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Auction Strategists Newsletter

Brought to you by Jenni Hunt
www.jennihunt.com

In this newsletter:
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1. Adding Toys To Your Arsenal
2. How Important Is A Niche?
3. Heads Up:
– That Extra Mile
– More Niche Marketing and eBay
4. How to subscribe or Change your subscription status
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One of the things I have talked about numerous times is the value of selling within a niche. When I’m talking about a niche – I’m talking about a group of products that the same audience has an interest for. The ‘tighter’ your niche is (or the more focused it is), the less competition you should have selling to that market.

So – for example…

Clothing or apparel is a niche… but a tighter, more focused niche would be women’s clothing or children’s clothing. You could sell just clothing in general – but, think about how much more you could cross-promote your items if you were only selling women’s, children’s OR men’s clothing.

If you know your customers are interested in women’s clothing – it is easy to create offers for them to purchase more from you. (And, remember, it is always easier to sell to those already showing an interest in buying from you!) On the other hand, if you are just selling clothing in general… you won’t know your customers as well and will have difficulty effectively promoting other products you are selling. In other words, if you cross promote to your other auctions and most of them are dresses – but, this particular customer is a man who has bought a jacket from you… it is likely your promotion won’t be all that effective.

I think it is, therefore, safe to suggest that not only does a tighter niche have less competition… but, it is easier to get to know your audience in a focused niche – making upselling and promotions much more effective.

Be careful though… it is possible to get TOO focused in your niche. Less competition is good – but, you also want to make sure you have enough of a customer base to bring in the sales, right?

Following the clothing example…
If I were selling children’s clothing and wanted to broaden my niche a bit – It doesn’t make much sense to broaden it in the way of selling other types of clothing as well (men’s, women’s, etc.). We already had an example of how this isn’t the most effective for cross promoting. So, how do you know who you should broaden your niche to? Ask yourself this question:

If my customer is buying _______________ from me… What else might they be interested in?

If my customer is buying children’s clothing from me… they might also be interested in:
– gear for babies/children
– nursery bedding
– children’s books
– movies for family/kids
– games and toys

Other possibilities:
– maternity wear

Now for the best part…

Adding Toys To Your Arsenal

We have spent a few weeks talking about garage sales… and children’s ITEMS (not just clothing… or books… or movies… but pretty much all children’s items) are readily available at yard sales across the nation!!

If you hit a garage sale looking for clothing and they don’t have anything you are interested in – you can often find great VHS, bedding, or toys you can resell instead.

It makes finding inventory so much easier when you broaden your niche just a bit to include more things that your customers are already interested in!

In light of this, I wanted to let you know that we are gearing up for the 2009 Summer Toy Guide package. The Summer Toy Guide is a 3 month package that includes:

– 3 months subscription to MyTOyGuide (similar to HuntedTreasure – only all categories are TOYS)
– Summer Toy Guide Ebook (50+ pages)
– Garage Sale Planning Series Report
– 3 Months Access To Toy Reference Guide

If you are looking to broaden your niche a bit… toys are a great way to grow! Used toys sell well all year – and are extremely easy to find at yard sales (and summer is the big yard sale season).

Valued at over $70, The Summer Toy Guide is going to be made available May 22… and although I haven’t finalized the price yet, it will likely be around $27.

But, I’m offering a PRESALE through Friday the 22nd that saves you 10 bucks!

PRESALE Link: http://tinyurl.com/q82dc3

Here is What you get:
1. Summer Toy Guide downloadable Report
– new toys vs used toys
– knowing what sells
– finding those items… where to look
– strategies for listing
– taking it a step further… strategies for selling and getting
more visitors

2. 3 Months Subscription to MyToyGuide – weekly report

3. PRESALE BONUS:
Although the Summer Toy Guide isn’t available until the 29th of
May, start receiving the weekly report 2 weeks earlier – get the
first list of 25 toys that are currently selling well on eBay THIS
weekend!

This presale is only offered to my readers for $17 through Friday the 22nd.

PRESALE Link: http://tinyurl.com/q82dc3

Enjoy!
Jenni

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2. How Important Is A Niche?
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The topic of needing a niche has come up quite a bit lately and I wanted to address a few ways focusing on a niche can benefit your business… no matter what you are doing.

1. Easier to successfully cross-promote items to your potential customers.

2. Ability to sell to your existing customers over and over again (remember – it is MUCH easier to sell to someone who has already decided to buy from you!)

3. It makes it easier to find inventory… Instead of being all over the board buying everything in site to resell – you are focused and know exactly what you are looking for. This saves time (and energy!)

Once you are established as a seller in your niche on eBay, it makes it that much easier to get into other areas of internet marketing. In other words, if you are focused on a niche as an eBay seller – you can just move that same focus into other areas to generate new revenue streams. If you are already established in a specific niche – you are that much ahead of the game. And, if you are still selling all sorts of stuff on eBay – it isn’t too late to get focused.

Look at the 3 benefits I mentioned above again… This time, don’t just think in terms of being an eBay seller. Notice these benefits relate to other business models too! If you are in a focused niche, you are empowered to sell to your customer over and over again.

Let’s read that again…
If you are in a focused niche, you are empowered to sell to your customer over and over again.

We are going to be discussing more about blogging and how to use blogs to drive traffic to your eBay auctions for increased income… we are also going to be discussing various ways (other than eBay) to monetize your blog… If you really want to take your online business to a new level – it is imperative that you define your audience… that you focus on a specific niche… and use that as the foundation for building new sources for revenue.

Have you defined your niche yet?
If not, what is holding you back?

Feel free to share your questions and comments – I’d be happy to help you in this step. Everyone can benefit from a good brainstorm 😉

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2. Heads Up
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***HEADS**UP***
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That Extra Mile

Taking one little step more with your buyer to make their experience with you even more positive is well worth the results. Buyers will often remember even the littlest things you do – and come back for more – making it well worth your while. The best part… you don’t have to do anything super huge and time consuming to make them feel like you care.

There are many, many things you can do to go that extra mile with your buyer… One of which is including some sort of insert in your package that is of value to them.

AuctionBytes.com has a couple of inserts you can customize and use in your shipments.

Check them out here:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/pages/pages/insert_main/

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***HEADS**UP***
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Still need some convincing that niche marketing on eBay is the way to grow?
Look at what Skip McGrath has to say about the subject.

He has written a great article addressing the benefits of niche marketing and finding the right niche here:

http://www.skipmcgrath.com/articles/niche_marketing_article.shtml

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Copyright 2009 Jenni Hunt, www.jennihunt.com

You MAY reprint any of the articles in this newsletter for any
purpose as long as no portion of the article is modified without
permission.