Remember when the must-have for every small biz was a web site? You weren’t a legitimate business if you couldn’t also be found on the Web. Well, today you gotta have a fan page if you have a business. And, curiously, once you do – and you successfully cultivate an active fan base like Sueb.do’s – you’ll find that you’ve come full circle again to also really needing that web page that allows you to sell products and services online.
And that’s right where Sueb.do sits as we approach Labor Day when Sueb.do’s doors on the Cape close for the season. So as I prepare to wave goodbye to my fabulous summer employees – and happily send them back to school with cash in their pockets – I’m also busy planning the launch of a new Sueb.do online store this Winter.
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Honestly, I’ve never really enjoyed the process of selling online because I get my energy from directly interacting with customers. Which is exactly why this summer as my staff runs the store, I continue to maintain interactions with fans on Facebook while buzzing around the Cape selling Sueb.do products at local craft fairs, community events, and the Wellfleet flea market. In each of these varied venues, I get to creatively merchandise all my products, and, most importantly, see customers’ reactions and hear their enthusiastic comments.
What’s interesting is that I’m finding my Facebook fan page allows me to have conversations with customers before, during and after sales. Furthermore, it has actually created the need for adding an online store to the sales mix. Making customer conversations transparent to everyone via social media is proving to be an effective way to create demand for products that are best fulfilled through an online store.
So I’m formulating the 2011 Sueb.do sales and marketing plan a’la social media. And to help me implement it, all summer I’ve been:
- Asking each customer for their email address as a routine part of the payment and checkout process
- Maintaining separate email databases for each different Cape sales location to be used in future targeted email marketing campaigns
- Telling customers about the Sueb.do Facebook fan page; asking if they are on Facebook; and, if so, getting their exact Facebook handle so that I can follow up with them on Facebook
- Taking photos showcasing customers wearing and purchasing products and then posting them for all to see and talk about on Facebook
- Creating videos from my Flip
- Using the Facebook fan page link to and activate a new, soon-to-come Sueb.do online store!
Stay tuned for more updates! And, gulp, Happy Fall!
Filed under: Cape Cod, Facebook, Preppy, Social Media, Sueb Biz 13
