If you have your own e-commerce store, you probably think about ways to increase your sales every day. Isn’t it the main purpose of running the show?
But in order to increase your sales, you must make sure that the right people find out about your products. You may have some astonishing products to offer, but if you just upload them onto a website and wait, it will probably take A LOT of time for people to actually get there.
Whether you have a print-on-demand store, a dropshipping store, or even sell on a marketplace, there are some marketing tools you can implement to drive traffic to your products faster, which will eventually turn into more sales.
In this article, we put together the best marketing strategies for you to try:
Bear in mind that not all tools give the same results to everybody, it depends a lot on the type of market, the kind of products you sell, your audience, and many more factors. So, our suggestion is that you start using some of them (or all!) for a couple of weeks and then analyze the results. The only way you can truly know if a strategy worked is by trying and measuring!
Also, this time we will be focusing only on online marketing tools, but the marketing world is huge. You can plan an omnichannel strategy and do some offline actions as well!
Pro tip: Keep in mind that delivering a cohesive message across all online and offline channels is key, never contradict yourself!
E-mail Marketing
E-mail marketing is probably one of the most popular strategies and one that you can implement from the first day. If you don’t want to invest a single cent, you can always do it the old way, and manually send mailing campaigns from your email account. But luckily for us, today there are plenty of tools online to create amazing mailing campaigns, that not only will make your work easier but also come with integrated analytics to easily analyze how every campaign performs.
The good news is that, if you don’t have many contacts yet, most of the mailing tools have free plans available. Some of the bests are Mailchimp, Avada or MailerLite.
There are a lot of different email campaigns that you can try, from transactional emails to customers, to newsletters for a wider audience and automated sequences for abandoned carts on your website. It’s definitely a great marketing strategy you should adopt, with many different options to try at a considerably low cost.
Social Media Marketing
Creating profiles on social media is almost mandatory nowadays. Most people search for products and brands while navigating on social media, and not being there will likely give a “bad” image of your business. You don’t have to be present in all of them, do some research and analyze which platforms are most used by the people that would buy your products.
Facebook is probably the most popular platform and covers a wide range of audiences, but you can explore joining other platforms such as Instagram or TikTok that are very popular today.
Even if you don’t post something every day, you should have a clean profile with basic information about your brand, who you are and what you sell, a link to your website, and channels of communication for people to easily contact you. If you’re interested in investing more time and money in this type of marketing, you can share relevant content for your audience or even pay for some advertising.
Also, some of these channels offer the option to sell directly through them, which could be a really interesting option to explore depending on the type of products that you offer.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO as it’s more commonly called, is key to driving more traffic to your website. By investing time in SEO, you can get your website to rank in a higher position in search engines like Google, and therefore get more visitors (and leads!).
Statistics show that most people only scroll down the first page of results while googling something - and click on the first 3 results - so you definitely want to work to get your website on that first page. The higher you rank, the more visits you will get.
Fortunately, there are some interesting tools that can help you optimize your traffic, track keyword performance, do keyword research to understand how people find you (and your competitors), and more! Semrush, Moz, and Ahrefs are the most popular ones but there are a lot of options in the market. SEO Booster - TOP 1 Shopify SEO app is a great option if you're interested in a zero-cost strategy.
Another interesting solution - if you have a Shopify store - is using an app like DH SEO‑All‑in‑one SEO Booster which helps you optimize your website SEO elements, making Google notice the optimization and consider ranking your site higher on search pages.
This will make your website easier to find on Google and therefore, it will get more organic customer traffic day by day. Definitely, a must-have app for your site to be perfect for Google SEO within minutes!
PPC Advertising
Paid-per-click advertising consists of doing paid campaigns on platforms such as Google, Facebook, or YouTube to bring traffic to your website. Basically, you publish different pieces on these platforms (it could be image banners or videos) and they are shown to different targeted audiences that will likely click on them and land on your website. This way you can reach new and unknown users and drive traffic to your home page, or a specific product page or offer. As its name suggests, you will only pay when users actually click on your advertisements.
PPC campaigns are ideal for site launches, announcements, or special promotions because you can schedule them to start and end on specific dates.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is great for long-term results and will also help your SEO and the overall positioning of your brand in the market. Bear in mind that content marketing it’s more time-consuming than the other strategies and you probably won’t see measurable results in the short time, but you will reach and engage with customers in a deeper way. Content marketing helps to develop relationships, to build trust around your brand, and to strengthen your reputation.
