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Those are a few of the companies/websites that are under the VinHol Global Enterprises LLC umbrella and here are some of my thoughts on marketing in the online world I work in today:

Marketing a brand in development has posed a lot of challenges for me. Creating the LLC with the vision of it being the “umbrella” and then securing products, information and services to fill in under the umbrella was fairly easy for me as I know what niche I am looking to fill a place in. The hard part comes when it is time to market my idea. I have found that even in the online world, doing offline marketing is necessary to produce the attention and visits to your online creations. I’m busy utilizing as many ways financially feasible, to market my companies. Financially feasible being the optimum word here. I think that I have hit the wall that many new companies on or offline run into; finances.    

When there are limited finances, I think being able to dig further into the list of ways to market becomes a skill that has to be acquired and then mastered quickly. As with any mastery though, that takes time and in today’s online world, time isn’t always on the side of the developer. Filling a niche or rather capturing a niche before it becomes saturated requires being one of the first movers just as being a first mover on a new launch will give you the best Return On Investment. If you’re not in the first mover group when capturing a niche then you need a significantly different yet relevant product or products to introduce to that niche to even be noticed. The other obstacle with a niche that is established before you get there is the entrenched companies, the ones who broke ground in niche, so to speak. They have garnered the respect of potential customers and many have a loyal following which allows them to reduce some of their marketing expenditures but forces you to increase your spending to gain the attention of customers whose focus is on the longtime companies.

That doesn’t mean breaking into an established niche isn’t possible. I have found that putting a new spin on solid, reputable established ideas helps garner a measure of respect for the new company on the block. Then I work to capitilize on that momentary respect by offering information that customers can use. I offer enough information to start building brand respect and recognition but not so much that it doesn’t leave anything for me to market and sell. Using free information as a means to market products and services available has proven to get good results in online business ventures. I believe that many online customers have come to expect that you will have something they can use and get from you at not cost to them. The online customer is also a savy one and they know that there is no free lunch so for every free slice of information you give them, they will be expecting you to sooner or later, move your product, information or service that you have for sale, into their view. The key with free stuff marketing is being able to give them enough free stuff, to make enough deposits if you will, into their emotional bank accounts so that they come to trust, like and feel as though they know you. If you can achieve that, then you have a chance of gaining a new customer and a piece of an established niche.

Another discovery I have made is that being able to market yourself as a one stop for everything online portal doesn’t really go over that well and in fact can turn potential customers away. I hold firmly to the belief that because online shopping has become so easy and consumers are sharper than ever, the ability to use a search engine and find others who have the same products or similiar products as you, has created a need for customers to shop around before they settle on which company they will buy from. So even if you do sell everything, they are going to want to go to other sites and see what they are doing to market the product being searched for and to compare pricing. They may still buy an item or two from you but rarely does a one stop shop get the total shopping list of items from a customer. So trying to sell everything only creates more of a financial drain when marketing your company and products you sell. If you can find a selection of items that all fall within the niche you are marketing to, you will have a greater chance of success and be able to reduce your marketing costs.

Some of the ways I market my companies are from the traditional school. I use flyers posted in local business that might have consumers who would have an interest in my products, services and information. I also contact local groups and offer to information days for free. Then you have flyers in your neighborhood as well as using your vehicle to market with nice signage on one of more of the vehicles windows. Of course, word of mouth and the business card handshake are still on the marketing tool table as far as offline methods of marketing go. Online, I use blogs, articles, directory submissions, link exchanges, webrings and most of the social media sites like MySpace, FaceBook, LinkedIN, Squidoo, Delicious, Digg, StumbleOn, High5, Zion. Then there are the sites that encourage you to build a downline and attack the internet for opportunities as a group instead of individually. Traffic exchanges are a dime a dozen and serve as a fair way to market your company. I say fair because Traffic Exchanges are basically another persons way of building their list. Everybody touts the power of having a list when it comes to making money on the internet. I have to say that parts of me beg to differ but I’m still relatively new, well, less than 4 years online, in this online industry so I am withholding all of my judgement for now.

As you can see, there are many ways to market and these are just some of the ones that I use. Anybody have any others? I am open to new methods and look forward to seeing them so that I can try them out to help grow my business.

Vinicent Holland aka CHRONIC PAIN HERO