Hi, I launched my company online end of last year, I am a designer and have a online Handbag boutique, but I am struggling with getting sales, I have done bag promotions and giveaways and donated bags, but stuggling with the sales online, any advise would be great. Thankyou Sarah

Hi Sarah,

Congratulations on the launch of your company. The good news about an ecommerce business is that you can have customers all over the world. The bad news is that it’s easy to fall into the “If you build it, they will come” mentality. That is to say, just because you’ve launched your store and may have a great product doesn’t mean that people will find you online.

Bag promotions, giveaways and donated bags are great marketing tools. What we recommend for you, however, is a full-blown marketing strategy. This is something we often work on with our clients. Look down the road at the next 12 months about think about what marketing activities you can accomplish. Each marketing activity should have the same goal in mind: How to drive traffic to your website.

The name of the game for you is getting the word out. Brainstorm all of the marketing vehicles available to you. We think trunk shows could be a great strategy to get the product into women’s hands, for example. And you’ve already donated bags, so why not identify style-influencers in your community and make sure that they have one of your bags too.  

The point is for you to have a realistic sense about what you want to do about marketing this year. Start by choosing your activities, putting them on the calendar, and setting aside budget. Then all you have to do is follow your plan.

 Danielle Botterell & Amy Ballon,  sparkconsulting.ca