Develop an e-commerce marketing strategy. If you’re running an online business then you certainly need to develop techniques to stimulate a lot of traffic to your site. More traffic to your online shop will not only increase leads but also conversions. The challenge is selecting which marketing strategy is right for your business. At this point in the game, there are just too many strategies to choose from. It can, understandably, feel overwhelming. The objective is to discover which strategy is ideal for you and therefore, ideal for your business. Develop an e-commerce marketing strategy.
Now is the moment to select effective marketing tactics and tools for your online business. But, what is e-commerce marketing exactly? We’re very glad you asked. According to Hubspot, “Ecommerce marketing is the act of driving awareness and action toward a business that sells its product or service electronically.” Cha-ching. Well, almost. In this article, we’ll be looking into how to develop a successful e-commerce marketing strategy. Additionally, we’ll discuss the four basic strategies, how to promote growth and how to build your e-commerce brand. Then we’ll have a look at basic business models for your online business. All branches hold equal weight when it comes to the success of your e-commerce shop. Now, let’s get the ball rolling and those numbers rising, shall we?
Develop an e-commerce marketing strategy
Your e-commerce marketing strategy is no small thing. Your strategy involves all the tactics you implement to drive traffic to your shop. Not only will it guide traffic to your site, but it will also guide you, as the business owner to achieve your goals. Your strategy will provide techniques to smoothly adapt your online shop to the changing market along the way. The strategy you develop will also set up each individual on your team with their particular targets and goals. We hope you’re ready to get to writing! You will absolutely need to draft out a detailed map of your goals, along with your plans for the present and future.
Step One: Write out your plans and continue to develop the plan as you learn.
This plan is both for you and your team to understand where you stand and where you are going. You will learn which strategies have worked and which, well, haven’t. Pay close attention to those numbers and be ready to adapt your approach as the initial months go by.
Step Two: Take the time to understand your target audience.
In order to drive an effective marketing strategy, you will need an in-depth understanding of your consumer. This is an essential step for increasing leads and sales. Do your business a favor and do not skip out on this step. Get to know your target audience beyond a superficial understanding. If you understand how and why they search and shop, you will understand how to market to their needs and desires.
Step Three: Make sure your website is readily available and accessible to your consumer.
If you have an outdated design or a website that blocks the path to purchase, you will lose in sales. You want your users to flow through your site intuitively, without confusion or disruption. As Uhuru clearly lays out, “An effective e-commerce website needs to be highly intuitive. That means that no matter what page your shoppers end up on, they intuitively understand how to get where they want to go and how to accomplish their goal.” If the layout of your website is challenging and complex, you will quickly lose your audience to your competitors.
What are the four basic e-commerce marketing strategies?
Considering the way things have progressed and how the market has changed, globally, it’s more valuable now than ever to launch and promote your services and products online. There’s no guaranteed formula for e-commerce success, but there are basic strategies and principles you can follow. Here are four, and then some.
Social Media Marketing
One of the most effective methods for reaching your target audience is through marketing your products and services on social media. When using social media to capture your audience’s attention, we recommend using captivating images. According to Statista, “As of 2019, the average daily social media usage of internet users worldwide amounted to 144 minutes per day.” And the numbers are only expected to rise. Captivating images is one of the first steps to luring your audience into your shop. If you’re a numbers guy or gal, now imagine this, “In 2020, there were some 233 million social network users in the United States, the equivalent of about three-quarters of the country’s population (Statista, 2020).” Your sales potential is looking pretty good if you ask us!
Content Marketing
Now, you can’t assume by uploading your products onto your webpage users will automatically know you’re out there. Imagine this, according to 99firms, “There are between 12M to 24M e-commerce sites in the world.” Now imagine trying to fight your way to the top! The marketplace is practically flooding with retailers trying to elbow their way in and up. In 2020, having an online shop just isn’t enough to attract traffic.
One of the most valuable ways to attract traffic to your shop is through your content marketing strategy. Your product description is one way for search engines to direct users to your store but certainly not the only way. We encourage all of our clients to utilize blog posts and articles on their site to attract more customers to their shop. Let’s say, for instance, you write a blog post or article on how LED light bulbs are more energy-efficient than your standard lightbulb. After explaining all the ways your client can save money by purchasing LED bulbs, imagine how many more conversions you’ll have days and weeks afterward than by simply advertising your LED bulbs on Facebook. Do you get where we’re going with this?
