Generating publicity and interest through marketing your business on the web is proving to be the most effective way for boutiques and other businesses in general to operate.
The web has seen a recent increase in the number of sales transactions carried out on-line, with the amount of money being spent on clothing and footwear reaching over one billion pounds for the first time in 2006.
Keen shopaholics are appearing to be no longer phased by the prospect of not being able to try-before-you-buy and the growing market of the World Wide Web is something which small to medium business boutiques can not afford to miss out.
Establishing your online strategy has to take into account some different areas compared to a normal business marketing strategy. Boutiques need to make sure that they have valuable information and content that will not only educate, but also be insightful, interactive and fun.
These values are things that Sarah Gooding from Unitechnology, an online company who provide DIY websites for small businesses, believes are essential. She said, "The internet is the domain of small independent retailers because they’re able to offer the diversity you just can’t find down your local high street."
A key tip to gaining success with marketing on the web is getting more "votes." A "vote" determines your position within Google, the most popular search engine. Generally, the better the site which you have the link on, the more strength the vote carries.
Creating your own strategy can be something of thankless task when starting from scratch, but there are some different types of tried and tested marketing strategies that you can adhere to, to make maximise your online marketing potential.
Affiliate marketing This strategy involves placing adverts, for no cost, on other people’s websites. In return, you have to guarantee that if someone purchases an item as a direct result of clicking on the advert link. "This helps you compete with the big boys" according to Warrington web designer, Anthony Fallon.
Piggyback e-mailing marketing This involves again renting space, usually for a cost, on someone’s electronic newsletter. It is advisable to do this on a newsletter for related products. It can prove to be a very cost effective way reaching prospective customers.
Louise Campbell, who set up her online boutique Loula’s boutique in 2005, still thinks that a balance needs to struck between marketing your boutique online and in the press, she said, "We advertise on Google ad words and we also make sure we are linked to high traffic fashion and female interest sites. The daily and weekly newspapers are easier to target though as they have more opportunities for features."
James Parr