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Take This Less Obvious Path to Increase Sales

How can you increase brand awareness, sales, and reduce business risks--all in one fell swoop?


How can you increase brand awareness, sales, and reduce business risks–all in one fell swoop? Start with the less obvious path and scale your distribution channels. Instead of looking for ways to get more customers to come to you, figure out how your products or services can reach more customers.

When you carefully consider how to increase sales, it makes sense to focus on widening your distribution channels. Having products available through multiple venues, and different locations, will put your business on your ideal targets’ radar. As consumer awareness rises, your profits can increase through higher sales and a decrease in per-unit costs. What’s more, using multiple distribution channels spreads risk, as opposed to selling through a single source.

Here is a look at four creative ways to expand distribution channels and explore new markets:

 

  1. Build a White Label ‘Version’

    A white label solution allows you to provide other properties with a fully supported product or service they can brand as their own. If you build a white label platform, partner companies can purchase your product and customize it with their own brand. Your business, meanwhile, will be free to focus on finding cost-effective ways to make the product without concern for the product’s marketing, which is handled by the reseller. It’s a win-win.

  2. Join Affiliate Networks

    Affiliate networks like Rakuten Affiliate Network allow your company to obtain sales leads to new customers, increasing your distribution channels. Affiliate networks can be particularly useful to businesses that hope to tap networks of potential customers in different industries. Affiliate marketing depends on a partnership between merchants (advertisers) who aim to increase sales for their online shop, and publishers (affiliates) who display ads online. Together, this partnership can become an integral part of your marketing and business distribution plan.

  3. Hustle for PR

    An effective public relations campaign can grease the wheels of the general business development process while increasing channels of distribution. Aim to get as much press about your products and services as possible, targeting customized marketing messages and promotions at specific groups of end users to broaden your reach. PR can help you get in front of a wide range of audiences, and open new distribution channels for your business through strategies that can be more cost-effective than advertising.

    Consumers perceive third-party coverage of your business through the media much differently than traditional advertising, which is clearly focused on making a sale. A strategic, consistent PR program cannot only help build general awareness of your brand and supplement your direct marketing efforts, but it can also help you secure new customers, partnerships and funding. Start with DIY resources like HARO (Help a Reporter Out) connects reporters with sources through email alerts three times a day. It’s a great way to get PR attention from national media.

  4. Put Your Venture Capital Firm to Work

    If a venture capital firm backs your business financially, explore the possibility of having them help out in other ways. According to VentureBeat, 2013 marked a turning point for VCs, with a global increase in investment and rising investor confidence. As a result, the market is becoming more competitive for investors to fund the most promising startups.

    To stay in the game, Forbes recently reported that, VCs are now often expected to bring “an array of capabilities and expertise to their portfolio companies.” This might include recruitment, sales and marketing support, and even content creation. In other words, there’s movement toward VCs adding more value to their portfolio companies by helping to actually build these businesses from the inside out.

These tactics should help expand your distribution channels and reach new markets — ultimately, giving you the ammunition to reach more customers!

 

This article has been edited and condensed.

Drew Gainor is the Co-founder and Vice President of New York-based Ticket Evolution (TEvo), a software company owned by over 120 Ticket Brokers in the secondary ticket industry. As one of the largest ticket aggregators in the space, the company specializes in cutting edge software applications for ticket resellers including a complete point of sale solution, B2B portal, RESTful API and custom white label ticket web sites enabling popular brands to sell tickets. Connect with @DrewGainor on Twitter.

 

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