Search Engine Marketing
We nearly hit on this when we mentioned Content Marketing moments ago. Search Engine Optimization and Google advertisements are reliable resources for pulling in leads. Wordstream has pulled up that “About 97% of Google’s total revenues come from advertising. (Google Investor Relations)” That goes to show how many businesses are utilizing Google ads for their business. The trick is to use SEO tools, while also paying Google to bump your company’s services or products higher up on your potential customer’s results page.
Email Marketing
Email marketing usually involves companies who have established a mailing list with their customers. Generating a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter, or encouraging your customers to sign up to your mailing list is a useful marketing tactic. According to Statista, “In 2019, the number of global e-mail users amounted to 3.9 billion and is set to grow to 4.48 billion users in 2024.” That’s a fairly big market if you ask us! The only concern here is having a healthy amount of newsletters and emails go out before you overwhelm your client’s inbox. Flooding your customer’s inbox with sales and promotions may have the reverse effects than what you’re after.
How do e-commerce marketing strategies promote growth?
Just to put things into perspective (If we haven’t already!) according to Sleek Note, “There’s been significant growth in e-commerce in recent years. In 2014, total sales reached just $1.3 trillion. But that number has more than tripled in 2020 to $4.2 trillion and is anticipated to keep growing as we move deeper into the 2020s.” You’ll not only experience an increase in sales in 2020 but in years to come. Talk about looking to the future! These aren’t numbers one can just look away from.
YouTube as a Marketing Strategy for your e-commerce site
Let’s say you opt for generating more videos as one of your marketing strategies. When a business creates, for example, ‘How to’ videos, they can easily attach a link to their shop after the viewer has watched the video. This not only makes the consumer want to buy your products but promotes trust that the consumer is buying from companies that know their products and beyond.
A great example of this is presented in an article by Wordstream, which discusses how YouTube can help drive traffic to your online shop. The article goes on to discuss how Google will organically boost videos on your potential client’s results page. The quick results and potential revenue turns out to be a more cost-efficient strategy than PPC. It has the potential to save online businesses from spending most of their budgets on online advertisements. When clients stream your video and then have to go to your local shop to obtain the product, you risk losing all those sales.
User Reviews to promote sales
While word of mouth is as ancient as brewing beer, it’s simply not enough in today’s severely competitive market. According to Business.com, “77 percent of people take the time to read product reviews before they make any purchases online.” Consider your own purchasing habits. Most of us, when purchasing a product off of Amazon, for instance, rely on user reviews to judge the quality of a product. Reviews will work to promote the reputation of your business, can bring in new customers and returning customers to purchase from your shop.
Sales and Price Comparisons
Similar to your brick and mortar store, sales and promotions are one tactic that can boost capital. For e-commerce shops just starting out, offering free-shipping or discounts can work at increasing sales for your new online business. Furthermore, when you run sales and promotions on your website, your audience is able to easily compare prices to your competitors. Another tactic is to use referral programs. According to Huffpost, “Referral programs can also bring in more sales and help to build your customer base. Provide customers with a special discount, such as $20 off their next purchase if they refer a friend. You’ll get them to make a purchase, and you’ll discover a potential new customer as well.”
And honestly, those are just three ways to use e-commerce strategies to promote growth. There are certainly heaps more you can do online when compared to your brick and mortar retail shop! Develop an e-commerce marketing strategy.
How do I build an e-commerce brand?
We’re really tempted to make the claim that the success of your business is all in your brand. But that is a very bold statement! Your branding will help you stand out from the competition and should appeal to your target audience. Consider the branding of the identity of your company.
Step One: Style!
Your brand should have a distinct style. Your style is how you stand out from the crowd. In order to establish a sweet style, you need to understand both your business and your audience. Say you’re selling baby blankets and toys. Choosing earth tones for your website’s color palette is surely not the way to go.
According to Sell Brite, the style you create for your brand should generate a seamless UX for online customers when they enter your site and click through your page. Some techniques for branding could be selecting a color scheme and using consistent fonts throughout the site. It’s essential to simplify browsing for your users so they can easily access their ‘basket’ and checkout. Your values, branding, and simple web designs make it easy for your clients to move from beginning to end without any complications. This is exactly how your leads generate sales and conversions. Without proper branding and an easy shopping experience, you risk losing hundreds of clients and hundreds of sales. Doesn’t sound worth it, does it?
Step Two: Voice!
