you when they go online to research
4. Create a provide content that answers their questions
5. Have a strong marketing system that captures your prospects details, builds the relationship and most importantly gets the sale!

The time to get online is NOW – if you’d like more information on how to get your business setup online then visit us at

www.SellingOnlineMadeSimple.com.au or call us on +61 8 6201 002