A fairly common reason given by small business marketers for just ‘doing something’ online is the time factor. Rather than take full advantage of the tools at their command they settle for a meagre internet presence under the mistaken impression that total commitment would inflict even greater pressure on their already stressed work schedule. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Online marketing is fast, easy and stress-free because, for the most part, it is automatic. Even so you will still need to embark on a prescribed learning curve and that’s what the next 28 chapters are all about. And, when you are through with your studies, your virtual store can be any size you like – as big as a mall or as small as a market stall – with no limit on the amount of products you can offer.
10 Inbuilt Advantages To Marketing Small Business Online
We haven’t even scratched the surface but don’t you already get the feeling that the online route sounds faster, easier and less stressful?
Cutting Your Start-Up Costs To The Bone
You can start your online marketing for next to nothing even when you trade in digitised merchandise. Apart from your domain name (and these come dirt cheap nowadays) your only other basic start-up costs comprise page creation tools and website hosting, but I’ll show you in
Chapter 11 how to obtain all three in a unique piece of software that offers a great deal more besides. I’ll also direct you in
Chapter 19 to another software tool that will produce your initial e-produce for free.
Choose Your Own Hours
There is no requirement for you to be strapped to your computer because, as you will discover as you progress in your studies, almost
everything connected with the enterprise can be set to automatic pilot. You can be totally flexible, going about your offline duties as normal and choosing your own hours for attending to online marketing.
Around The Clock Order-Taking
Automation can be positioned to accept orders electronically every second of every day and every night. We’ll examine your options in
Chapter 26 where I will also let you in on my favourite order-taking software; how it works; how inexpensive it is to operate – and why it
is the perfect solution for the small business owner who elects to deal in digitised produce.
The Internet Ignores Public Holidays And Nevertakes A Holiday
It can’t help it. The internet is always open; it doesn’t even close down for a quick breather. It ignores public holidays and it never takes a holiday.
- Can you imagine the scope this unique marketing opportunity presents for the dedicated small business owner?
- Can you envisage how vast the internet marketplace will become when within the next few years the 55 million existing customer base will be extended by many millions more as Asian users kick in?
- Can you think of any offline business that is faster, easier and less stressful?
- Can you see now why so many small businesses are missing out by continuing to settle for a mere presence online?
It gets even better when you learn how to combine both online and offline in promoting your ideas. I’ll show you how I do it in a later chapter.
How Your Local Virtual Store Reaches Out Internationally
The local store housed in your computer is contained in a microchip measuring less than half the size of a postage stamp and yet it has the power to reach across the globe and do business internationally. You can’t see how this would be of much use to you? Then allow me to illustrate from my own experience. Eighteen months ago I launched an information product that was intended for local writing groups. What do I find a year and a half on? 92 per cent of downloads are from the
USA, 7 per cent from the European Union, and only 1 per cent from the UK. You may discover something similar when you start doing business online- especially if you function in the service sector.