Tools Of The Trade
As product-based business owners, we have quite a unique business model, and the challenges we face in running and growing our businesses are quite different from service-based businesses.
Whether you run an eCommerce store or have designed and manufactured or distributing your own brand, there are some specific challenges and requirements we all face.
No matter where you are along your business journey, there are some amazing apps, resources and tools that can save you time and automate much of your marketing.
The trick is knowing the right things to use in a product-based business, so you don’t end up with a stack of expensive, unused software!
My commitment to you is that I will always go first. I continually explore what’s needed to build a product-based business. I experiment with what works and what doesn’t, and then report back to you with what you need to build a lucrative brand and successful business.
Here are some tools of the trade that I use and love. Apps and resources that are designed to help make running your biz that bit easier and more efficient!
Manufacturing
Outsourcing your manufacturing can be an equally thrilling and daunting exercise! The hardest part is, knowing HOW to find the right factory! One that makes a product like yours, and does a really good job of it.
Which is why I was thrilled to find this stellar business:
Garment & Product Solutions, experts in offshore sourcing and quality manufacture.
Website
Running an eCommerce retail website, or a brand selling direct to consumers, you need to have a website that does these three things at a bare minimum:
- Converts visitors into buyers,
- Works equally well on mobile and desktop,
- Integrates with other marketing applications (such as your email marketing app)
For this, I’m a massive fan of Shopify.
Not only does it do the above, but it also provides exceptional support.
You just need to select a theme that is really well designed for eCommerce conversions, plus one that’s fast loading as well. The Out Of The Sandbox themes are favourites of mine.
Not a techy yourself? Neither am I! So you’ll probably need a web designer at some point.
I think it’s important to have a good web developer in your back pocket. Someone who is skilled across multiple platforms, responsive and quick, is worth their weight in gold.
I’m really fortunate to have a skilled team on staff at my agency, Productpreneur Marketing. Check out some of the case studies featuring the gorgeous work they do!
Marketing
When marketing any product based business, whether it’s an eCommerce website or a wholesale business, you NEED to be using email marketing.
I talk about this A LOT in my blog.
I don’t care whether you hate receiving hundreds of emails, or whether you think email marketing is the fax machine of the 21st century.
The fact remains, not only does email marketing work, but it ALSO provides the HIGHEST ROI of any form of marketing!!
But, problematically, there are abut twenty-bazillion choices of email marketing software out there on the market.
And the vast majority of them aren’t actually all that well suited to eCommerce.
The best email marketing program for eCommerce is Klaviyo.
Klaviyo makes emailing potential new, existing or lapsed customers relevant emails depending on what products they’ve bought or where they’re at in their buyer journey.
Most of my clients experience a noticeable jump in revenue after switching to Klaviyo. Plus, it’s a really simple platform to use.
You can thank me later 🙂
In addition to an email marketing program, you’ll want to get yourself an op-in form builder app.
It’s pretty hard for someone to subscribe to your email list without a form to enter their email into!
And as mentioned above, you WILL be doing email marketing, right? RIGHT?
My favourite form builder apps include JustUno and Privy. There’s loads more out there – just make sure you choose one that integrates with your website platform AND your email marketing program.
And preferably, choose one that gives you some options around things like what pages the forms show on, what they look like, and how they operate (are they auto-timed, exit-intent, or scroll-based?)
Another favourite way of mine to grow my email list is to use competitions and giveaways. There are a few legalities we all need to adhere to when running comps, so to make that easier I use an app like Gleam.
Gleam helps drive the comp and increase viral shares, plus it automatically adds all new emails directly into your email program. Easy peasy!
Last but not least in my marketing toolkit, this is one of my most favourite finds of the year.
It’s commonly known that using real customer testimonials and plenty of social proof in your marketing, helps to increase your sales conversions.
But in the past, simply asking people to review your stuff was a bit hit and miss. The biggest problem was, customers had to actually click back over onto your website and log back in before they could leave a review.
That’s just waaaay too hard for most people!
Enter: Stamped.io – the coolest app for collecting reviews and testimonials! It simply emails your customers, who just tap out a reply IN THEIR EMAIL and then hit send! So friggen easy.
Even better than that, Stamped will add the reviews to your website for you, without you even having to lift a finger!
Business Stuff
When it comes to the behind-the-scenes stuff in your business, there are a few tools and apps that I love.
For collaborating with my team and my clients, I use Google Drive. With Google Drive, we’re all working on the most recent version in real time, and there’s never any issues with losing your work because you forgot to hit save!
In my business, my team and I all work remotely from each other. So we use Zoom for all our team meetings, and pretty soon I’m gonna start using it for client training sessions as well.
To make sure we keep all our projects on track, we use Asana. Asana is a really simple yet powerful project management tool, which allows us to allocate tasks internally as well as to external contractors.
The slightly boring task of bookkeeping is made less-of-a-headache by cloud accounting app, QuickBooks Online. Now, small businesses can spend less time keeping track of their accounts, and more time making the money!
Streamline your marketing with my FREE “Business Builder” Toolkit (value $197)
Without customers who buy from you, you have no business. But, with repeat customers, you have a PROFITABLE business! That’s the aim of the game, right?
Download my FREE ‘Business Builder” Toolkit (value $197). In it, I share my top 5 strategies to help you attract, convert and retain customers in your business. PLUS you get my proven templates to help you implement these strategies in your own business right away!