whats the best way to bring in business?

[smitch6]

hiya i'm fairly new to all this
i have a Christian forum and chat room and have had the shop attached to that for a while
but only did embroidery and the odd other bit
i've now ventured out into the sub world :)
and have re-loaded the shop stock and opened a business ebay ac.

what is the best way to try and gain business?
i see from other threads that shops are slow is ebay slow as well?

how do you bring in your business

i really want this to work i love making things and seeing ppl happy with a personalised gift etc.

and i have spent a lot of money getting all the equipment to get going so can't afford to spend loads more out :(

[Ian M]

Steve,

Please don't get me wrong but if we all knew the answer to your question we'd all be relaxing on our yachts.

The hard truth is you have to get out there & sell yourself & your business.

Ian

[DREAMGLASS]

what is the best way to try and gain business?
i see from other threads that shops are slow is ebay slow as well?(
It really depends on what you are selling, the level of competition, your pricing, plus of course the demand for the product.

Problem with eBay in particular, is the very high costs involved. They'll take money off you for the shop, the listings and a substantial cut of the final sales value. It is paying the listing fees for all the items that DON'T sell that really ramps up the costs. On top of that is the ever puntive rules from an organisation that has forgotten who actually generates their income for them. That's why a lot of sellers have vacated eBay in their droves in recent times.

Unless you have a genuine talent for design and illustration, you need to have definitive plans in place as to what you are going to sell and why people are going to part with their cash to buy your product and how you are going to differentiate it from others selling a similar product.

[mrs maggot]

you work in a niche market - which is good, but what networking are you doing within this niche ?? there are around you christian based holiday centres, youth camps etc, have you introduced yourself to them? have you advertised in various parish magazines? - a lot of faith groups i would have thought would rather order goods from another faith group - so your market is there, you have just not introduced yourself to them yet. the uni student religious groups may also offer you an in to some good business. why not print up some coasters etc with your religious trend, and send them as a gift to each local faith based organisation.

[accdave]

What plans did you have when you bought the equipment ?

[smitch6]

i've only had the equipment a week lol
and like most ppl thought to myself 'my members on my site might like these'
but as usual bad time of the year and ppl have no money

so to be honest i didn't really think much when i bought it i just though' i could hopefully make a business out of this'

i was thinking eventually about getting a shop, but after reading lots of the posts i don't really think thats a good idea at the mo.
i have approached a couple of churches and made them mugs with their church logo and details on and will be dropping them off soon.
also my Dad is the president of an RAF group for retired RAF peeps.
i emailed him today and asked if he can get my stuff in his group.

i've also contacted other forums that i belong to to see if anyone wants any stuff doing but they all seem to already have these items.

i like the idea of doing some coasters
i have 50 discs arriving very soon (hopefully tom) (should of been here last week) ( stupid ebayers )
so once i get them i can have a good look through and see what designs are on there and then pick a few nice ones and print some coasters up and go visiting ppl.

thankfully i do know a few ppl in the church business so to speak :)

i've also started a shop up on ebay along with the hundreds of others hoping to sell to a wider audience

[smitch6]

i also have a great chap who works for me who designs logo's websites etc
he is great just give him an idea and whoosh in a day at the most a logo appears lol
he also made my site for me althou i did design the main one he actually done the nuts and bolts and made it what i wanted.

always handy to have someone like that :)

he is trying to start his web design business
and i do hosting so hopefully we can get some customers to intertwine between the 2

[photoscape]

i know this is a few weeks old but thought i would jump in with a few ideas for you.

i dont know if your aware of something called spring harvest i go every year for a week and find its a great venue, if you can get the right product it will do very well for you for the three weeks a year its on,

there is a tshirt company out there called in your faith they do religous tshirts, if you have a guy who can do designs for you have a look at what they do just to get an idea that use your guy to come up with some totally different mug designs and metal keyrings, then i think you will have a good product idea.

with this you can then try and get into wesley owen oasis etc the christian book shops, there is plenty out there find all your local ones and offer them your product on a pay per sale basis, they love it as they get stock free and pay you when they have sold, this way your getting seen out there, alot of the big cathedrals have shops to such as york canterbury etc, maybe speak to there purchaser and see if you can either do your mugs with the qoutes on or take one of there image library pictures and produce a range of gifts for them.

[smitch6]

thanks Dreamglass some brill ideas there :)

[Timothy]

i am agree with Dreamglass, first its depend on your business what you want to sell. Then there are many ways to success your business. I always agree with social media like facebook, twitter, and linkedin etc. Because its cheap and interesting way. You can also direct advertise your business via email marketing , sms marketing, its also cheapest way to direct advertise your business,product etc.

[Charlie_]

i am agree with Dreamglass, first its depend on your business what you want to sell. Then there are many ways to success your business. I always agree with social media like facebook, twitter, and linkedin etc. Because its cheap and interesting way. You can also direct advertise your business via email marketing , sms marketing, its also cheapest way to direct advertise your business,product etc.

You write like someone else who used to post on here...............

[bms]

You write like someone else who used to post on here...............
'They' got banned as well :)

[BruisJem]

If you really wanna to grow up your business very well in the market then I have found the most ideal marketing solution for you. First of all make a good marketing plan to promote your business then after use any marketing tools for getting more and more traffic on your site. Online marketing is such a good way to promote our business.

[logobear]

it used to be that you would look at market segment average, and just spend your money. I think 'our' sector will average 4 to 16% of turnover devoted to marketing.
PR, Blogs, facebook, twitter and local networking only cost time, and paid advertising will depend on average transaction value and margin.
Begin with getting great business cards printed, and be loud and vocal about you and your offering. As Ms Maggot mentioned, having a niche will help you focus.....
think outside the box, I suggest 'guerilla marketing' tricks!