goWholesale is currently conducting a study to uncover best-practices and assist companies in the wholesale industry with doing business online.

As a survey participant you will receive:

• A chance to win a $10 iTunes gift card
• Exclusive access to the preliminary results, benchmarking their company to the competitors and peers
• An invitation to the Proven Online Marketing Tactics For Wholesale Companies webinar

The survey will take less than five minutes to complete. All responses will be confidential and only shared at an aggregate level.

Thank you for your time and please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions.

– Jonathan

Jonathan Staley · Marketing Manager
p: 202.558.6213 · jonathan.staley@gowholesale.com
goWholesale (NASDAQ: LQDT)
1850 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20036

But with economic recovery still in progress, all of the individual expenses that come with attendance appear to add up to one costly marketing strategy. Still, with each expense also comes their one ways to save, while still increasing your return on investment (ROI).

Your Display
First, the cost of your trade show display should not empty your wallet. If you plan to attend just one trade show this year, look into renting a display instead of purchasing. But if you attend to showcase at more, a modular display with a number of visual options will end up being more cost-efficient.

Whether you choose to rent or purchase, opt for a display made of today’s lightweight options “The big thing with lowering costs is starting at the beginning,” said Adam Brodsley, co-founder of Volume, Inc., to Tradeshow Week. “Overall, one of the big things that affects everything from beginning to end is a lighter-weight exhibit.”

For instance, Volume, Inc. offers sustainable mesh made of recycled bottles, which can drop the cost of display fabric from $120 to $30 per square foot. Evaluating your technology can also help you cut costs while still providing visual interest, as it offers the smaller flat-screen option. Either way, lightweight options can still offer eye-catching results, thanks to many options and perhaps money spared for graphics.

Your Promo Campaign
Of course, your presence at a trade show will never result in profit if no one knows of it. These days, increasing traffic at your trade show booth can cost very little thanks to possibilities offered by the Internet. And while your e-mail newsletter can certainly get the word out to your loyal customers, hosts like PRWeb circulate the news to the world beyond.

If you can budget less money but more time to prepare, try sending such a release to individual trade show press. The key to seeing your story published is to make it newsworthy – and to to this, note how new products and services will be demonstrated at your display.

Your Giveaways
Showering trade show traffic with giveaways could either have its momentary or lasting rewards.
Some – like pens, notepads, and itty bitty toys – may appeal to attendees at first, perhaps solely because they are free. But with such giveaways, attendees may not even remember why your products and services are worth purchasing.

Above all else, trade show experts recommend creating booklets that explain your products and services. Such can be used as reference materials long after the trade show ends, and any leftovers can even double up as direct mail marketing.

No matter how you decide to cut your expenses, remember that how you treat this year’s trade show could either convey a priceless message or cost you dearly. Forego a trade show you would normally attend, and prospects or competition may end up questioning your business’s wellbeing. On the other hand, attendance – even on a smaller scale – will show that you know how to run business as usual.

Shop.org, the National Retail Federation’s digital division, is offering the best of the basic tactics, by addressing topics like social networking tools, online retail video and multi-channel success.

Speakers include Stephan Spencer, founder and president of natural search engine marketing firm Netconcepts. Bring laptops if possible to his hands-on workshop, “90 Minutes of Pure ROI,” to see firsthand which simple SEO tactics have the most impact.

Spencer’s clients include the Home Shopping Network, America Online and the Discovery Channel. Other featured experts represent BestBuy.com, Lane Bryant, and Drugstore.com.

For more information about the Online Marketing Workshop, May 4-6 in Scottsdale, Ariz., call 202-626-8192 or visit the event’s Web site. Registration by May 1 required.

But the year also taught some valuable lessons, especially to small business owners. Whatever losses they suffered the public noticed, which made their successes all the more notable:

• What they could not compensate in price, they made up for with customer service. Take note of Kelly Spors, small-business writer for the Wall Street Journal, and her recent experience buying trout at her neighborhood fish and meat market:
  “Rather than just ringing me up, the man behind the counter spent 10 minutes energetically explaining to me his favorite way to season and broil it,” she wrote. “He obviously knew a lot about the fish and meats he was selling, and it turned out delicious. I know where I’ll go next time I want fish – and it won’t be a major grocery chain.
• They sought alternative means of credit as their usual sources dried up. Local, community banks became more viable options. There, commercial and industrial lending continued to rise throughout the year, amounting up to $1.24 billion in November, according to the Federal Reserve.
  Credit unions also became a reasonable source of lending. The Credit Union National Association predicted that, with their conservative practices, they should see savings and loans growth this year and into next year.
• They lent to a growing online retail environment. And, considering this year’s growth, 60 percent of small and medium-sized businesses could have a Web site by 2010, according to Kelsey Group, a search and directory research firm. About 33 percent of them have a Web site today.
  Internet design and marketing companies catering to small and medium-sized businesses also took notice. Web.com saw its number of subscribers more than double over the past year, from 82,000 to about 274,000.

