No matter the size of your online business or the selection of products you offer, you are not guaranteed continuous revenue. The truth is that you must get your products in front of the eyes of your intended audience while seeking ways to stand out in a competitive e-commerce industry.
One of the most effective ways to meet this objective is by leveraging e-commerce marketing. Growing your online business with digital marketing allows you to increase awareness and drive traffic to your store, ultimately convincing prospects to make a purchase.
According to Hubspot, 82% of businesses actively use content marketing to attract new leads and boost their revenue. Yet, to truly spearhead your e-commerce marketing game, you need to know the most effective strategies and start implementing them immediately.
So, if you are wondering how to market your e-commerce store successfully, this article is for you.
What Is E-commerce Marketing?
In short, e-commerce marketing involves leveraging numerous promotional tactics to increase the number of visitors to your store and drive sales. E-commerce marketing can be targeted at acquiring new customers or retaining existing ones.
An e-commerce marketing strategy aims to drive traffic to your store, increase brand awareness, facilitate your company’s discovery online, and encourage repeat business with timely and relevant offers.
Benefits of Marketing Your E-commerce Store
Without a sound e-commerce marketing strategy, your online store would not generate revenue, as people would not know that you exist.
So, apart from the fact that e-commerce marketing boosts your business visibility online, it has many other benefits.
A robust e-commerce marketing strategy
- Helps to establish your brand and differentiate from your competitors;
- Promotes products to millions of buyers at scale;
- Targets the right audience and markets for maximum sales opportunities
- Influences the buying decisions;
- Encourages more regular orders;
- Boosts average order value (AOV);
- Increases brand advocacy and word-of-mouth marketing.
How to Decide on the Best Marketing Strategy for an E-commerce Store
There are many ways to find the right marketing strategy for your e-commerce store. Online businesses are spoilt for choice since many techniques, approaches, and tools are available.
Organic traffic is the most lucrative revenue source, as it can generate a steady stream of website visitors and sales. Driving organic traffic requires you to implement search engine optimization (SEO) tactics to capture visitors from search engines such as Google or Bing. For marketers, high organic traffic is a holy grail outcome of their marketing efforts.
However, getting lots of organic traffic takes time. For this simple reason, many online businesses opt for other tactics, such as Google or Facebook ads, social media campaigns, and influencer marketing.
Depending on your marketing goals, you should focus on using a mix of paid and non-paid marketing strategies to see what works best for your e-commerce business. Irrespective of your approach, e-commerce marketing is about trial and error, iteration, and pivoting to see what clicks with your target audience and helps convert them.
Five Tips on How to Market Your E-commerce Store
While there is no one answer as to what constitutes the most effective e-commerce marketing strategy, here are some tactics that stood the test of time and can be readily implemented in your business.
-
Build Your E-commerce Marketing Plan
E-commerce marketing should always start with a well-thought-out plan. First, define your marketing and sales goals so you know what you are aiming to achieve. Then, refine your value proposition by answering the question: “What does my online business do that others don’t?” Finally, determine how much budget you can allocate to marketing.
Once you have laid the groundwork, you can begin thinking about how to execute your marketing plan and what tools will work best for your type of online business.
-
Implement SEO Practices
You should not cut corners, throw a bunch of Google ads at customers, and expect quick results. Stop here. Focus on building your content marketing strategy and optimizing your website and product descriptions for SEO, so people can start finding you organically, which is your goal.
49% of online shoppers start looking for a new item or product on Google. Therefore, to capture these potential customers, you must create content packed with relevant keywords to become discoverable on search engines.
-
Say Yes to Ad Campaigns
E-commerce ads allow you to market your products by targeting shoppers that fit the criteria of an ideal customer. These ads are not free; however, they are effective at capturing customer data to deliver personalized and highly targeted advertising funnels. Besides, using popular ad platforms means that you can track key metrics and adjust your tactics accordingly.
-
Make Use of Social Media
82% of Americans are on social media, which makes it a great channel to advertise your products. You can use social media marketing to promote your products, share helpful content, build relationships with customers, and provide post-purchase support.
Younger generations particularly love social media, with 46% of millennials and 50% of Gen Z claiming that they research products on social media. Thus, using social media to help your customers discover your products makes sense.
-
Entice Your Target Audience With Something Your Competitors Do Not Offer
Finally, leveraging your uniqueness and strengths is the most important tip for those building or redefining their e-commerce marketing strategy. Differentiating helps you to focus on what you do best, allowing you to compete successfully in oversaturated markets and industries.
Say you are in the apparel business. How many other clothing brands exist? Thousands. That is why you must find a way to communicate to your target customers why your product is superior. Sometimes, your product is not better than others; it could be the experience or additional services, such as free shipping, that make you stand out.
Conclusion
Marketing can make or break your e-commerce business. But thanks to the wealth of marketing tools and methods available, you can find what works for you. Remember, you must always play your strengths and stand out from the rest while providing a great shopping experience to your customers.
At Phase V, we offer end-to-end order fulfillment solutions to ambitious e-commerce companies that strive to amaze their customers with an unbeatable shipping experience – something that can differentiate you from the rest!
Contact our team today, and let us help you grow your e-commerce business!
