The Difference is in the Numbers
by Melissa Coffey
Diaper Decisions
Diaper Decisions really believes in local business and the hands on approach to retailing cloth diapers. There are many reasons we advocate for taking your business to your local neighborhood.
Number one, for the advancement of cloth diapers, people need to see cloth in action. They can’t truly do that just look at web pages. It can also seem daunting to wash, and use cloth on the go, with the usual mental picture being quite messy. Living with cloth diapers is a whole new thing to most people, and they want to see it “for real.”
But aside from helping cloth become a real option for families in your community, what does doing businesses locally do for YOU? Cloth diaper purchases on the web, for the most part, are for people already looking for, or using cloth diapers. For someone already involved in this lifestyle, the purchase from you will often be minimal, based on a product of yours that caught there eye. Local business is completely different. Yours are the only diapers “available” locally and the orders will usually be considerably bigger. For example, below I have listed the orders Susie, from Lucy Luvs, has received in the past couple of months from people she has personally converted, or just helped with cloth diapering questions:
12 aios, 12 fitted, 48 wipes, 12 doublers
24 aios
24 aios, 4 fitted, 48 wipes, 12 doublers
12 fleece covers
24 fitted, 48 wipes, 4 covers, 12 doublers
These are not small orders. These are some big numbers, and herein lies the difference between the local and internet market. If you convert someone locally, you will often be the one they ask to get them started. By serving your local community, you also start to establish yourself as the “go-to” person for anyone interested in cloth diapering. Instead of a friend saying “go to www dot com” they say, I got these from “Susie in playgroup, she owns a cloth diaper business.”
Susie’s method for obtaining these large orders is to always have a few “cute” diapers from her stash with her. When someone mentions the cute “diaper cover” her daughter is wearing, she shows off the diapers and invites the customer to view her website to pick fabrics and select a package. Her site offers lay away and military discounts, which is a good sales tool for an Army wife to use. The packages are what she sells the most of because already has these listed on her site. She takes a lot of the work out of the “trying to decide” for the customers.
If you haven’t reached out to your local community with your business, now’s the time to start thinking about your plan to do so. It benefits your community, your business and the cloth diapering movement. Web marketing is great, but local marketing is better. The difference is in the numbers!
Diaper Decisions
Diaper Decisions really believes in local business and the hands on approach to retailing cloth diapers. There are many reasons we advocate for taking your business to your local neighborhood.
Number one, for the advancement of cloth diapers, people need to see cloth in action. They can’t truly do that just look at web pages. It can also seem daunting to wash, and use cloth on the go, with the usual mental picture being quite messy. Living with cloth diapers is a whole new thing to most people, and they want to see it “for real.”
But aside from helping cloth become a real option for families in your community, what does doing businesses locally do for YOU? Cloth diaper purchases on the web, for the most part, are for people already looking for, or using cloth diapers. For someone already involved in this lifestyle, the purchase from you will often be minimal, based on a product of yours that caught there eye. Local business is completely different. Yours are the only diapers “available” locally and the orders will usually be considerably bigger. For example, below I have listed the orders Susie, from Lucy Luvs, has received in the past couple of months from people she has personally converted, or just helped with cloth diapering questions:
12 aios, 12 fitted, 48 wipes, 12 doublers
24 aios
24 aios, 4 fitted, 48 wipes, 12 doublers
12 fleece covers
24 fitted, 48 wipes, 4 covers, 12 doublers
These are not small orders. These are some big numbers, and herein lies the difference between the local and internet market. If you convert someone locally, you will often be the one they ask to get them started. By serving your local community, you also start to establish yourself as the “go-to” person for anyone interested in cloth diapering. Instead of a friend saying “go to www dot com” they say, I got these from “Susie in playgroup, she owns a cloth diaper business.”
Susie’s method for obtaining these large orders is to always have a few “cute” diapers from her stash with her. When someone mentions the cute “diaper cover” her daughter is wearing, she shows off the diapers and invites the customer to view her website to pick fabrics and select a package. Her site offers lay away and military discounts, which is a good sales tool for an Army wife to use. The packages are what she sells the most of because already has these listed on her site. She takes a lot of the work out of the “trying to decide” for the customers.
If you haven’t reached out to your local community with your business, now’s the time to start thinking about your plan to do so. It benefits your community, your business and the cloth diapering movement. Web marketing is great, but local marketing is better. The difference is in the numbers!
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