What else did small businesses do right in 2008?

Born between the mid-1970s and 2000, the millennials have grown up surrounded by many forms of technology and media. A year ago, they were simply labeled as anti-corporate menaces, as they prioritized their own needs and self-worth above the workplace. But now, marketers had no choice but to acknowledge them as the next breed of consumers, as they take note of every behaviorism.

And while businesses know better than to ignore the millennials, they have yet to provide a full-fledged sales effort. Of the 164 business executives that The Economist polled in September, 54 percent said they did not have a plan to target, attract, or retain millienials as customers.

Such businesses may want to devise new plans that consider a few key characteristics of the milliennials:

• They possess a great amount of spending power. About 80 million millennials born between 1982 and 2001 reside in the United States alone, outnumbering baby boomers, according to The Economist. Between them all, they possess billions of dollars in income.

• They crave a community-based experience. More than two-thirds of the executives surveyed by The Economist found that millenials purchase based on peer recommendations and customer reviews. These executives also observed that milliennials appreciate companies that use their Twitters as an open forum, not just for sheer promotion.

• They don’t just want instant gratification – they expect it. O’Neal Smitherman, Ball State University’s vice president for information technology, explained this to USA Today: “In the world today, we have the potential to know and to be able to access any kind of information that has ever existed. While you may not want to have all that information every minute, you do want to be able to access it whenever you need. If you happen to be riding on the campus shuttle bus, you can’t afford to be out of touch.”

But so many options for consumers could bring too much competition for small business owners – that is, unless they properly prepare their Web site for the holiday season. Not only must they provide a reason to shop, but they must also promote that reason extensively.

Small business owners should first create a list a keywords that will lead customers toward their holiday specials, whether they are particular products or special sales. These can be placed anywhere on the Web site for optimization, and in a number of forms: with pictures as alt tags, embedded in the Web site coding under meta tags, or simply included in a written blurb.

Regardless of what they are, returning and even prospective customers will always be drawn to something new, said Maria Perilli, online marketing manager for Deep Blue Interactive , a web design and Internet marketing company. Furthermore, “the more content you have on your page, the more your Web site is promoted on the search engine,” she said.

For a richer shopping experience, online retailers now have improved site searches, customer review features, and product videos. JCPenney’s Web site has all of this, while also highlighting limited-time offers. Small business owners can do this, or even create a separate page for longer-term deals.

Such microsites, like Best Buy’s Project Holiday , can also demonstrate how company products can lend to unique gift-giving. If the holiday budget permits, small business owners can even take one step further and create a pay-per-click campaign for that page, Perilli said.

As for the main web site, what should also be prominently displayed is “a call to action” – a phone number, e-mail address, or even a link to a contact form, whatever prompts more than just browsing. As for the rest of the shopping process, small business owners should first obtain, then display an updated security certificate.

“Customers are not going to buy anything on a unsecured site that’s taking credit cards,” said Matt Warnock, creative director and producer at Daisy Interactive .

Small business owners should update shipping and handling information periodically – making fees and expected delivery times extremely clear. “They need to be concerned with orders getting out in a timely fashion, especially since customers can get so panicky about getting their Christmas gifts,” Warnock said.

Finally – no matter how they may choose to update their Web sites this season – small business owners must aim to provide a shopping experience as personalized as customers may find in brick-and-mortar storefronts.

“Make sure you put your message out as much as possible … making sure the customers feel happy and positive about shopping,” Warnock said.

One of the biggest problems online marketers face is grabbing the attention of surfers. The second is building instant trust between the surfer and the website. The latter sounds practically impossible but new technology has once again prevailed and brought us one step closer to the goal.

Perhaps you’ve seen it and perhaps you haven’t. Regardless, it’s making a splash in the online advertising/marketing community. What is it? (drum roll please…)

Moving media.

The principle is to place a "live host" on your website that will greet your customers and personally introduce your site and company. The humanized video makes for a far more personalized feel to your site and establishes a sense of trust worthiness and credibility. Many large companies are jumping on the bandwagon and from everything I’ve heard, people seem to think it’s a pretty cool thing.

