General/Marketing 101

Hi Everyone, I have been greatly impressed by the amount of knowledge on this forum, especially in the area of making various items. While this may be a little "off the wall" I am asking if any of you are familar enough to the Internet to know of places where a niche product I manufacture would be more beneficial to display. This is a one of a kind unit we sell in the US and Canada but in limited Quantities ,keeping it a small part time operation.(See item #2569822556 on ebay). We would like to get the volume up to the point where it is a saleable commodity as retirement age has past and I want to slow the pace somewhat.Our existing customer list includes such names as: Albertson's, Sysco, Winn-Dixie, Quaker Oats, Hershey, Kraft Foods, Sygma, Square D, SuperValu, Fleming Foods, A&p, Farmer Jacks, ShopRite, Krogers and many more. Our products are made with Machine tooling, welders, Etc. It seems you folks always have a web source for things, so I thought there's no harn in asking?Our major source for advertising (publication) was sold and we haven't found a good replacement yet so word of mouth has been keeping us going but we want to shift to a higher gear. Thanks, Dick Lewis, alias bigais.

You might build your own Web Site. Improve the camera images (lots of ways...)...

That way you still have control, and can organize are you see fit. Use the 'net to do documentation, support, set up sales, and avoid a lot work that is involved with traditional marketing and sales. Ebay is just a teaser.....

--jr

dvideo, Thanks for your comments. I have had a subdomain web site for ten years-www.panetwork.com/aisle-a-gator and also carried a 1/4 page ad in Thomas Register which only flooded us with vendors trying to sell us their products and services. I did a survey using stats from mail order label companies and feel there are approx. 150,000 companies that can use this vac., however getting the info to these users is the real challenge, as everything is catagorized as JUNK mail these days.

Hey Dick, I checked out the auction and have a few thoughts.

Firstly I agree with dvideo, the image needs improving, and you need more of them.

As to your own web site- it's a cheap way to skirt around the printing of a nice brochure. If I get a postcard of something interesting and they don't have a website, i usually ignore it.

As to running an ebay auction, great idea ebay has become my number one search engine. Your auction needs some work. In my mind a new product direct from the manufacturer has to be sold differently than used or surplus- it needs more. I want the illusion that you are big and proffesional. it needs html and many pictures. some pointers

-change your user name to a company name(or product name perhaps AISLE-A-GATOR should b your selling name- make sure people know they are buying direct from the manufacturer (state this as well)

- lots of clear pictures

- hot links to your web page and e-mail

- phone number so people know they are dealing with a business.

-once you have a good looking listing list it multiple times with different titles- you need different searches to bring up your product- try to think of other items the businesses you sell to use and tag on those words- try different catagories etc.

good luck,
Pete

ps heres a link to your ebay auction so people don't have to search

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&mfcisapicommand=ViewItem&item=2569822556&rd=1

crzypete, thanks for your comments, they are appreciated. I had a 10%er AD Guru work with this product a year or two ago on his web site and he found he could make a lot more money on "home stuff" with a lot lower price but much more volume, so he gave up. I have just finished a new brochure and only use the web to try to find the working people who would use this product in their everyday jobs to get them to show their boss that such a product exists. The CEO who never sees the problems in sanitation will not try to find ways to spend $$$ until someone can push this up the ladder. I had one guy that put our vac in his budget for 9 consecutive years and it only took 45 days to order the 2nd. one.Life is strange.

crzypete, thanks for your comments, they are appreciated. I had a 10%er AD Guru work with this product a year or two ago on his web site and he found he could make a lot more money on "home stuff" with a lot lower price but much more volume, so he gave up. I have just finished a new brochure and only use the web to try to find the working people who would use this product in their everyday jobs to get them to show their boss that such a product exists. The CEO who never sees the problems in sanitation will not try to find ways to spend $$$ until someone can push this up the ladder. I had one guy that put our vac in his budget for 9 consecutive years and it only took 45 days to order the 2nd. one.Life is strange.