DEV Community: Roselle Ebarle

How to Increase Online Sales

Roselle Ebarle — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 07:35:56 +0000

Everything and everyone is on the internet, making it the most effective platform for selling your business. However, before you get too excited, it is important to understand that success is still not a guarantee. Marketing is still an essential part in increasing your sales and spreading the name of your business.

Understand Your Product

To sell your product, you need to completely understand what it is and who are the people that are purchasing them. The sooner you realize your demographic, the easier it is to create marketing material that your audience is more susceptible to. There are a number of product categories. Knowing which one you fall under will get you started in understanding your market.

Daily Essentials

There are products that people can’t live without such as toiletries, food, and beverages. People are bound to make a purchase; it is just a matter of making sure that yours is their choice. The challenge is standing out of the competition.

High Ticket Items

When there are products that people can’t live without, there is also the opposite. High ticket items as they are called include items that are considered wants instead of needs. They usually are priced higher with higher value. As a consequence, the market is much more niche. To further know if your product is under this category, look for more examples of high ticket items.

Marketing high ticket items involves approaching the probable customer instead of waiting for the demand. As a vendor, you create the demand by marketing to people that they need what you have to offer. It is harder, but with the right strategies and concentrating on the right demographic, success is bound to come.

Affordable Non-essentials

An item that is considered non-essential to a person’s daily life doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive or luxurious. There are a lot of products that people can live without but play a huge role in everyday life. To name a few, these include toys, water containers, and fashion items. You don’t need them, but they surely are a part of life. Marketing is tricky because people don’t have the immediate urge to make a purchase, but at the same time, targeted marketing is too tedious for a small product.

Create Product/Brand Awareness

How to increase online sales is a vague topic. There is no one single solution to all industries, categories, and market demographic. The only constant thing is being flexible and learning to adapt. However, there are steps you can follow to have a starting point for your online marketing campaign.

Establish Online Presence

If you want your product or brand to be known, you need to have it seen. The more you establish your online presence through social media pages and websites, the more likely people are going to consider you as a choice. The logic is simple, people can’t buy what they don’t know exists.

Appeal to Your Audience

Don’t market your product to everyone, but concentrate on your potential market instead. If you end up investing on marketing campaigns that are generally targeted for everybody, you might be spending on something that doesn’t impact anyone. Remember to always start with the most effective strategy which is target your marketing to your most potential audience.

Connect with Your Market

Gone are the days of intrusive marketing campaigns. People now know what they want. They don’t want marketing materials they didn’t ask for forced unto them again and again. Instead, they are more susceptible to having a choice and being presented with something that has value. The idea of inbound marketing has taken over in today’s generation. For starters, it is engaging with your audience on a personal level to make them feel that they are a part of something more. This can come in the form of connecting with them through messages, inquiries, email marketing, and providing useful information.

The Don’ts of Online Sales

Knowing what to do to market your product is important. The same goes for knowing what not to do. While good measure forwards your progress, doing the wrong things could put you a step backward. Always be aware of the things that you are likely going to do wrong in your effort to increase sales.

Over Selling

You want to make people realize that they need your product, not make them believe in something that is not real. Do not make exaggerated claims or sell something beyond what it is. This commonly happens in online selling. The consequence? Loss of trust, disappointed customers, and deterioration of credibility are just a few.

Over Marketing

The purpose of marketing is to generate revenue, so if you are spending too much on it, then what’s the point? Most business owners get too carried away with their marketing campaign that they start to concentrate too much on it. Not realizing that they are doing too much than their revenue can cope up with.

Decreasing Value

When things start going great, people tend to get a little too carried away. They put down their guard and concentrate on supplying the demand rather than working on their marketing strategies. Social media platforms stop replying to inquiries, review websites are no longer maintained, and email marketing stops. Most people don’t realize that decreasing the value from which demand stems from will gradually decrease your sales.

Conclusion

Nobody said increasing online sales is going to be easy. As a matter of fact, as widespread the topic may be, not all strategies and tips work for every industry. At the end of the day, it all comes down to you finding the one that fits and adapting to the challenges and factors that surround your industry.

How to Make a QR Code for your Online Form

Roselle Ebarle — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 06:28:59 +0000

More and more people are making the transition to using online forms.

Need to conduct a survey?

Give your students a test?

Or simply want to have a systematic way to receive suggestions?

You can do all of that with online form builders like Google Form, TypeForm and SurveyMonkey.

It is fast, easy, and convenient.

You can save on costs because you don’t need to print thousands of copies on paper!

Simply make your form and share the link online.

To make things better, you can turn that link into a QR code.
With a scan of a mobile phone, people can access your form without typing long URLs!

