How to sell online: a word from the marketing experts

Launch your own brand and sell your products online: an accessible portal potentially within everyone's reach, however the stark reality being that very few actually manage to effectively create a solid business from doing so. We took it upon ourselves to speak with marketing specialist, Paolo Vitello, to give us some insight in regards to some of the best practices for new brands looking to navigate the depths of the internet and carve out their own corner online.

What are the first steps a designer should take to carve out their space online?

“Before inviting guests into your house, it is necessary for it to be furnished in the right way. Which, translated, means first of all creating the right content to be inserted in your online space.It is essential that you use high quality images to communicate your products both technically and artistically to users. Your product images should enable users to effectively inspect the finer details as if they were physically touching them themselves, giving a clear sense of the overall quality and feel of the products. Artistically speaking, it is also important that your images arouse curiosity and interest from the user, by visually communicating the mood of your brand and the collection as it relates to the customer. Lastly, to accompany your images, a study of short impact sentences which represent your brand is essential: the web is fast, and content must be striking and not overly wordy for maximum effect.

Once you've created the right content, how do you choose where to present it online? Is there any criteria for which channel a designer should prefer over another?

“A site, even a basic one, is essential for gaining credibility online: however having a fully fledged e-commerce store aimed at selling opens up a whole other story. Launching a dedicated e-commerce store for your brand may not be the right choice to begin with as it is an expensive, time consuming operation to manage which does not always achieve the desired results - making it difficult to emerge from the sea of ​​offers and proposals on the net. Reaching out to the public directly via social media on the other hand is definitely an easier approach, with for example, Instagram being a very effective channel for designers to use. But even in this case, as well as with e-commerce, investing in promotional campaigns can certainly serve to make us known and increase visibility, but actually gaining trust from your audience remains one of the biggest obstacles to be seen, as you seek to transform them from an audience of spectators into an active group of spending customers ".

And how can I reach target consumers and gain their trust?

“An absolutely fundamental thing that is very well-known yet frequently misunderstood: Influencer Marketing. How many times have we happened to buy something because it was recommended to us by a friend? Yes, as you may well know, Influencer Marketing works precisely in this way, providing brands with a sort of business card, a tick of approval within an already known and trusted space. A common misconception with influencer marketing is that it is reserved exclusively to the role of physical influencers "in the flesh and blood". Yet the truth is that this same power actually belongs to, even more so, online e-commerce platforms, which receive great visibility with an already established name. Take for example Amazon, Asos, Yoox, Wish etc. Being part of a multi-brand platform similar to these helps to strengthen overall brand trust, which effectively increases the value of all subsequent Instagram or Facebook campaigns as the brand will already have been vouched for by someone or something, and in fact, will likely become more influential from it. Another benefit from being part of an e-commerce platform is that you will most likely be reaching a higher quality audience, as it is also more likely that those who surf on these platforms are possible customers, than those who perhaps appreciate the brand because they see it in their Instagram feed - but have no real intention of buying ".

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