Your brand voice can either bore the heck out of your customers or make them feel all good inside. Do you know what we mean? Decide if you want to articulate yourself in a formal voice, humorous voice, engaging, passionate, quirky, and so on. The tone of your voice should attract your customer, not offend or turn them away. Find a healthy balance between the way you want to present your company and the way your audience will respond to your lingo.
Step Three: Values!
After you’ve set up a page for your customer’s reviews, take the time to review those reviews! This will update you on which ways your company is slacking and in which areas you’re doing well. Then look through your competition, and brands that you personally value or respond well to. Your values should reflect what’s important to both you and your customers.
What are the four main types of e-business models?
There are four main types of e-commerce business models you should look into. They consist of B2B, also known as business to business. B2C, also known as business to consumer. B2G, which is business to government. And lastly, B2B2C, which is, as you may have guessed it, business to business to consumer. Let’s have a look at each.
Business to Business (b2b)
A Business to Business model is when one business markets its products to other businesses. The most common approach to b2b is when suppliers and manufacturers are exchanging materials or services.
Business to Consumer (b2c)
A business to consumer model is when a business is selling its products or services directly to individual consumers. According to elasticpath, “In eCommerce, there are five different B2C models: direct sellers, online intermediaries, advertising-based, community-based, and fee-based. Direct selling is the most common model. It is when consumers buy products from online retailers.”
Business to Government (b2g) A business to government model is when a company’s clients are government agencies. An example of a business to government services could include an electricity company repairing traffic lights and street lights in a certain district. On a larger, federal scale, a company can sell services or products to the army or navy, and so on.
Business to Business to Consumer (b2b2c)
Business to business to consumer might be the most difficult to understand at first glance. In this model, a company would sell services or products to a secondary company, who would then sell the products directly to the consumer. A great example of this is Nestle selling their products to supermarkets, which would then sell the products directly to the consumer.
Our Final Thoughts on Ecommerce Marketing
Oh dear, we sure did cover a lot! Though it may sound overwhelming, we believe you have it in you to succeed! What’s most important is to first establish both your short term and long term goals, both big and small. Once you’ve written out your goals, share your intention and direction with your entire team. The next step is understanding your audience. Clearly define for your team what your audience responds well to, what they are after and how they consume. Without understanding your audience, you won’t get very far.
Then distribute the work accordingly. Once you’ve established your goals, work on your e-commerce branding. Integrate a voice, design, and visuals that align with your business and your audience. Your branding is an essential ingredient when it comes to your advertisement. Without a killer branding, all the investments you pumped into your advertisement campaign will be for naught. Your branding will reflect on how you advertise and how successful your advertisement will be, whether it’s on Facebook, Google Ads, or any other platform. It’s time to get organized!
Other related articles you might like to read:
- How to Increase Sales through Facebook Ads for Your Business
- What is SEO and Why Does It Matter?
- What is SEO and How does it Work?
References:
- (Christina Perricone, 2020) Everything You Need to Know About Ecommerce Marketing https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/ecommerce-marketing
- (2010 – 2020 Uhuru Network Texas)Guide to Developing an Effective eCommerce Strategy https://uhurunetwork.com/guide-developing-effective-ecommerce-strategy/
- (J. Clement, Feb 26, 2020)Daily social media usage worldwide 2012-2019 https://www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/
- (J. Clement, Jul 15, 2020) Number of social network users in the United States from 2017 to 2025 https://www.statista.com/statistics/278409/number-of-social-network-users-in-the-united-states/
- (99firms.com ,2020) Ecommerce Statistics https://99firms.com/blog/ecommerce-statistics/#gref
- (Lisa Smith, 9/21/2020)12 Goal-Crushing Ecommerce Marketing Strategies for 2020 https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2019/12/18/ecommerce-marketing-strategies
- (Jimmy Rodela 7/24/ 2015) 77% of People Read Online Reviews Before Buying: Are They Finding You? https://www.business.com/articles/77-percent-of-people-read-online-reviews-before-buying-are-they-finding-you/
- (Sujan Patel, 10/09/2017) 5 E-commerce Strategies to Increase Sales
- (William Harris, 2020 )How to Build an Ecommerce Brand That Outshines All Competition: An Actionable Guide https://www.sellbrite.com/blog/ecommerce-branding/
- (KATE HASSEY, 2-4-2019) 4 eCommerce business models, trends, & strategies you need to focus on for success https://www.elasticpath.com/blog/4-ecommerce-business-models-b2b-b2c
