I’m pleased to introduce today’s guest contributor, Linda Harrell. Linda is the owner of GalleriaLindaLoft and GalleriaLinda on Zibbet. Linda is a designer by trade and by passion and has an interior design degree. Linda now works as a strategic marketing communications consultant for small businesses. She uses her free time to pursue her early desire in life to create jewelry. Linda authors the IndieCEO blog, a tactical strategic planning blog desigined to assist online “kitchen table” businesses.

What do I do? Where do I go? Help! I’m in business! Have you ever felt this way? For those of you that are new to selling, be encouraged that even the most seasoned sellers feel this way at times. Online selling is a continuous journey and not a destination, as you evolve along with the market fluctuations. The things that you do this year are not the things that you did last year.

I want to share with you a very important strategic guideline for your business. Strategic planning for your business is nothing more than deciding how you will fit your small business into the huge universe. You have to get out of the weeds and take a huge step back to see the big picture.

One of the most important parts of selling a product is the heartbeat of your business: knowing your customer.

It is important that you understand who likes your product enough to buy it. Do you know? Step outside of your comfort bubble to get the real story on your customer. It takes time, thought, research, and analysis and will make your business life so much easier!

There are several ways to find clues about people who will like your products:

• Past Sales Figure out your customer’s age range, geographic location, cost of items sold, time of year, style of item, etc. Analyze your current customers in this way and you will see a trend.
• Surveys Send out a survey to a variety of people. Post your survey on your blogs or in your shop to capture people truly unknown to you. Invite others from forums to take the survey. Be careful, though, don’t just survey your network of business owners with similar product - step out and find “real people” to take your survey.
• Focus Groups Use real people. This takes more of your time but it is fun and worth it. For this, you may need to ask the people that you know well, but ask them to bring a friend unknown to you. Have a cross section of your product styles to discuss.
• Craft Shows Use it as a perfect place to gain information on who is attracted to your product. Be friendly and chat up lookers. Ask specific questions about your product if you find someone willing to talk. Listen to comments.

This knowledge is like money in the bank. If you want to sell your product, you have to expose your product to those who are most likely to buy it. Once you understand who your customer is, here are some uses for that information:

• Advertising Research places where your specific customer lives, works, and plays. Look for advertising and promotional opportunities (online and offline).
• Online venue selection Most of the venues online have demographics documented on web sites such as http://www.alexa.com/ and http://www.quantcast.com/.
• Offline craft fairs and art shows Question the planners about the demographics of their targeted attendees. There is no sense wasting your time and money presenting your product to people who are not interested.
• Retail stores (consignments, wholesale to boutiques, etc…) Store demographics are key to the success of your products in these venues. Don’t come up short because the store manager personally loves your product but the customers of the store are a different demographic. Ask.

Be sure to review your customer demographic each year. Many creatives shift their aesthetic by using different techniques, materials, and sources. We all grow and expand our artistic products, vintage sourcing, or supply chain. Your customer from a year ago may not truly be your customer today!

Best wishes for much success on Zibbet!

Public Market Center photograph by Blue Door Photography on Zibbet

Vicki is committed to assisting her fellow Zibbeters improve their shops for successful online selling. She is the owner of three Zibbet shops: LOC Design Studio, Denim and Pearls and A Stitch and a Prayer. You can follow Vicki on Twitter and through her LOC Design Studio blog.

Tags: business, Business & Marketing Tips, Customer demographics, Strategic planning