Advice required please

[Gerry]

About to launch a new internet business which allows anyone to sell anything over the net by taking a photo of the item with their mobile phone and sending it to us via MMS to be displayed on our site for people to buy.

We have invested in an ITV1 television advertising campaign which airs at the end of this month in an attempt to create public awareness and we will also be doing leaflet drops and on the street promotions but I'm looking for other ideas on how to generate more awareness.

The business is called Sell It By Text. Does anyone have any ideas please??? Bear in mind we don't have a large budget.

Thanks in advance, Gerry

[Indizine]

you dont have a large budget but have an ITV1 campaign lined up? does that mean it swallowed up most of your marketing budget you started out with?

id have thought online advertising would be the way to go -even ebay didnt advertise on the TV here in the UK for many years after it laucnhed. I personally wouldnt advertise an online bsuiness on TV until a) the concept was established and teething problems ironed out with thousands of users and b) until I was able to afford it once I had exhausted online advertising and extensive SEO.

[accountantpete]

For the pro's you could target the various specialist Fairs etc -Antiques,Toys,Crafts the list is endless - IF you can offer something better than ebay.

[marky9378]

For the pro's you could target the various specialist Fairs etc -Antiques,Toys,Crafts the list is endless - IF you can offer something better than ebay.

i agree i think its better to start small and grow from there i have made so many mistakes trying to go to fast

[Kenny]

I take it you have already had a pilot scheme running for some time now and its been highly successful.
My advice is to get yourself a good pr company that can help you by submitting press releases for you and if your biz is as original and interesting as you say then i'm sure the papers / radio etc will be in touch. Its a damn site cheaper than ITV

[BlueSaint]

Have you looked into Social Media and Viral Marketing, these are excellent ways of getting a new product / service to take off. You don't necessarily need a huge budget but you do need 'originality'.

I'd also advise on some serious SEO and online Marketing, but I'm bound to say that.

Good Luck with the new venture!!

[stephendoyle]

hi gerry,

first of all good luck with your business.

wow a tv advert.

there is nothing wrong in doing a tv advert if your research has shown that your target audience are there.

like with all marketing you need to test and measure.

test on a small scale and make sure that it works. don't jump in no matter how large your budget it. once you know it works then roll it out and then test something else.

the concern for me is that you are creating a brand and that requires a ton of subliminal messages and advertisements that cost a packet.

for marketing as Bluesaint said; it will be wise to invest in online and offline processes.

Press Releases
Magazine publication adverts
Online PPC
SEO
Newspaper Advertisements
direct mail campaigns
email
text
etc...

[d30web]

definately start small gives you a chance to iron out glitches which in my experiance tend to happen on new concepts.

[AccountingBasics]

We have invested in an ITV1 television advertising campaign which airs at the end of this month

I saw the ITV advert yesterday evening. Or at least I hope there are not two companies offering the same thing.

It looked a good advert and I hope it goes well. You will need to get your name out there a lot more times for people to remember it.

[Kenny]

do you have a link that can show the advert?