Online marketplaces – best practices

Craiglist.com – the classic example of a local classifieds website, thinking global. Great community atmosphere on a no frills utilitarian website.

IntroNiche logo almost ready

It might be but a small step for the website yet it feels quite good to have a logo.

After a painstaking name selection process, involving lots of advice from friends & family & a lot of swearing at .com cybersquatters, I settled on the IntroNiche name which I had duely registered.

Following that, someone recommended me to use Logobee.com, a canadian logo design company.
I briefed them saying I wanted a professional yet warm logo, targeted at marketing professionals.

A full briefing can be read here:

Reputation: major issue with marketing barter deals

When two companies engage in crossmarketing or co-operative marketing, they both put their reputation at stake. Why? Because they basically recommend each other to their respective client base.
They’re not liable for each other, but if one of your clients is dissapointed because of another firm you recommended while crossmarketing, this client is more than likely to hold this against you.

How to protect yourself? I’m afraid there is no easy solution to this.

The only solution I see is to do your homework on the other firm. Contact the other firm. Talk to them on the telephone or in person if possible. Ask for samples or demo’s. Ask for client referrals. Seek if you already have any clients in common. Check them out on LinkedIn or any other social network.

When in doubt, hold off. There must be enough firms out there targetting your niche.. You can afford to be picky. After all, your reputation is at stake.

Any suggestions on how to help with the reputation issue?

Some websites focusing on barter deals & niche marketing

•  mesh-box, a german blog focused on big brands doing marketing alliances or co-branding
• entrepreneur.com, a very valuable US source of marketing information
• crossmedialog.nl, a dutch group blog on cross media and cross marketing
• Guy Kawasaki, a VC with a very sound view on marketing
• Marketing Sherpa, a good general marketing platform
• Wikipedia, off course, with a great definition of co-operative marketing

Some websites focusing on barter deals & niche marketing

•  mesh-box, a german blog focused on big brands doing marketing alliances or co-branding
• entrepreneur.com, a very valuable US source of marketing information
• crossmedialog.nl, a dutch group blog on cross media and cross marketing
• Guy Kawasaki, a VC with a very sound view on marketing
• Marketing Sherpa, a good general marketing platform
• Wikipedia, off course, with a great definition of co-operative marketing

Definition of targetting criteria for niches (work in progress)

The niche marketing barter deal marketplace is not going to work if companies can’t define their niches properly.
Because everything starts with a proper definition of your niche. Once you know that, you will be able to see which companies match your niche.

Here are some of the main niches:

Almost incorporated – start-up on it’s way

Just a little note to remember my accountant just sent the adapted financial plan to the notary public, a necessary first step to get your business registered and set up down here. Never knew financial plans could make you happy.

Almost incorporated – start-up on it’s way

Just a little note to remember my accountant just sent the adapted financial plan to the notary public, a necessary first step to get your business registered and set up down here. Never knew financial plans could make you happy.