There are different ways to create and share content, for example, you can write a blog, you could create videos and share them on your YouTube channel or you could launch a podcast. Try to stay relevant and create content that’s related to your business, or that your customers would appreciate. Content must be planned and is about giving your customers something valuable, not just publishing something random.
Some interesting tools that can help you with your content creation are Hemingway Editor, Grammarly, Vimeo Create Video Maker, and Simplecast Podcast Management.
Partnership and Affiliate Programs
Another interesting way of marketing your products is by doing partnerships with other companies, or by offering affiliate programs so anyone (even your very own customers) can drive traffic to your store and eventually get paid if the users complete a purchase.
By doing a partnership you can join forces with another company and for example, feature each other on your email campaigns or social media accounts. This way, you can reach a new audience for a considerably low cost. Of course, you will also expose your own customers to the other company so make sure to partner with someone that could be relevant to your public.
Offering affiliate programs is a very popular trend today because people tend to trust other people’s recommendations better than an advertisement from the company itself.
If you’re interested in exploring any of these strategies, platforms like Refersion or Impact can be useful.
Pro tip: Want to boost your partnership or affiliate programs? Try working with some local influencers and take your strategy to the next level.
Rewards Programs
A reward program is a great way to win customer loyalty and incentivize more purchases from your own customers. You can have a system where customers earn points that can be exchanged for something, or directly give away discounts or special offers for their loyalty.
If you’re into this kind of strategy we highly recommend checking out these platforms: Yotpo Loyalty & Rewards and Smile.io
EXTRA TIPS AND TOOLS:
Live Chat
Adding a live chat to your website could be really helpful in making successful purchases. Another option is to offer a link to your Whatsapp Business account for fast response.
There are many times when customers get to your store, add something to the cart, and never finish the process. Some of these times, you may get feedback from them, explaining what stopped them, but usually that doesn’t happen.
If you have a live chat available, you facilitate real-time conversations, that can lead to stopping people from abandoning a cart. Resolving their inquiries at the very exact moment when they are making a purchase decision is key. Here are some top-notch customer support options that you should explore: DelightChat, Intercom, and Gorgias.
Project Management
If you feel overwhelmed by all these marketing options, using some project management tool is always a great idea to keep organized. You can use one to keep marketing campaigns ordered, but also for other areas of your business! Especially if your team is big and has several members, it’s a good way to keep everyone on the same page!
Some options you can explore are Google Workspace, Slack, or Asana.
Graphic Design
The design and visuals of your brand are extremely important and we highly recommend hiring a professional to create the image of your business. You will spend a lot of money on marketing campaigns and get little results if the visuals are ugly and don’t match the kind of products you want to sell. Marketing campaigns are not just plug-and-play, you have to deliver an appealing message and visuals that attract people and make them want to click and learn more about what you have to offer.
If you can’t add a graphic designer to your team, you can find freelancer options online on sites such as Fiverr, Freelancer, Dribbble, or 99designs that can help you at a reasonable cost.
Product Personalization
Personalization is another option that can get you more sales. Nowadays people are willing to pay more for a unique personalized product, which could work as an upselling strategy to increase the average ticket. Of course, in order to sell personalized products, you must make sure you have everything you need to fulfill the orders correctly.
But if it’s your case (or if you work with a print-on-demand company) you could easily add personalization to any of your products with an app like Customily. This app integrates with any e-commerce platform and has unlimited customization options for your customers to create their own products while seeing a live preview of it.
If you own a Shopify store, don't miss the 9-day free trial.
And if you are selling on Etsy, you can also access to a 9-day free trial.
Are you ready to try some of these marketing strategies? There are many options to explore! Remember the importance of trying different strategies and finding what works best for your own business, which could be different from the store next door. Plan, test, measure, correct, and grow!
Want more ideas?
In order to maximize the success of your e-commerce store, it is essential to use marketing tools that will effectively reach your target customer. This article provides helpful tips on how to identify and appeal to the ideal customer, as well as how to use digital marketing strategies to draw in more customers. With the right strategies, you can create a successful e-commerce store that will attract and retain customers for years to come ✨
Do you currently use any of those tools? What works best for your business? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below!
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER
Customily Product Personalizer is the best solution to sell personalized products, both in the e-commerce and the print-on-demand market. With the widest range of personalization tools, free clipart designs, realistic live previews that increase conversions, and printing files that help you automate your printing business; Customily is the ally you need to boost your profit margins in a high-competitive market.
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