Internet Marketing Strategy: Product Promotion

Tangible goods, or "tangibles," are often overlooked by many Internet marketers who don't want to sell physical products. Tangible products can be especially problematic when you consider the nuisance of stocking inventory, packaging, shipping, and dealing with various suppliers.

However, tangible products are often easier to sell because most people like receiving physical goods in exchange for their money. If you want to become a proficient promoter of tangible products, consider these three ways to deal in tangibles whether you decide to focus exclusively on physical products or whether you supplement your digital download links with tangible goods.

The first option is to become a seller of tangible products yourself. This most often means selling products on eBay or another auction-style site. Sometimes a marketer will launch his or her own website and sell products from there. You'll be challenged with making sure you have enough inventory on hand, and if an order comes through, it will be your job to box it up, take it to the post office, and ship it out.

Consider ways to avoid problem before they crop up. For example, if a customer claims to have receive the goods as shipped, you should be able to verify proof of delivery with delivery confirmation. It's a fact in doing business that sometimes you'll have to accept returns on the products. You won't always be able to resell those returns depending on the type of product you're selling.

A second option is to become a seller of tangibles by using a dropshipper. With a dropship account, you'll usually have to pay a fee to get set up with your own website and for the basic administrative processes required to begin the relationship with your 3rd party dropshipper.

In dropshipping, the customer will find your site online and place an order, paying you for the items they purchase. You'll then turn around and pay the dropship company a portion of those earnings and they'll ship the inventory to your customer direct. You become more of a broker for the dropshipping company who represents you as if you are the actual producer of the product.

You don't have to deal with any of the inventory, but you do have to deal with customer relations. The customer won't realize they've ordered through a dropshipping arrangement, so even though you're just a middleman, you'll be acting as the frontman. Whatever the dropshipper does or doesn't deliver or whatever the physical condition of the goods that are shipped, the customer will hold you responsible for their ultimate satisfaction or lack of satisfaction. Make sure that your dropshipper can represent you well.

The third option for selling tangibles is to become an online affiliate of tangible products. Millions of people shop online, and around the holidays or special celebrations, an affiliate who markets wisely can rake in a lot of holiday cash.

Being an affiliate, you benefit from some of the same advantages as in a dropshipping arrangement with the additional benefit of marketing materials provided by the product owner to help you sell the product. You are in effect, an independent sales representative of the product owner and you earn a percentage of the profits from the sales you refer to the product owner.

As I've said, holidays aren't the only time when tangible promotions will work. You can use an Amazon associates account to sell anything on Amazon.com. Likewise, you can get an ID from LinkShare and promote tangible items from flower boutiques, Wal-Mart, and even travel companies (like luggage)!

Use special and popular occasions to find items that would make great gifts and use your affiliate accounts, dropshipper arrangements or favorite auction site to compliment your digital product sales with tangible goods and earn some tangible money!