Let’s say one starts out a new business and is not trying to resell items, but to sell items, which were produced by his own. The best example would be a fashion designer, who tries to develop his own brand. How can one make his brand known on eBay or on the Internet? Phill

Hey Phill! Thanks for your question, it’s a good one.

If you were anything like “Procter & Gamble” for example, you could just spend few millions on TV ads and make your new brand “in demand” in just couple of short months. But you’re not. Hence, we need to figure out other ways to make it happen.

There are many well known companies, strong brand owners who haven’t spent a penny on any kind of advertising. Still, they have managed to build multi million, even multi-billion businesses. So, you necessary don’t have to spend enormous amounts of money on TV ads to get your brand noticeable. Sure, it would be a quick and easy way to make it happen but it’s simply not an option for a fashion designer for example, just starting out.

Luckily, we’re living in the 21st century – where ads and brutal advertising are slowly dying and social marketing becomes more powerful each day goes by. So you really don’t need those millions to spend on national TV ads anymore to create a brand that sells. All it could take is one public occasion, a famous person wearing a piece of clothe made by that young designer. (Obama’s wife?)

Social networks are great way to get your brand to the public, this includes:

• YouTube
• MySpace
• FaceBook
• Twitter

Video sharing sites (like YouTube) are great places for physical product promotion. Think out of the box! Do not ADVERTISE! Create a story around your brand/product instead. Make that video so good that people naturally start talking about, linking to it and commenting. It’s all free advertising at the end of the day!

One of the most important elements of succeeding with a new brand is – logo & story of the brand itself. These days you really have to stand out from the crowd to make it work so make sure your “brands’ story” is interesting, logo looks great and overall visual impression “reflects” what you sell, what you offer.

Your brand should clearly state product price range as well. (If you’re into exclusive, expensive goods market – logo should look that way. On the other hand – if you position yourself as a cheap, cheapest, discounted brand – logo will look totally different. Starting from colour scheme, font style and size ending up with graphical elements – it all DOES matter when creating new brand).

Start selling your newly created, branded products on website and eBay. Do not save money on designing an attractive website and auction listings. Put logo on shipping labels, return address labels, Thank You letters and business cards. Use e-mail marketing to communicate with new leads and customers.

Build a community around your products! Like blog, picture gallery, video sharing site. It could be a community game or something – you want to get to your prospects as close as possible. So they LOVE you! So they tell about YOU! So that you don’t have to spend millions on TV ads.

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