Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17 in Community Help Boards in Community

Last Post Nov 17, 2006 3:05 PM by: deirdre@ebay.com

Replies: 84

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Oct 31, 2006 8:35 PM

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Topic: Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques

Host: planthabit and jill.of.all.trades
Date: Friday 11/17
Time: 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm PT
Location: Workshop Board

Description: Please join Janelle Elms, lead instructor with eBay University, author and Silver PowerSeller, and Phil Dunn, marketing and advertising writer, for the fourth installment of The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing workshop series. This session will help you persuade buyers with words. You'll sell faster and make you more money with these basic and advanced advertising and marketing techniques. We'll cover copywriting tricks of the trade, promotional motivations, offers, closing techniques, persuasive tone and style, and more.

Cheers,

Deirdre
eBay Community Development

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Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:33 AM

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Hello everyone and welcome to the fourth installment of The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing workshop series. In this presentation, we'll help you write compelling item descriptions and get buyers moving in your direction rather than toward one of your competitors.

My name is Phil Dunn, marketing and advertising writer for Fortune 500 companies. I’m here with Janelle Elms, eBay University instructor and co-author of our book, “The 7 Essential Steps to Successful eBay Marketing.”

We’re not going to go over general eBay mechanics here. Instead, our aim is to assist you in going beyond the basic nuts and bolts of eBay and delve into some more advanced marketing approaches.
Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:34 AM

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Let's begin.

When you write your eBay descriptions, you want to complement your visual achievements (photos and layout/design) with words that manage perceptions while presenting facts. You want to stoke the flames of enthusiasm while staying true to reality.
Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:34 AM

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Nobody buys anything without being told something about it—whether that’s in verbal or written form. So it’s important to choose your words wisely and engage in the art and science of persuasion in each of your eBay listings.
Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:35 AM

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When you take the time to craft a strong item description, you inevitably persuade people to buy from you. It doesn’t matter whether you have competition or not—you need to convince somebody to purchase what you’re selling. Solid item descriptions help you do that.
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:36 AM

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In this workshop, we cover writing fundamentals (and some added tips and tricks) that transform repellent, snooze-fest descriptions into magnets of commerce. We show you how to do the following:

• Organize your work
• Align your thoughts with the customer experience
• Format your writing for optimal appeal
• Write like a pro
• Assemble the optimal mix of keywords
• Create eye-catching headlines
• Fine-tune your descriptions

We also unveil some trade secrets from professional advertising copywriters
that help you write descriptions quickly, easily, and profitably.
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:36 AM

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Let's talk about organization first.

For each item you sell, you want to make an analysis of your effort versus your profit. Obviously, if you stand to make $500 in profit on a particular item, it’s worth your time to craft an effective description. But even if you’re selling a large quantity of low-margin items with just one listing, the extra time it takes to write a good item description is worth the trouble. If you are selling 100 gadgets and you can potentially profit by $5 on each of them, that’s a total of $500 in your pocket. It’s definitely worth taking an extra 30 minutes to write a powerful item description.
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:36 AM

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When you start prioritizing your description tasks, put items into mental buckets. Use one bucket for products that need your attention now. Make another bucket for low-margin items you might want to re-evaluate for value-add activities (perhaps overhauling the description text), and then use another bucket for products that can be dealt with quickly by cutting and pasting previously successful descriptions. Think assembly line here; you need a system that guides your priorities and steers you toward high-value or high-profit marketing activities.
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:36 AM

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Fortunately, eBay automates the cut-and-paste process with the Sell Similar link at the top of every item listing page (and in the My eBay interface). You can pull up previously entered listing details, which you can revise and apply to a new listing. Sellers who use listing management services like eBay’s Turbo Lister or similar third-party services can also duplicate existing entries and then recraft the text for new listings.
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:37 AM

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Once you start selling on eBay with any consequence, you need to come to grips with the fact that you’re in the marketing business. You’re a buyer, a seller, an office manager, and a strategist, but you’re also in the business of persuasion. With that realization comes a simple responsibility to connect with customers on their terms. That’s where your profits are going to come from. That’s how auctions get bid up and why some eBay Stores are more popular than others.
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:37 AM

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The sooner you can think of yourself as a persuader, the better. We live in a world of mind-boggling supply, where piles of useful stuff go unsold (or are sold at a loss) because nobody has the time or inclination to introduce it properly to the right audience.
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:37 AM

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A lot of people think that products sell themselves, but this simply isn’t true. Products don’t have worth or value until you connect them with prospects, and the only way to connect with prospects is to identify with their needs and desires. That’s why it’s important that you maintain an intimate knowledge of your niche market.
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:37 AM

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As an eBay seller, you don’t have to develop new needs. But you do have to be keenly aware of the connection between product and need, and then market accordingly. The trick is to define your product accurately and place it in the context of customer needs that already exist.
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:37 AM

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Take a look at how two different eBay sellers presented what’s usually considered a commodity item—soap. Here’s the first description:

“You are bidding on a bar of Nautica soap. This is a new bar in cellophane wrapper with no box, as pictured below.”
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Nov 17, 2006 8:37 AM

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Another soap seller provides a bit more information:

“My rose-scented natural soap is a soft-white bar featuring the lovely Rose fragrance and is enriched with lots of moisturizing shea butter. Rose is a timeless fragrance, and this bar captures the enchanting scent of the rose bloom beautifully. Bars are fragrant, lather luxuriously, rinse clean, and are hard, long-lasting, and a delight to use. If you are looking for a premium quality, rose-scented natural soap for yourself, or as a gift for someone special, this is the ideal choice.”
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Phil Dunn
PlantHabit

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PlantHabit

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Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17

Member Workshop: Basic Advertising and Marketing Techniques - Nov 17