Omar owns a stall selling handmade cosmetics, and wants to launch an e-commerce site. He has lots of experience selling his products in person at markets, but is now hoping to reach more customers online.
Can you advise Omar on how to make both his online and offline business successful?
1. Should he focus on duplicating his successful offline marketing efforts to an online audience?
TRUE or FALSE
2. Should he sell at a cheaper price on the website to attract more customers?
TRUE or FALSE
3. Should he identify his various online and offline audiences, and how best to engage them?
TRUE or FALSE
4. Should he consider paid online advertising as the sole means of promoting his business online?
TRUE or FALSE
Answers
1. Online marketing is different from offline marketing. So exactly duplicating his offline marketing may not necessarily work in some cases. Online audiences tend to get distracted easily by other ads or other websites, so holding the online customer's attention is also a key factor in Online marketing. He should do his research on how audiences react to the websites or businesses which provides cosmetics like his business and their needs in respect of the products offered. So the answer for the first question is FALSE.
2. Always offering the products at a cheaper price doesn't necessarily bring more customers often if the quality of the product is low or his products' delivery time is delayed. But he can offer discounts or offers for a limited period to prompt his customers to buy his products. He should also try focusing on providing the products at the best price and also at its best quality. He should build a trust based relation with his customers by delivering the products at the earliest and by providing a contact form to enable customers ask their queries. So, the answer is FALSE if cheaper price is the only factor on which his online business if focusing on.
3. Yes, he should look through what his customers say about his product in various platforms or in his feedback form and try to improve the products if required. Engaging with the audiences through social media also creates brand awareness about his product online and also shows the audience, how the business handles its customer's feedback (both positive & negative feedback). He can also provide some special discounts or amazing service related to the products to his existing customers and encourage them to share information about his products with their friends. So, the answer is TRUE.
4. Paid advertising is a good means for attracting the audiences but it is NOT the sole or the only factor to grow his business online. He should try optimising his E - commerce store by providing correct details about his products, delivery time and should encourage his customers to give feedback for his products. When more customers start buying and start rating his products and share such products information on social media, his products will start showing up in the first few results of a Google page when somebody searches for handmade cosmetics on Google. This is called as Organic results as business does not pay Google or other search engines to show up their ads at first few results but rather improves its customer base and his business so that Google and other search engines shows their products in the Search result page thus promoting its products to customers who search for "Handmade cosmetics". So, the answer is FALSE as he can focus on both paid ads and organic results for promoting his business online to his potential customers.
Hope this helps.
Answer:
Should he focus on duplicating his successful offline marketing efforts to an online audience?
false
Should he sell at a cheaper price on the website to attract more customers?
false
Should he identify his various online and offline audiences, and how best to engage them?
true
Should he consider paid online advertising as the sole means of promoting his business online?
false.
Explanation: