Up to this point you would be forgiven for thinking that the only way to build up a niche targeted email list via eBay is by selling e-books. In fact, this is only really scratching the surface of what you can do with this huge auction site.
Once you get into the frame of mind that you are not going on eBay with the intention of making money, you’ll actually find the ideas of what to sell to reach your niche target audience will start to flow a little more easily.
Obviously there are costs involved with listing items on eBay – listings fees and their many variations, Final Value Fees and so on – but these should be thought of in a similar way to paying for advertising elsewhere. The issues surrounding pricing and costs (and knowing how much to charge) will be covered in the next chapter, but first let’s explore the myriad of possibilities to find more niche customers on eBay by appealing to them with a wider range of merchandise.
We’ve already seen that e-books are an ideal product to attract the attention of the people you’re after on eBay. From the customer’s point of view they’re cheap, they don’t have any postage costs, they’re instantly received (either via email or a link to download them) and they can help solve a problem or make life easier in some way. And for you, there’s no physical stock to find room for, as it’s all stored safely on your computer.
Keep these benefits firmly in mind when you are thinking of products to appeal to your market; if you can satisfy all or most of these points you’ll be able to gain access to a much wider customer base than you have now.
ALWAYS START WITH YOUR NICHE
You need to fix this firmly in your mind in order to come up with saleable ideas that will meet with success on eBay. Think about who you are trying to reach and what problems they may have that need solving.
And it’s not necessarily just problems either. For example, let’s suppose you run a wine making business. You could come up with any number of possibilities on this subject. How about a batch of recipes for making unusual wines from household items such as coffee and rose petals? It can be done! You could also make a video presentation with the help of Camtasia, showing people how to make wine easily at home. This would be directed more at beginners, so make sure that’s the focus of your list before plunging in and doing it.
Incidentally, videos are an excellent way to market your services towards new customers. They are particularly good for any ‘how to’ subject you want to exploit, as you can show people step by step how to do things. You also get to put a human face on your business, instead of being just another faceless internet marketer.
Videos are also an up and coming media to use online by internet marketers, so it’s worth learning a bit more about Camtasia and what it offers to see how it could benefit you and your business via eBay.
SO WHAT EXACTLY IS CAMTASIA ANYWAY?
Camtasia is a program that allows you to capture screen images for use in a video that can then be accessed online. It can also be used to good effect with a PowerPoint program.
That’s a short description, but it does capture the benefits of the program, especially if your business is concerned with online media and marketing. If you sell software, for example, you can create a short video with Camtasia that shows ways to make more cash by using a certain software application. This can then be sold via eBay for a low price, enabling you to reach more customers that may well be interested in your main range of higher priced software items.
Camtasia also offers the benefit of audio to go along with your video, so you can create a script that will describe what the viewer will see. This combination allows you to come up with lots of different uses for the program that can be applied to your own business, whatever it may be.
From how to videos to revealing the secret shortcut techniques for starting an internet business, the possibilities are endless, and it’s a perfect product to sell for just a few cents on eBay.
You can learn more about Camtasia and how you can make first class video based information products at www.CamtasiaCashSecrets.com
ARE TANGIBLE PRODUCTS OFF LIMITS FOR ATTRACTING NEW CUSTOMERS?
With the focus on ebooks and video products, there has been not much mention of tangible products that you’d actually have to mail out to your customer other than the ebooks on CD.
But don’t dismiss these products, as they can also be a vital weapon in your arsenal of marketing strategies at rock bottom prices.
You can actually print your ebooks out into a totally physical manual and skip the CD, these will look great on your auction page with an image of your book.
If you go into any ‘bricks and mortar’ shop, you’ll find a range of goods at various prices, and some of these lines will no doubt be what’s termed as ‘pick up’ lines – perhaps impulse buys, or add-on items that complement the main theme of the business.
These are the kinds of item you need to be looking for if you don’t have access to them already – low price but good quality items that will capture the attention of your targeted niche audience. Keep that word ‘quality’ in mind too; don’t forget that every item you sell – regardless of the price – is a reflection of your business as a whole, so it should always be of the best possible quality that you can find. If even one item out of a range of a hundred items or more is of low or even poor quality, it is natural for the customer to assume that the rest of your range will be of a similar standard.
THE MAIN BENEFIT OF SELLING TANGIBLE PRODUCTS ON EBAY
We’ve seen already that there’s a big opportunity to promote your website and/or opt in newsletter when you email a customer with the download link to the e-book they have just purchased.
