At the heart of all small businesses' success is marketing.

For an independent outdoor powered machinery dealership to thrive, all the various aspects of the products you stock and services you offer need to be sold to your local (and wider) community.

Marketing is a process by which a product or service is introduced and promoted to potential customers. Without marketing, your business may offer the highest quality products and the greatest service, but none of your potential customers would know about it.

So whatever tools are available to an independent dealer to raise their profile really should be grasped with both hands.

This year dealers have been offered another means by which they can reach out to potential customers - crucially to customers who are actively in the market to make a purchase and are searching around on the web for what's available.

The Garden Trader website, which is brought to you by the Service Dealer team, has seen over 600 independent dealers across the UK sign up since its launch in February. I know the team who are running the site are delighted with the statistics it has achieved during the last 8 months.

I could repeat all the 'click through' and 'impressions' and 'page views' stats which the people who understand these things are rightly very proud of - but I think what brings it home just what a valuable tool the site has proved this year, is to hear from some of the guys at the sharp end who've been benefitting from its service.

Here are a selection of comments from dealers who have found tangible success in using Garden Trader this year:

• "I am amazed by the number of hits each of our six branches have experienced. I think this type of website is vital to the future of the trade." - Andrew Brown, Geo Browns Ltd
• “Seems to be working for us. We've had a few people saying they have come in having seen us on the GT site. We always ask new customers how they found us.” - David Mason, Masons Mowers, Peterborough, Cambs.
• "Gets you out there, consumers find it easy to use and they are finding us." - Liam, The Lawnmower Company, Prenton, Wirral
• "Nice to have a universal industry site - definitely a step in the right direction." - Steven Law, Cutting Edge Machinery, Redditch, Worcestershire. 
• "Like the site, easy to use, surprised and delighted by the number of hits.” - Scott Taylor, Grahams Garden Machinery, Nr Truro, Cornwall.

Since its launch the site has benefitted from sponsorship from Briggs & Stratton, Henton and Chattell and STIHL UK. The site has also been well supported by all of the manufacturers and distributors who have their products listed on it.

Simon Hewitt, Head of Marketing at STIHL GB, who have confirmed their sponsorship of the site into 2018, added his praise saying, “STIHL believes Garden Trader is a great idea - bringing together retail customers and time-pressed dealers in one place. STIHL has supported Garden Trader since its launch and we believe it offers manufacturers and dealers a great opportunity to promote the combination of premium quality garden tools and expert service.”

This incredibly positive feedback comes just as the Garden Trader site moves into its next phase. The service which has been running free of charge this year, is now starting to go out to users, explaining that as of January 2018 there will be charge attached for using the resource.

Ron Miller, who is part of the organising team says, "We believe Garden Trader is a truly inexpensive and trouble free vehicle to create the exposure and customer awareness that a dealers' business needs - with virtually everything done by us."

You can find out here what the site will be charging next year.

Going by these opinions, and the excitement which the guys who are running the site have about developments for next year, signing up for 2018 is something to which all dealers should give serious consideration.