All right, you’ve gotten the reservation to attend the trade show, you have the personnel trained who will be working the booth, you have your give-a-way program in place, you have ordered and packed your trinkets and toys, now we need to gear up to follow-up. The web might be the ticket to maximize post-meeting communication and sales.
Business to Business as well as Business to Consumer marketing web sites are increasing at a rate beyond the prediction of most Internet forecasters. As a resource for information, research and purchasing the Internet will, by all measures, continue its importance in business for the foreseeable future. You might have a direct sales force, you might have a web presence, you definitely have inventory, let’s explore ways to increase your web presence and inventory turns.
A few facts:
The Georgia Institute of Technology reports the Internet includes users of all ages, with an average age of 35. Internet users are well educated, and have an estimated average income of $61,000.
American International College reports, within 10 years, CEOs expect to generate as much as 40% of their annual sales on the Internet.
November 2003 on-line sales totaled 1.6% of total U.S. sales.
Inventory on hand, waiting to be sold, totals $495 billion at any given time in the U.S. (excluding auto parts and auto inventories totals are $300 Billion).
November 2003, for the first time in history, women have surpassed men (52% vs. 48%) as on-line shoppers (80% of retail shoppers are women).
(ABOVE FACTS ARE DERIVED, IN PART, FROM U.S CENSUS STATISTICS)
This information confirms what business news has been reporting for over a decade. On-line sales activity is increasing and is growing as a major force of our economy. Although you might have a storefront, a sales force, a catalog, even a web presence; aggressive on-line marketing done in good taste and with the right expertise can be the tool that makes or breaks our merchandising campaigns.
PROMOTION, PROMOTION, PROMOTION; how do people find you? Finding you at the tradeshow, in the phone directory, in the chamber of commerce directory, at the mall, your store or kiosk is much like finding you on the web. Increasing your noise level through promoting yourself, your business and your organization lets people know where you are. Many times we sell ourselves short by not promoting our business where it counts most. Your correspondence, advertising, community service activities should all carry your message, business name, location, web address, contacts and phone numbers.
THE EASIER WE MAKE IT FOR OUR CUSTOMER TO FIND US THE EASIER IT WILL BE TO MAKE A SALE. Previous articles published by TSNN.com addressing tradeshow promotion and marketing can be found at http://www.yourgifts123.com/.
Finding the right experts and marketing partners for your web development, hosting and marketing is much like other business issues. Web expertise is found through referral, market research and personal experience. We all know someone, “in the business”. A number of my customers excel in the business of web design, web based marketing, security, inventory management, transaction tracking and accounting. As in any industry, some are better than others.
A growing number of my customers have web based marketing experience. In our discussing the issues of web-based marketing, the majority agrees, as a marketing channel, on-line marketing is much less expensive than many alternative marketing endeavors. As to cost, it pays to try numerous venues simultaneously. Numerous venues allow you the opportunity to determine what works best as traffic and sales are evaluated. The likes of on-line malls and on-line associations offer a wonderful start to explore your on-line opportunities.
Following is a link to one company I am comfortable recommending. Cyant, Inc. is one of the most comprehensive on-line merchant marketing companies with which I have had an association. If you are interested in developing an on-line store or wish further information, just go to:
http://www.rebates123.com/merchantinformation.htm
Those who have used this service have been very pleased.
Dennis Florence is in the business of marketing and promotion. Developing marketing and training programs for organizations for the past 25 years, Dennis has a true sense of what works at the Tradeshow (before, during and after). You can contact Dennis at http://www.yourgifts123.com/.