How to Convert Your Online Form Into A QR Code

Go to your online form builder to create your form
You can choose from the templates you can find or start with a blank canvas
After completing your form’s fields, find and copy the link to your online form
Go to your favorite QR code generator such as qrcode-tiger.com or look for a best QR code generator online.
Click the URL option and paste the link of your form.
Generate your QR code.
Set the design of your QR code. You can choose its data pattern, the eyes, add a logo, set the colors, add a frame, and even add call-to-action to make it more appealing and noticeable!

Lastly, download your QR code and share it to your audience.

QR codes make it easier for people to reach your forms, allowing you to reach a wider audience.

This is helpful if you want more people to participate or just want to make it easier for your students to find your online tests for them.

Static vs Dynamic QR Codes

Are your surveys bound for future revisions?

Just want one QR code to consistently update for your students to scan?

You don’t necessarily have to make a new QR code for every Google form.

Make it convenient both for you and your audience.

Simply choose dynamic over static QR code in qrcode-tiger.com.

You can also track and monitor QR code performance.

See how many people scanned.

Learn where and when scans were made.

This can come in handy in a lot of situations.

Know if all your students have taken the test.

See the subject variety of your survey. And so much more!

Final Tips

Strategic location

When printing your QR code, make sure to choose a strategic

location if you want to maximize its usefulness.

Place your QR code on your receptions’s front desk, or on your product’s packaging.

Before your guests leave your hotel, have them scan your QR code to get feedback on their stay

Use Dynamic QR codes

Save time and money with dynamic QR codes!

With just one QR code, you don’t have to worry about getting your form wrong or changing you form’s purpose. You can switch your form URL to another URL anytime even when your QR codes are already printed!

Compelling call to action

Use a compelling call-to-action to urge your customers to scan and take the survey.

Gift a freebie or discount for people who take the time to scan or add your QR code on your store’s tables while people wait for their orders.

In Conclusion

QR codes are revolutionary. They provide a new and convenient way to share content. Say goodbye to typing long links and hello to fast mobile phone scanning. Whatever service you are using, it is easy to make and convenient to implement.

So, what are you waiting for? Learn how to make a qr code for a google form or whatever online form builder you use today.

QR Codes in Your B2B Sales Strategy

Roselle Ebarle — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 06:52:59 +0000

QR codes are popping up literally everywhere during this pandemic. The technology, made popular by Wechat, is taking the world by storm with its dozens of use cases not only in marketing but also in non-marketing situations.

How to use QR codes

If you own a B2B startup, here's how you can use them in your b2b sales strategy.

Pitch Decks

You can only fit so much slides in a single deck so why not make the most of it?

In just about any presentations a QR code can be placed on a single slide to lead users to a specific site such as your MVP or company landing page.

Business Cards

The search for contactless means is on the rise. What do you do when you meet a potential customer on the way to the coffee shop?

Add a QR code on your business card, which the person can scan or take a photo of, to lead them to your online channels.

Books & Content

Got additional valuable content? A QR code that leads to an interactive video, audio, or any media is a great addition to your content.

Packaging

Do you send physical products to your customers?

If yes, then a QR code on your packaging to lead them to your social media channels is a great way to catch the attention of your customers.

Seamless Omnichannel Experience

QR codes are enablers for the omnichannel experience. The moment your customers exit your site, QR codes can be a great point of contact outside of your physical/online channels.

Add them on vehicles, bus stops, billboards, marketing materials such as flyers, or places where your potential customers might be hanging out.

When you are trying to market to the youth, coffee shops can be a great partner.

In networking events, add a QR code on your posters to maximize the space/booth you have.

A few tips

QR codes are undoubtedly easy. But it helps to be reminded of the little things.

Add short yet compelling call-to-actions

Add call-to-actions along with your QR code design to make sure your customers scan. Trust me, it makes a lot of difference!

Use short, yet compelling words like "Scan", "Scan to win" to urge people to take out their mobile phones the moment they see your QR code.

Use dynamic QR codes

Dynamic QR codes can be edited and tracked. At first glance, these codes are less dense compared to static QR codes. Why? The data behind them is a short URL making them a more versatile option.

The benefits are countless. You can save a lot of time when you are able to switch your QR code URL anytime even when you have already printed your codes.

Tracking is a great feature available only with dynamic QR codes.

Choose a strategic location

When you make use of printed QR codes, make sure to choose a strategic location.

In products such as beer or wine bottles, the cap or label is a great place to add your QR code.

In physical stores, the counter or store window are your options.

Whatever use case you have, using a QR code generator is a great way to add value and engage your customers.