In 2020, over 2 billion people purchased goods or services online. Estimating the world population to be 7 Billion, around 29% of the world shopped online. No wonder, eCommerce platforms are the new sales office! And, what would increase the digital footprints to your eCommerce store? The answer is obvious- an optimal eCommerce marketing strategy!
The crux of any eCommerce marketing strategy is to get easily and instantly found by your target customers. The brand and all its offerings must get found as soon as the customer searches for one.
If you have set up an online store and are wondering how to reach targeted customers, here’s a list of the top marketing strategies for eCommerce-
1) SEO for eCommerce Business
“SEO for eCommerce pages is based on only a few very, very simple things. Our SEO elements here are keywords, content, engagement, links, and in some cases freshness. You hit these five and you’ve nailed it.”
Rand Fishkin, Moz
That’s true! SEO for eCommerce is no rocket science, but still, most eCommerce store owners skip even the basics, even though SEO has the highest ROI of any eCommerce marketing.
You must not skip the SEO at any cost and start with the keywords first. Keyword research is undeniably the first step in an eCommerce SEO campaign. Start by focussing on ranking for one keyword per page and gradually move to multiple keywords. The best way to uncover high buyer intent keywords is to use good SEO tools or just Amazon autofill suggestions!
2) Social Media Marketing for eCommerce Business
76.8% of global internet users purchased a product online in 2020. Buyers use social media platforms to search brands, check the credibility of a website, resolve grievances, and know more about special offers and discounts. Social media facilitates the brands to create posts/pages about their products/services, advertise them and sell directly from the social media platform. Thus, social media (for a few market segments) serves as a convenient bridge between the seller and the buyer.
Therefore, it’s important to ensure that your eCommerce store has a good and active presence on social media platforms.
3) Content Marketing for eCommerce Business
Content Marketing has a wider panorama than just blogging. It involves blogs, e-books, videos, infographics, etc. The content relevant to your target audience’s Industry always helps in increasing brand awareness. Posting relevant content backed with search engine optimized keywords helps you rank higher in Google SERPs and draw huge website traffic.
Not just that, promoting the content on your social media channels is a tried and tested way to not only keep your profile active but also increase engagement with your customers. Social media does not directly affect SEO ranking, but URLs you share on your social channels do increase brand exposure.
4) Influencer Marketing for eCommerce Business
“When you say it, it’s marketing.
When your customer says it, it’s social proof””
Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder / Strategic Director, Orbit Media Studios.
People relate more to their favorite influencers than any of the brands. People want to buy from people. This is the reason why Influencer Marketing for eCommerce stores is a huge success.
Nine out of ten brands are using Influencer marketing. With an increasing number of social media influencers, and the increasing number of brands approaching Influencers for recommendations & promotions. This trend is likely to grow with each year passing by. The key expected outcomes of Influencer marketing are increasing brand awareness, attracting a new target market, facilitating lead generation, etc.
5) Data-Consumer Behavior Pattern-Automation – MAGIC!!!
“Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering.”
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.
The study of consumer behavior patterns has been marketing’s old friend. The idea is to apply marketing automation techniques to study the behavior patterns of the website visitors and then sending them targeted personalized messages. Since the leads generated are from the inbound activity and the messages are personalized, the outcomes of such marketing activities are sometimes magical!
Data is supreme at Amazon and the company presents an interesting case study. The eCommerce giant reported net sales of $108.518 billion in the first quarter of 2021, a staggering 43.8% rise from $75.452 billion in the same quarter in 2020. Thanks to data-driven automation which is commonly practiced in amazon including product recommendations, merchandising, customer channel preferences; managing the display of new releases/ top-sellers, and also advertising through paid search.
6) Email Marketing for eCommerce Business
An email marketing strategy might sound traditional, but is the most evergreen strategy. However, email marketing cannot assure you of a blasting conversion rate. When planned and devised strategically, it gives a remarkable boost to your eCommerce business. People do read emails if it serves their needs/interests. The emails should be very conceptual – The Right Audience at the Right Time.
eCommerce marketing strategies when implemented prudently can make your online eCommerce business attain phenomenal growth. In contrast, negligence while strategy implementation can be a cost to the company.
Having difficulty marketing your eCommerce business? Help is an email away at: contact@42works.net