The Consumer Voice Real Reviews, eCommerce News and FREE Customer Advice
At the Consumer Voice we deal with a lot of PR and marketing companies, most of whom are very nice indeed and do a wonderful job promoting their client’s products. Occasionally we deal direct with the product inventor or the founder of a new eCommerce store and worry a little that they may be trying to do it all.
When launching a product or an entire store it’s difficult to delegate, the internet is obviously a huge playing field which gives amazing potential for success but many learn the hard way that it’s not simply about setting up shop and hoping for the best.
In the marketing industry myself, I often wish for a clone, and have have no products to sell or promote! To keep up with competition, there are simply not enough hours in the day to do it all.
This is what a product or store needs to succeed online:
A Great Website
This of course is the foundation, please don’t skimp, everything you do from here on in will lead back here. It should be capable of making you proud and of leading your new customers to the checkout
A Great Content Strategy (and the content to implement it)
You know by now that keyword stuffed content is not enough to entice visitors. People (and Google) want entertaining content, they want to find you all over the web, they want to be engaged. A blog a week no longer cuts it, you need consistent, great content across a variety of mediums, magazines, review sites, social networks, forums, YouTube, the list is endless.
Your content should be shareable, as likes and views are no longer enough, you need readers to share, to engage and to come back for more.
A Voice
Your brand needs a personality, a voice that isn’t your own.
Real Time Interaction
Customers now expect any store to be ever present on Twitter, available online or ready at the end of a phone (let’s avoid the offline management it will just make heads spin). Real time interaction is vital for pushing through those conversions.
Connections
You need connections in the PR world, in the editorial industry, in the review sector, you need to connect with the best bloggers on social media and you need them to respect you. These people receive thousands of requests for promotion (or a mention) from start ups and product developers every week, how will you make sure you’re noticed?
Energy
I’ve always claimed that the internet is a level playing field as every store has the same sized shop front. With the right design, content, connections and promotion I believe even the smallest business can compete with the biggest brands.
This requires energy though and a lot of it. You need to keep your finger on the pulse at all times, be the early bird that catches the worm and be constantly adopting new techniques to ensure you shine. It’s such a fast moving industry that even if you’re six months behind the times, the Google updates and the consumer desires, you’ll sink faster than Sue Boyle in quicksand.
Outsourcing
The great news is, you can outsource remotely. You can find freelancers that offer these services from the comfort of their homes. You could have a whole team o people working to promote your products and store but then you need to take time to manage them all.
The Perfect Solution
In my opinion and that of some of the biggest brands we know (see the client list here) there’s one company that offers it all. I was quite staggered by how they’ve streamlined the process for the new ecommerce start up and how through their knowledge and connections they can enable start ups to grow at an alarming rate. They manage the people, they cover every area and they leave you with the time to seal deals face to face, develop your product, attend interviews, feature in local news, basically time to run your business the way you want to without worrying about:
- Tweeting
- Web Design
- Public Relations
- Networking
- Product Reviews
- Content Marketing
- PPC Campaigns
- AdWords
- SEO
- Promotions
- Reputation Enhancement
- Advertising
- Product Placement
They also do all of this working towards your budget, focused on results so you enjoy healthy returns on your investment from the outset.
The Company of course, is VisualSoft, the team that give you the edge and a significant advantage over your competition. Be recognised from the very beginning by utilising the benefits of the Visualsoft ecommerce team.
Find Visualsoft on:
