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Ideas anyone ? taking online to offline help

by marmo
4 replies
Ok I found a very very nice product online and a target audience , this target audience the majority is not computer savy and many do not have the internet. To compound this problem I cannot refer them to the website that has the product anyway even though this website offers people to run a store on their website simply poking around these customers could cut me right out of the equation.

Has anyone heard of print shops offering merchant credit or partnering with a business so as to have them pump out flyers with products in exchange for a cut of the action ?

My market testing I had many groups agree to sell my product to thier audience ( they get a generous cut, so for them thier sales are a charity fund raising , while I get my cut )

I do not want to print fliers or whatnot out of my own pocket expense.
#ideas #offline #online #taking
  • Profile picture of the author artwebster
    So, you have an online product that you want to sell to people who are mainly not online and don't understand computers - not only that but if your target market did go online they would see that they did not have to buy it from you at all because they could put a store on the web site that they do not have because they are not online and don't understand computers.

    An interesting problem but do you think that you really have a target (audience)market? It doesn't sound like it to me.
    Signature

    You might not like what I say - but I believe it.
    Build it, make money, then build some more
    Some old school smarts would help - and here's to Rob Toth for his help. Bloody good stuff, even the freebies!

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    • Profile picture of the author marmo
      O I do have a target market a high demand one , the product I found and my marketing pitch is perfect , but if i direct them to the site my supplier is on they could just cut me out of the equation.

      perhaps I mistated what I meant. The problems are two fold for me.

      problem one: many customers cannot get online ( elderly , rural people ect )

      Problem two: The company i found to produce my product cheaply only offers me two options to produce a offline flier on my own or 2) direct customers to thier website where I can have an online store built through them , however all they would have to do is poke around and find out they could do it themselves.


      As far as KNOWING I have a target market I made 5 calls today , out of 5 calls 4 of those resulted in my goal ... those organizations agreeing to sell my product to their target market where in they get a % of each sale. Predicted sales by each organization : 50 to 1000 items sold , 100 % mark up for me as well.

      Printing costs are very high these days however. I want to mass market.

      I think I solved the issue now however and landed a account where the company will be Giving away my product as a promotional tool with purchases and this account is for 25,000 pieces so yes I have a target market so one account today will net me 75k in profit as I get 3 dollars per item mark up which isn't to shabby. I must say I have to love foreign made wholesale goods now. I get my goods at very cheap and get to mark them up by 3 dollars and it is still a deal here in the states.

      My original plan from my OP was very small it would have taken tons of smaller accounts to get 25,000 pieces , so I started to think BIGGER and grander as far as a target market / audience and boom success !

      Right now I plan to work on getting independent sales reps to help market for me. I took a product many people take for granted and came up with a new spin for them and a good way to market them.

      Just hope the one account I landed wasn't a one hit wonder. Going through my old business contacts later today from my old B2B promotions days and see what magic I can work !

      Will update this thread next month with sales and such and if I succeeded further or if my ship sank dead in the water. I am not banking on the fail boat for me however.
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  • Profile picture of the author artwebster
    If you have an 80% closing rate on your telephone canvasing, why are you worried about fliers? With that sort of closing rate you'd never get me off the phone!

    I'm still confused about the reference to people not being able to get on line because it seems to me that is not a problem at all since the product sells so well off line.
    Signature

    You might not like what I say - but I believe it.
    Build it, make money, then build some more
    Some old school smarts would help - and here's to Rob Toth for his help. Bloody good stuff, even the freebies!

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[965243].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author marmo
    well my 1st plan was small , but I thought bigger and now there is zero problem. I was going to market to an audience where I would lose some potential customers over the whole lack of internet thing , but now im doing B2B marketing and I think Its just right for me and I came up with a very creative sales pitch and method to make it work that appeals to the business I am selling to and at the same time makes their end users happy so it is win win. I think I am going to work on this non stop until the small manufacturer cannot keep up with orders or until I tap out the market whichever comes 1st. I sadly can still be removed from the equation but my business model offers them value for keeping me in the mix even if they would happen to find my product source on thier own since I am also doing the leg work for them and making sure shipments get to all 100 to 200 ish locations per b2b account + dealing with 100 to 200 of their business clients ( who's end users are more then happy to recieve a free or almost free product )

    I basicly came up with a nice item business's can give away to consumers who make a purchase , either free or for less then 3 dollars but an item everyone would want rather it be for free or majorly discounted. In turn the business gets brand name recoginition since thier company name gets put into the item so it is very win win. I havent been happier in many many months as I an right now ! if I can land another 10 accounts like this one.... and this account might be ordering more lol.
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