Many people have heard of eCommerce marketing but don’t understand what it means. What is eCommerce marketing? It is the process of enticing people to your website, convincing them to buy your products, and ensuring that you retain them so that they can continue purchasing from you.
To ensure that your brand stands out among many, you need to deploy smart eCommerce marketing strategies. Use your creativity to attract new customers, and for the existing ones, turn them into your advocates.
According to the current world’s financial news, eCommerce marketing booms almost $ 4 trillion in global eCommerce sales every year. Experts estimate that by 2021, U.S. retail eCommerce sales will increase to 13.7%, reaching $908.73 billion.
There are various eCommerce marketing strategies, but getting the best that will work for you can be overwhelming because they keep on evolving every day. It all depends on the industry you are working with, your potential customers, the product you are selling, and your marketing manner.
However, if you intend to use eCommerce to build your brand, you can still do it by first creating your online store. Once you have an existing site, follow the outlined eCommerce marketing tips to help you reach your customers and build your eCommerce business.
1. Social Media Marketing
As one of the most used platforms in eCommerce, Social media has about 3.2 billion users globally. Therefore, you can use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to market your products depending on the target audience.
For instance, if you are dealing with fashion products, it’s hard to make most sales from LinkedIn, so Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest could be the best platforms for you.
Make sure every time you post, your content is unique to attract people’s attention. Also, when they comment, give them real-time feedback. You can include share buttons and hashtags for viewers to share your post. If you feel managing social media accounts is hectic, consider hiring a manager.
2. Content Marketing
Content marketing is a powerful tool when it comes to eCommerce business. It attracts traffic, educates readers, and increases brand popularity. Some of the content marketing tools you can use include blog posts, link building services from an SEO agency like Noria, storytelling, email newsletters, testimonies, podcasts, and infographics.
For instance, if you sell a particular product, develop tutorial video content, and ensure you show your product in the video. As time goes by, the viewers will become your customers, and when they want to buy that or a similar product, they will consider yours first.
3. Word-of-mouth/ Referral Marketing
About 82% of consumers seek friends’ and family’s opinions before making any purchase. Significant percentage trust recommendations from people they well know. If consumers have a fantastic experience with your products, they will become your brand advocate even without giving them something in return. However, it’s always courteous to give discounts and perks to your die-hard customers whenever they give a referral to your products.
4. Email Marketing
When it comes to sales and webpage traffic, email marketing gives fast and immediate results. It involves emailing promotional emails to customers, intending to encourage them to browse your products, or informing them about a specific discount. According to recent research, 91% of people check their email accounts daily; therefore, if you opt to use this marketing strategy, be sure of reaching many customers.
5. Public Relations
Public relations is a marketing strategy you cannot ignore. It involves maintaining a good public image as you increase your brand awareness. PR also involves preventing any negative thing that can spoil your brand’s reputation and showcasing what your brand does in helping society.
To build your brand’s reputation, always ensure you get media coverage whenever you do a newsworthy activity. Organize customer appreciation days, and monitor people’s opinions concerning your brand.
6. Ecommerce Web Development
Although Ecommerce website development is quite complex and critical, it doesn’t need to be complicated. There are only a few simple steps to follow to have a good e-commerce website.
First and foremost is knowing what to sell and determining your business model(business to consumer or business to business). An original and succinct name makes for a good business name. Purchasing a domain name is of the essence to avoid setbacks later.
More so, determining your branding and the right e-commerce platform makes it easier to develop the website. A great content strategy with real content rather than fillers makes for a legitimate e-commerce site.
Consequently, optimizing the search engine for ease of product access is crucial as having defined product categories. In addition to this, taking detailed product photos and corresponding product descriptions is key, as adding an OCR .Net feature. This feature allows developers fast, efficient results while converting images and content to text. The last step is identifying the right shipping software to allow the secure movement of merchandise to consumers.
Final Thoughts
By applying the above eCommerce marketing strategies and using the proper channels, you will skyrocket your sales. Choose eCommerce marketing strategically because not all will work for you, even if they worked well for others. So, keep trying until you get the one that works for you. Again, be flexible to accommodate new marketing trends because the competition is stiff in the eCommerce arena.