Two companies appear to have the market cornered on creating and delivering this service. Rovion and Webouts offer the same things essentially however, Webouts appears to be different in that their video person can enter from any direction on your website while Rovion’s are apparently stationary.

The companies allow you to produce your own creative but also have their own teams that can work with you to produce the desired result. The clips can be up to 30 seconds long and Rovion’s starting price for a small campaign is $2,500.

Check out Rovion and Webouts for examples and more information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqJz0NgnnE

The ad was designed to be a part of a viral marketing campaign for Gatorade. The ad was pulled however when Gatorade decided it wanted to pursue a different direction with it’s marketing campaign but somehow the video still leaked out and to Gatorade’s great fortune, they got to see just how successful the campaign might have been.

Granted, Gatorade has millions of dollars it can spend on stunt girls and fancy video editing but no amount of money can buy the phenomenal reach their video has had online. It goes to show that if your video is worth watching, people will watch it and spread it around whether they know what it’s for or not. This is the "word of mouth " marketer’s dream come true. I bet the folks at Gatorade are kicking themselves now for not attaching a bigger logo to the end of the clip!

When was the last time you read a business book? Last month? Last week? Yesterday? Now? (Wow, if you’re reading a book now AND reading this blog I’m personally inviting you to my house for tea and crumpets so you can teach me how to simultaneously read two things at once!) Here’s a better question. When was the last time you read a business book that was as easy as reading the latest Harry Potter? Probably can’t even remember huh?

Well my friends, I present to you one of the easiest and rewarding books out there today. It is called "Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking" and it’s written by one of marketing’s biggest rock stars, Andy Sernovitz .

It’s written in an incredibly conversational tone and offers seemingly "no brainer" advice on how to build your company through the sheer power of word of mouth marketing . I think the biggest word I ran into was "obfuscation" (it means to confuse, FYI). Andy combines his 18 years of experience with changes that are happening currently with the internet to paint an astonishingly simple picture of the right way to market your business.

The book is a mere 184 pages including a foreword by fellow marketing/internet compatriots Seth Godin and an afterward by Guy Kawasaki. If you don’t want to miss out on lots of free marketing for your business, be sure to check it out .

But, don’t worry; email marketing doesn’t have to be pointless. When done right it can truly be effective. It’s getting your emails to stand out from the sea of junk that’s the seemingly tough part. Incorporating some of these tips into your next email campaign can help to increase both your click rate and your response rate:

Use a branded “from” name – Your marketing email’s from name should reflect your company or brand name, not the message contained within the email. If you want people to read your emails, then you’ll need to get them to trust you – and that means giving them a straightforward answer as to who is sending the email. Even tags like Specials, Weekly Tips, or Discounts added to the from name will make most recipients think twice about opening your emails.

Include a call to action in the “subject” line – If you want people to open your emails, you’ll need to give them a reason to. Some of the most successful email campaigns contain a powerful and tantalizing offer or teaser in their subject line. For instance: “50% off and free shipping – one day only!” or “Kids titanium bike – $59 and it ships free!” Give people a reason to act; don’t expect a “10% off all housewares” subject line to get anyone excited.

Use a “time is of the essence” strategy – Hyping up a big discount in your email’s subject line is one thing, but unless you give people a reason to react now, you could be missing out on a huge percentage of clicks. A tantalizing subject line may very well grab someone’s attention, but if it doesn’t require an immediate response it might end up being buried in a sea of other emails – inevitably to be forgotten about. So, before or after your call to action, give readers a reason to click. Something like “3-day sale”, “24-hour sale”, “One-day only”, etc.

Don’t over punctuate in the subject line – Punctuation can be a good thing in subject lines – especially exclamation points and question marks. But don’t go crazy. An overly-punctuated subject line is a red flag to most spam folders, meaning your readers will never end up seeing your message. So, try to keep an “at most” limit of three punctuation marks per subject line.

Inside the email: get to the point, quick – Okay, if you’ve followed all the above tips and are lucky enough to have someone click open your email, what now? Email readers make decisions very quickly on whether or not they close and delete and email. In order to give your message a fighting chance, you need it to be short and concise. Give readers more information about the teaser in your subject line and then give them the opportunity to click onto your website.

Email marketing is abused so much, each and every day, that inboxes are jam-packed with worthless scam emails. In order to make your emails stand out, you need to be upfront and honest about who you are and what you have to offer your readers.