Trading Assistant Part 3: Marketing Your Business
Marketing your Trading Assistant Business is not as hard as you
may think. Once you've decided who you will sell for (business,
individuals), you can adjust your marketing accordingly.
Here are some excellent ways to market that you're a Trading
Assistant.
First off, you want to make sure you list the fact you are a TA
in all of your eBay auction listings. You want to also create
your About Me page and highlight your services there as well.
You'll also want to register in the eBay Trading Assistant's
Directory.
Your Own Website....
If you have a website you can easily market your business there.
However you want it to be specific to your Trading Assistant
business. Set up a newsletter, and email people about your
services after they join up for your informative newsletter.
Every single email communication to your eBay buyers should
always include information about your business.
An eBay Store....
Owning an eBay store automatically entitles you to set up a
newsletter there as well. You can send out 100 emails / month
with a Basic Store Subscription, 1000/month for a Featured
Store, and 4000/month for an Anchored Store Subscription.
Promote To Others....
Promote your business to your neighbors by printing off flyers
from eBay and drop them door to door. Get your local newspaper
and research the garage sales in the area. Drop off your flyer
or business card to each garage/yard sale to get exposure. And
of course, some common sense ... always Be Professional with
every person you come into contact with.
Approach Business Owners....
Just one thing to remember, keep it simple. Don't expand into
other markets (business sales) until you have some experience
first. Same thing goes for when you take the next step and start
talking to businesses about adding eBay to their income stream,
start small. The typical small business is the best place to
start, you will find people much more approachable this way.
As a business owner myself I was always bombarded with people
coming and calling me wanting to sell me something, or promote
my business some way. Take your time, get to know the business
owner first by being their customer. Don't just walk in one day
and tell them all about how you will make them money on eBay....
Take your time and schmooze them a bit, but don't be so obvious
about it. Buy the odd item from them, & get to know them.