From the desk of Steve Phillips
design & development
PremierSpot iMarketing
Two Harbors, Minnesota
05 July 05
Greetings to all: I trust everyone had a safe and enjoyable 4th of July holiday? And that you all had a moment to pause and reflect on what limitless opportunities we all have in our lives, having the good fortune to live in such an incredible country.
I have personally been blessed to experience a number of career “migrations”, having left a commercial aviation career of long-standing, to arrive - through several metamorphoses – at the exciting world of website design, search engine optimization, and internet marketing.
One of the most incredulous concepts I struggled to grasp when first marketing for
the internet was the fact that there are an apparently unlimited number of people out there with equally unlimited resources, able and willing to spend whatever it takes, to get whatever they want, from wherever they want to get it!
The global economy, accessed primarily and most expediently through the internet, offers everyone with a business the opportunity to become an international player. Countries identified as “Western” – where the major impetus for internet development originated, and the majority of on-line development and oversight has occurred – seem to have an inherent advantage: Merited or not, the common perception of oversight and regulation – coupled with a respect for (and belief in) the trustworthiness and reliability of businesses based in politically stable., democratic countries – has enabled countless businesses to flourish and expand, through internet transactions.
For example, let’s assume that you operate a modest sawmill operation in the Midwest, traditionally dependent upon your local trade, walk-in customers for the majority of sales. Now suppose a "tree-hugger" in the Appalachian's has your SEO-enhanced site pop-up in his search engine, and wants you to ship him materials for a pre-packaged wilderness retreat… despite the fact that there may be dozens of closer, comparable operations capable of fulfilling his needs.
Should you simply refer him to a local “competitor”, advising that the extra expenses of shipping and handling would make your quote non-competitive?
Why not quote him the going rate, adding actual expenses for freight, and reasonable charges for the additional shipping and handling labor it requires to assemble and ship the order, and see what his response is?
You never know where it might lead: You could become the next "Eddie Bauer" web
presence, and principal resource for custom, up-country cabins!
We need to think globally, my friends...
Another example: We provide services for a client in fairly close proximity to our Two Harbors, Minnesota office. This business does thousands of dollars a day on-line traffic alone, selling to customers in a couple of dozen states and a handful of other countries on any given day: In a matter of months, their business has expanded so rapidly that they're straining the physical limitations of their present plant capacity, and are looking to find a facility where their operation can relocate to and expand from… all from their internet sales alone!
And to illustrate in the simplest terms possible: There are today quite literally thousands of individuals who make their sole livelihoods from virtual shops on eBay. Some may represent storefront businesses, but many more of them simply resell “collectibles” they’ve acquired at little or no cost through local garage and estate sales, or neighborhood antique shops, which they proceed to market and ship worldwide… for fun and profit! What greater illustration of the ability to “sell (buy) locally, market globally” could you possibly hope for?
Incredible as it may seem, there is no reason to believe that - despite the physical location or logistics involved with your particular product line – your business could not experience similar results. And what could it hurt, to try?
Think what incredible local publicity you could generate, sharing the fact that your sales include customers from other states, other countries: You can‘t buy that kind of advertising!
Perception is the key.
Creating an aura of perceived demand, often drives sales figures: If your product is in such demand by buyers from “exotic”, remote locations – buyers who are willing to incur additional expenses to have your products shipped so far (despite local resources offering equivalents) – your local trade may very well adopt this perception of superior quality, and attribute additional value to your product in their own minds, by equating increased demand with higher quality.
Why do so many Americans covert foreign automobiles, perceiving them to be of higher quality and greater reliability... while the reverse is often the case in so-called “third-world” locales… where ownership of an American automobile is considered (as hard as this may be to believe) more prestigious?
I know this may sound a little "Buckminster Fuller-ish" in theory, but what have you got to lose... except potential sales?!
The point is that you should not be afraid to expand your sales aspirations beyond what you have traditionally perceived to be the limitations of your locally-defined, physical “sales territory”. The internet has eliminated those constraints: It’s time you took hold of this opportunity, and exploited the very reason you even chose to have a web presence… to increase your market share and product sales!
And we’re here at PremierSpot iMarketing to help you achieve just that!
