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Ivan Petkov

Sometimes I have the feeling of "déjà vu" when it comes to online marketing development in our part of the world. This is because we constantly "reflect global trends" and after some time of development, we find out that the situation has not changed much in many respects. Subjectively speaking, online trade is one of those parts of our way of life that is supposed to constantly evolve in Bulgaria and for which we have the necessary prerequisites - fast internet connection, means of payment, etc. - but something is missing to make it a real part of our everyday life. Objectively speaking, if this type of shopping lacks mass interest, whatever innovations are introduced, they actually remain hidden from the average user.

Here comes the role of seminars such as "Sell More Online". It is in the hands of producers and traders to start good online trade by developing a functional and easy to use online shop in order for satisfied customers to appear. The desire of the organizers was to present "best practices and techniques for creating and managing an e-shop by proven experts in this business!" Here are some of the questions that found their answers at the seminar, which I think would be most useful to our readers who are interested in online marketing:

 How to advertise your online shop?
 Practices to create a successful online business!
 How to sell more online?

Mihail - Ernesto Mihaylov: "When introducing a new product in the market,... information and training of potential customers is essential. Our collaboration with the people who successfully develop blogs for good food and modern lifestyle was crucial in presenting our products to the Bulgarian customers in the best possible way and in time."When it comes to advertising, the majority of us think of expensive and flashy ads, of huge budgets that are available to large companies in order for them to drive us to buy their products; money that the small- and medium-sized businesses cannot afford. Is it possible to advertise effectively without investing a lot of money? I would like to briefly draw attention to less traditional, but already known, tools that are suitable for advertising:

    1. Blog
    2. Facebook (social networking)
    3. E-mail marketing in online trade

1. A blog is a kind of private and public online diary, which presents information, in which its author is interested. The informal form of sharing is what attracts the customers to the blogs and the information in them. Blogs can have a specific theme, for example cuisine. An advertisement presented in the same informal way can be accepted much better without the element of intrusion and it can effectively reach a larger percentage of the readers of the blog.

2. Social networks, particularly Facebook, are very popular already as well as the games, promotions and advertising campaigns on them. There is hardly a person who has not come across any game at least once. The flooding of social networks with games reduces their value as an advertising tool and so, new and creative ways are being sought to retain the customers' attention. And a satisfied customer easily recommends the relevant online shop to his friends and likes it. The same applies with even greater force to customers who are not satisfied with the shopping. So, be bold and careful!

Christo Radichev: "The good thing with e-mail marketing is that its speed and its great affordability facilitate the tests. A test will show you where you are doing well and where you are going wrong as regards your interactions with the customers. Sometimes the results you will get will surprise you. This will give you the knowledge that will distinguish you from the competition and will ensure better performance in every campaign."3. I will briefly present the most common mistakes in the use of e-mail marketing for the purposes of an online shop. Although it is a veteran in advertising, this channel of information has its place as long as it is useful to the customers. A large number of busy and wealthy people mainly use e-mail and do not have much time for social networks or blogs. Newsletter errors:

* Theme in English;
* Repeating the same theme in every e-mail newsletter wears the newsletter out and reduces its performance;
* Careless attitude towards the body of the e-mail (errors, text without clearly distinguished paragraphs, obviously bad translation, inappropriate content, etc.);
* No clear benefits for the client in each e-mail’s body;
* Lack of connection between theme and content;

Practices to create a successful online business!

I will emphasize errors again because their removal can make your online shop successful and their presence - a total failure. Often, in the presence of more than one error, the customer directly closes the site and forgets about the online shop. The lack of feedback in this case leaves the shop owner in the dark as regards what is wrong.

Top mistakes in online shops that we see every day:

1. Cost of delivery - 0 leva for Sofia and 5 leva for the rest of the country - that directly means that there are privileged customers versus those who do not live in Sofia.