Let's Talk Business
ᴛɪᴘꜱ ᴏɴ ᴍᴀᴋɪɴɢ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏᴡɴ ꜱᴍᴀʟʟ ʙᴜꜱɪɴᴇꜱꜱ
Hi, everyone! It's been a while since I last wrote for my blog. I've gotten so busy with school works and my online business that I forgot to send updates here on my blog. I'm back and ready to share to my readers my knowledge and quick tips to help you get by.
For this blog post, I will share to you my tips and experiences with online selling. I have always been an entrepreneur for as long as I can remember. I love the hustle, the work, and earning my form of income. Last year March 2019, I established my business named "Merci.Mond". It just came to me one day that I should have my form of income so I would not have to rely on my weekly allowance. I am a full-pledged spender and I worked my way to earn money from my own hard work and efforts.
I did not have instant success the moment I first started my business. I experienced the struggle of bogus buyers and little to no sales, but I could thrive and my business as of now is blooming and successful. I am very grateful and thankful to everyone who supported it from the first day of my business.
I am writing this blog to help entrepreneurs start up their own line of business. I also see this as a good opportunity to encourage anyone reading this blog to take the chance and become their own boss.
I hope this blog will be of great help to anyone who comes across it. Happy reading!
1. Make A Plan
We step right into the field without deciding on a full-proof plan. When making your own business it's very important to know and learn what products you're going to sell and who your target audience will be. If you know who would want to sell your items to then looking for the items to sell will be an easy task for you. When you decide what items to sell in your shop, consider the quantity, prices, and if these items are saleable for this certain period.
For example, if your target market are teens then you have to look for items people in their age range think are trendy and chic. A good item to put on sale would be phone cases. These items will never go out of style because (1) phone cases are retailed and sold at cheap and affordable prices (2) it comes in different styles and designs that will not keep your phone safe but as well make it look cute and trendy. These items are easy to sell all year around because it is something that can never go out of style. Next to those are accessories and trendy clothes, these can be thrifted, pre-loved or made by your own. If selling them on-hand will not work for you, then try to consider pre-ordering your items and holding cut-offs at least every week. The only holdback to having pre-order items is the shipping process and if the customers will wait for the items to arrive.
2. Advertise non-stop
Here is my favorite part in online selling: advertising. It may seem easy, but there are a lot of things you should consider. What are the things to consider when advertising? Social Media Platform and Time. I advertise my products through Facebook and Instagram because I see it as a place where I can gain and attract customers easily. I am a very active person on social media, which makes advertising an easy task for me. Your way of advertising can be different depending on where you are most comfortable with, but for being an entrepreneur you have to step out of your boundaries or your comfort zone to gain experience and more customers.
Look for the time where your viewers are most active to post your products via story or through a post on your feed. In my case, my customers are usually active during the weekends and on a Friday. Using paid ads are useful but the rates differ depending on which platform you plan on using, you will be charged per day if you avail it. Two to three days of paid advertising will do good for your shop and get you the customers and coverage you are aiming for.
3. Build your own aesthetic
When creating your shop account, think of a name, colors, logos, packaging, and style. You would want to create an account that is aesthetic and pleasing to the eyes. Warm and Bold colors are one of my favorite and mostly used colors because they are pleasing to the eye. It is not too bright or too shocking, it looks just right. Merci.mond's first color pattern was a mixture of blues and browns. I have learned over the past year to give my shop a minimalistic aesthetic because it looks clean and nice to look at. One of the bonus points on gaining customers is to have an aesthetically pleasing theme. It goes the same way when creating your own logo and packaging style. Allow yourself to be creative when making it and look for inspirations that can help make it look a whole level better.
4. Engage!
Nothing is better than seeing your customers know they are appreciated. I make it a habit to leave small notes in my packages to let my customers know they are appreciated. For every story or posts they share about my products, I put them up on my story and make a space for in my highlights.
Another tip I have to share is for start-up sellers to engage with their customers, and other sellers make it a habit to engage and earn connections. When I first started my shop, I had only had 300+ followers. In order for my shop follower account to grow I had to join gain groups for local sellers. What are those? Those are group chats for sellers where we can advertise our shops through story posts or shout out for shout out (sfs). In gain groups like that, you can also gain potential buyers and exposure for your store. In a week or less, you will gain between 50-100 followers for your shop.
"Can I do collaborations?" Yes, you can. It is one way of connecting yourself and your shop with other sellers or influencers. It comes in handy, especially if you have new items on hand and need attention from the spotlight by someone with many following or social media presence.
So far, these are my key tips on making your own online shop. I do hope this will help everyone. Please don't get disheartened, you will reap what you sow in due time. Stay tuned for my next blog post! I'll try doing weekly posts as much as I can.
