Because, I do business online and in the real world. I think that there is an assumption that it must be one or the other. That you can't do business both online and offline.
In reality, most successful businesses, whether they start in brick-and-mortar, or if they start online, will do both.
When most people think about online business, they think about information marketing. The marketing of various "how-to" or information products is what most of us do when we get started. We either sell our own information products, or we sell other people's information products. There is nearly an unlimited number of market segments, or "niches" available to market to online.
But wait, if you were watching closely, you just saw something of importance. Marketing. We use the internet for marketing. The internet is the most egalitarian, inexpensive access to markets in our time. In olden times, like 6 years ago, we used advertising in magazines, newspapers, television and the like, to do what Seth Godin has termed "interruption marketing". Our message was in the middle of the consumer's article, during their television programs, or on the phone during dinnertime. We interrupted everyone, and said "hey look at me and my thing". If we were lucky, a small percentage of all those viewers might buy.
Online buisness is different. On the internet, people gather by interests. If I am selling a product on strength training, there are a number of very large communities of people rabidly interested in strength training. So, I would become an active part of that community, discussing/debating with others, and helping out new folks with my advice and experience. As time goes on, I begin to be seen as something of an authority, or a source of good information. Then, I begin to introduce my products, and if they are useful, members of the community would buy them. Now, this can be done with virtually no cost, or it can be done with thousands of dollars. But I am not interrupting anyone because my products become part of the conversation.
Online, you can laser focus onto slivers of the market that you could never hope to reach offline without bothering a lot of uninterested people. Internet marketing is inexpensive and cost effective. And, if you are selling information products, logistics is a breeze. No physical inventory, your customers are buying a file with information. No shipping charges because the customer freely downloads a file after they have paid.
Brick-and-mortar businesses can benefit from the internet as a medium for marketing. But there are 2 ways to do this, and one of them is ALWAYS overlooked. First, of course, is that these companies can become a part of the conversation in their community of rabidly interested folks. They still have the offline costs of shipping, inventory, and other overhead expenses, but they can lower the cost of their marketing, and make it more productive. The ALWAYS overlooked method is to create an information product that you can sell for revenue that will lead people to buy your physical product.
For instance, if I were in the exercise equipment business, and I wanted to sell a piece of workout gear, like a Nordic Trac (these are really great, incidentally, for people that want to burn fat in a stationary location). Since they are good for burning fat (and no, sadly, I have no way to make any money from Nordic Trac, it was just the first thing that popped into my mind), I might create an information product on fat loss, showing a large number of different exercise templates (intensities, rests, exercises, lengths of time) for fat loss, and sell it for $20. Within the book, I could repeatedly say that you can use any equipment for this, but you will see the best improvements if you use a Nordic Trac, and state whatever those reasons might be. So not only does your product bring you some immediate revenue, but the product is useful to your market niche, AND the product itself serves to market your more expensive flagship physical product.
I love marketing online for offline businesses. Its inexpensive, it helps create communities, and it gets rid of bad products. If you sell a bad product online, it takes no time at all for everyone online to hear about it and avoid it like the plague. A smart company might use this as a product testing ground to see if their product works as well as they think. hmmm. food for thought.
If you have an offline business, and you would like some ideas on how to market online, make a comment, and we'll talk about it in a future post.
