Let’s face it – most of us will not live without our internet connections. Believe me, I am one of you. I run my business through my internet connection as well as through traditional marketing channels, but they go hand-in-hand. You have to include some old-fashioned marketing strategies with the newer internet marketing ones in order to be a lean, mean, marketing machine. You have to remember the roots of marketing. Remember in the old movies when the newspaper boy was yelling out his headlines? He was marketing. And people bought his newspapers. People buy them now, seeing the headlines displayed in newsstands. They also buy “rag” magazines, puzzle books, and other items that are displayed in the stand.
So why don’t they buy the other products on your internet “stand?” You aren’t marketing them effectively. When someone adds a product to their online shopping cart, you have to make sure that they know about other products that supplement the ones that they intend to purchase. But don’t go over the top with that concept. You still want your customer to get to the checkout page and get your payment sent for a product. However, if they are buying something, such as a home theatre system for example, you may want to let them know that you also sell the wiring they’ll need to hook up that particular model. Or that you sell other accessories that can be added to the system to enhance it.
It is a bit more difficult to display your whole line of products online when someone searches for only one product in particular. But if you are paying attention to the association between the different products you are offering, you can nearly double your sales by offering the items that enhance or compliment the items your customers are buying.
So do a bit of “street hawking” in your marketing. Shout out to your customers to let them know that you have more than one product, and share your experiences here for the rest of us. Let us know what works for you, or what doesn’t. Your comments are always welcomed.