But you have just as good an opportunity to tell them about your business when your product has to be mailed out to the customer.
You should of course enclose some kind of invoice to itemise what has been bought, and to thank your customer for their valued custom.
But next comes the promotion part. People often keep invoices and payment advice slips… so if your website or products are mentioned on the back of that slip, there’s the chance that your ad will hang around for longer than it takes to discard the packaging the item came wrapped in.
This is particularly true if you sell products to other businesses, as the receipts and invoices will need to be kept for tax purposes. Your promotion and website link could end up being kept for years – and found every single time tax time rolls around. If even one per cent of these occasions results in an extra sale, a new customer to your website or a sign up to your newsletter, that could mean a good amount of extra revenue for you.
And all because you took the time to promote your website on the back of every invoice you sent out.
HOW TO VIRTUALLY GUARANTEE YOUR INFORMATION WILL BE KEPT BY YOUR CUSTOMERS
There are two main possibilities here. First of all you can create some kind of special offer voucher or money off coupon specially aimed at first time customers. This will have an offer code on it which must be mentioned in order to get the discount on any merchandise available on your website. You can either do this for orders over a certain amount, or simply make it available on any order placed.
This is a real incentive for the customer to turn that initial tiny purchase from eBay into a much more lucrative sale for you via your website – which of course will incur no selling fees or final value fees.
You can make this offer time sensitive in order to encourage people to visit your website straight away, rather than leaving it until some later date (by which time they’ve probably forgotten about the offer anyway).
The second option is to use the power of the freebie to make sure your information isn’t discarded. There are lots of ways you can create freebies for your customers, ranging from a simple pamphlet to a free download, or perhaps a free product or sample which promotes the rest of your range.
We’ve covered e-books and downloads already, and including the link to a free report or two is easily done when you send out your packing slip or invoice. Just make sure it’s in red (or highlighted in some way) so the customer won’t miss it. But tangible products also work well as freebies.
Now this method obviously means you will need to part with some cash in order to get hold of your freebies, but if you think of it as an investment into bigger profits later on, you’ll start to see why freebies and samples are a good way to build your customer base and generate more traffic to your website.
You only need to think about the free product samples you get through the mail, and the free sample displays promoted by the large food stores to see that freebies do work. If they didn’t the big companies wouldn’t use them. It’s all about removing any doubt the customer has about buying a new product.
Despite the hundreds of thousands of successful transactions that take place on eBay each and every day, there are unfortunately some that do go wrong for whatever reason. Because of this, a lot of people are nervous of parting with a lot of money when they buy stuff on eBay, just in case they get scammed. This is why our strategy of selling low priced items and not making a profit on eBay works so well – it gets past this barrier. But you then need to give people a gentle push in the direction of your website in order to place higher value orders, and this is where freebies work so well.
Here are some examples:
- if you run that wine making business we mentioned earlier, you could perhaps provide a sample of some of the corks you sell
- if you sell party bag toys, send out a sample of one of your ranges
- if you sell temporary tattoos, provide a sample of one of your best sellers
- if you sell anything and everything to do with tea making, pack a sample teabag into every package you send out
Get the idea? You can build the cost of doing this into your outgoings to reduce your tax bill, but the overall cost will be offset by the number of repeat customers you will get.
THE ATTRACTION OF PROMOTIONAL ITEMS
There is one other area of freebies to consider, and that’s promotional items. These can be more expensive and are best left until your business gets to the stage where you can easily afford it, but they are worth remembering when you get to that happy stage.
The best promotional items are ones that are genuinely useful, such as pens, pencils and fridge magnets. These can be humorous or practical, but they should all have your website address on them. What better way to keep your business fresh in your customer’s mind? Pop one into every small eBay order you send out, and spread the word in a useful way.
Finally, don’t overlook the benefits that a simple sticker can offer. This method is especially useful when you sell consumable items, such as those teabags we mentioned earlier. Print up some stickers that you can put on every consumable product you send out; something like this example:
“Running low? Why not re-order now before you run out altogether? Visit us at (website address) and enjoy low prices and speedy service.”
You get the idea. If you can take that initial eBay sale and use it to keep in contact with each new customer, you’ll convert a lot of them into regular customers who may well stay with you for years.
The post WHAT ELSE CAN YOU SELL ON EBAY IN ORDER TO BUILD THAT MAILING LIST? appeared first on Online Marketing Training Courses.