If you are an online retailer, then you are probably familiar with just how important having an effective ecommerce marketing plan is. If you aren’t familiar, then learning about what ecommerce marketing is and how it can transform your business is just the start!
Ecommerce marketing relates to all activities that come from promoting an ecommerce store. After all, an ecommerce website and store is very unlikely to have a bricks and mortar store, especially if you are a startup business. Utilising the internet and creating an online marketing strategy and plan, as well as an offline one, will help to attract customers, increase conversions and create engagement across your platforms.
Ecommerce marketing aims to promote sales through the whole of the customer journey. There is no one right way to create an effective ecommerce marketing strategy and plan, so let’s take a look at 3 tips to help you set up for success.
Define Your Audience
A lot of ecommerce businesses make the mistake of wanting to target anyone and everyone. Whilst this might work to some extent, after all, if you cast a net wide enough, you’re sure to catch something, but it can be hugely expensive and you’ll unlikely see any ROI. The first step to creating an effective marketing strategy for your ecommerce business is to find out who your customers are and what they like about your products or brand. Then, you can use this target audience for social media marketing.
If you have Google Analytics set up for your business website, you can find out more about the demographics of your customer base and find out the most purchased items on your site. Now you know who your audience is and what they like, with just a few clicks. You can also carry out audience or customer research through surveys and secret shoppers.
What Are Your Competitors Doing?
Now that you know who’s buying your products and visiting your website, it’s worth seeing what your competitors are doing. This can help you learn about the different strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and help you learn more about what you can be doing to keep your customers loyal, as well as things you could be offering different to your current products to attract new customers.
For example, if you sell contemporary jewellery and notice your competitors are selling a certain similar type of jewellery, why not do something a bit different by looking at trends and gaps in the market. Piercings are all the rage right now, so why not look at introducing a new piercing line, featuring tragus earrings or daith jewellery?
Use Marketing Channels That Align With Your Audience
Once you’ve identified your audience persona and have identified competitor trends and gaps in the market, it’s time to start marketing your products! You want to choose the best channels that will attract your customers and allow you to engage with them whilst encouraging purchases.
The most frequently used channels include social media platforms, such as Instagram and Facebook, but these are becoming increasingly more expensive with little return. Other social media channels, such as TikTok and Snapchat are becoming more popular with advertisers, but you could also look at more traditional marketing channels, such as print and TV campaigns. It’s important to choose the right channels that align with your audiences.