Attracting more customers is important to the success and growth of your wholesale business. However, most companies can’t thrive on word-of-mouth alone. So, you might be wondering how to advertise your wholesale business.
Fortunately, you can use different online and offline strategies to market your business. These can range from attending local product fairs to email marketing techniques.
Today’s guide will explain how to advertise your wholesale business online and offline. We’ll also discuss how to prepare your marketing strategy. Let’s get started!
How To Prepare Your Wholesale Business Website For Advertising
Before marketing your wholesale business, we recommend spending some time preparing your website and online store. Otherwise, you might have customers who can’t find the products they’re looking for.
Firstly, you’ll want to ensure that your online store is ready. This process can involve adding high-quality product images, descriptions, and accurate prices. You’ll also need an up-to-date product list and quantities that reflect your stock.
Fortunately, our Wholesale Suite plugin can help you set up the ideal online store for your business. Using our tool, you can create wholesale pricing, order forms, different user tiers, and more:
Furthermore, we recommend setting up lead capture marketing tools on your website. A wholesale registration form can let interested businesses contact you with questions. With Drip, you can create branded sign-up forms with dynamic elements:
In addition, opt-in popups and forms can capture your visitors’ attention and email addresses. Case in point, OptinMonster can help you make targeted popups, which can trigger based on user activity, such as scrolling, the time elapsed, or exit intent:
Also, you might consider using A/B testing to determine which strategies are most effective. Then, you’re ready to start advertising your wholesale business!
How To Advertise Your Wholesale Business (7 Methods)
Hopefully, you should now have your website ready for your marketing efforts. Now let’s look at seven ways to advertise your wholesale business!
1. Attend local fairs and expos
Local business fairs present excellent opportunities to advertise your wholesale company. After all, these events are usually filled with customers and small companies. Therefore, you can partner with retailers within your industry at such events.
There are several ways to find fairs and expos within your industry. For example, you can keep an eye on community noticeboards and local Facebook groups. Alternatively, larger events, such as the Small Business Expo, can reach a wider audience:
In addition, it’s a good idea to help your wholesale business stand out at in-person events. For instance, you might set up a stall with your products and use marketing materials to attract attention.
Moreover, we recommend bringing business cards (with your contact details and a link to your website). This way, interested parties can contact you easily.
2. Contact local businesses
Reaching out to local businesses in your industry can be effective. You can partner directly with retailers likely to stock your products.
This marketing approach can be very cost-effective if you contact businesses via email, phone, or in person. However, keep in mind that this strategy needs more effort than just running an ad online.
When contacting local businesses, make sure to sell the benefits of stocking your products. In addition, you should consider introducing your company, its values, and its unique selling points. These elements can help you build long-term partnerships with businesses.
3. Use social media
Social media platforms provide opportunities to advertise your wholesale business. You can reach your existing audience easily. Alternatively, you can expand your customer base by targeting particular demographics.
For example, you can run paid Facebook or Instagram ads. You can even tailor these ads according to audience ages, locations, interests, and behaviors.
If you build a large social media following, you can also market directly to your followers:
Since social media is visual, we recommend using high-quality product photos in your posts. Furthermore, you can make promotional banners to show off your branding.
4. List your wholesale business in online directories
Online directories are websites that list businesses belonging to particular categories. Basically, these sites let customers search for companies within specific niches.
Therefore, adding your business to these directories can draw consumers from your industry. Typically, you can attract customers from these sites or search engine results pages.
There are many free online directories, such as Google My Business and Yelp. These platforms let you set up listings with your contact details, address, photos, and customer reviews.
Alternatively, you can pay a small fee to list your wholesale business in dedicated directories. Some examples include 4WholesaleUSA and TopTenWholesale. Since visitors to these sites are looking for wholesalers, you might attract interested customers.
5. Use print catalogs
Offline marketing strategies can be extremely effective. Although your business might focus on online sales, you can also reach customers in the physical world.
Print catalogs can show off your various products with colorful images, descriptions, and pricing. You might consider designing your catalog from a template. Then you can send it to businesses in your area:
Be sure to include your contact details in your catalog. In addition, you’ll want to provide your terms and minimum order requirements.
6. Utilize email marketing
Email marketing can be highly effective for advertising your wholesale business. Your email list is made up of people already interested in your products. Therefore, they might be more open to your promotional offers.
You don’t need a very long email list, either. If you have a few leads, it’s worth designing promotional messages and newsletters and sending them. Use email newsletter software to create attractive and appealing newsletters for your list.
It’s just a matter of choosing your email marketing software and designing marketing campaigns. You can even send personalized discount coupons to your customers to encourage them to purchase.
Again, you might consider using A/B testing to see which emails get the best results from your subscribers. Then you can adjust your strategy accordingly.
7. Partner with affiliates
Finally, partnering with affiliates can advertise your wholesale business effectively. With an affiliate program, you work with influencers or marketers. They promote your products through specific links and receive commissions on successful conversions.
Creating an affiliate program can be cost-effective because you’ll only pay for successful sales. However, you’ll need to offer competitive commission rates and prompt payments to keep your affiliates interested and motivated.
With Easy Affiliate, you can set up and run an affiliate program directly from your WordPress dashboard:
Easy Affiliate comes with a comprehensive affiliate dashboard and detailed reports. Plus, you can pay your marketers and track their progress from a single location.
Another great alternative to Easy Affiliate is the AffiliateWP plugin which also has tight integration with WooCommerce.
Conclusion
Advertising your wholesale business is essential to its success. Fortunately, there are several online and offline methods to get the word out about your company.
To recap, here are seven ways to advertise your wholesale business:
- Attend local fairs and business expos
- Contact local businesses directly
- Use social media marketing techniques
- List your wholesale business in online directories
- Use print catalogs
- Utilize email marketing newsletters
- Partner with affiliates
Do you have any questions about how to advertise your wholesale business? Let us know in the comments section below!
