1.) START YOUR ONLINE STORE IN A FREE MARKETPLACE
Join a free platform like Storenvy for example, of any other platform that will allow you to sell your physical or digital goods for free. There are even platforms that let you list for free and take a percentage of your sale. That’s even better. You pay fees when you get paid. Can’t beat that!
2.) USE SOCIAL MEDIA
No need for expensive advertising or marketing for a brand new business. Harness the power of social media for huge exposure with no cost. Open social media accounts for your new business. Then, promote, be active, and engage your audience. Sit back and watch your following grow. Use your personal social network accounts to promote your business as well. Send a blast to your Facebook friends or post a message on your personal Twitter account.
Collaborate with peers in your industry, join engagement pods and threads and participate. You’ll be surprised how your reach will grow!
3.) TAKE ADVANTAGE OF TRIALS
I hear so many people talking down on trials but the truth is, they are pretty awesome. Try out a new software, ad, tool for free!
Here are a handful of awesome free trials you can take advantage of (just remember to cancel before they charge you if you don’t want to continue with the service):
- Google Adwords: I’ve gone through so many Adwords trials I can’t even count! You can get one by joining Shopify with a new store (trial). Check out Fiverr too for some Adwords vouchers.
- Ninja Outreach: This tool is great for influencer outreach. You can use it in a hundred other ways too, to get traffic and more. Check out their awesome blog for more ideas.
- Shopify: Create your own store for free for 14 days with Shopify’s trial. By the way, if you open an online shop, Shopify is the ish! No joke. No comparison against any other store platform (believe me, I’ve tried them).
- Growtraffic: How does an extra 10,000 visitors sound? For free! Mention Growtraffic on your blog and fill out their form to let them know then BAM..10,000 visitors sent to you over a course of a few weeks.
- Alexa: Select their Pro option and trial away. You’ll get tons of valuable insights about your competition. Backlinks, traffic numbers, keywords, and so much more.
- SEMRush: Another valuable insights tool. Great for assessing your competition, estimating top keywords and more.
4.) DROPSHIPPING
If you’re operating a physical goods store selling apparel, footwear, homegoods, decor, etc., then dropshipping might be for you. You only purchase products when you have an order to fulfill.
For example, you run a socks store selling a variety of fashion socks. A customer places an order for 3 pairs for socks. You then, visit the dropshipper’s site or contact them, order the customer’s socks and the dropshipper direct ships the order on your behalf, to the customer. Easy! A great way to save money on inventory since inventory tends to be the largest expense for retailers.
5.) CROWDSOURCING
Wanna sell designer planners, your own fashion line, stylish t-shirts (or anything else)? Raise funds through crowdsourcing. You can generate a LOT of money in a short time period using sites like Kickstarter or IndieGoGo.
6.) PRESELL
Preselling is pretty cool because you get to assess your audience’s interest for the product or service. You can set up a waitlist or poll and start your presale campaign from there. Preselling is simliar to dropshipping in that you will collect orders and use funds to purchase inventory. Make sense?
This is done a lot in Instagram flash sales. Online boutiques on Instagram will run presale flash sales where they introduce the product, along with features, pricing, shipping details, etc. Then, once sales are made, they will purchase inventory from the wholesaler.
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