You must know by now that the e-commerce market is HUGE!
I’m sure you’ve already created your online store to compete in this cut-throat competitive world.
If you have been facing issues in gaining customers and retaining them or increasing sales, then this is the article you should read, right now!
There are various digital marketing channels that you can utilize, to reach your goals, efficiently and easily.
I’m telling you, it’s going to be worth your while!
So, let’s start with the trends you should know about.
- Affiliate Marketing
You can increase your sales by getting the help of external websites. Sure, they’ll ask for something in return for being the reason you make a profit, but so what? It’s only a commission! For a small part of their service, you get more traffic and can convert them into leads. Since you only have to pay once the sale goes through, there’s no need for pre-investing and blocking a large sum of money. The tactic is known to be highly effective in terms of return on investment.
Did you know: The big shots in various industries generate as much as 40% of their total revenue by using affiliate marketing!
- Social Media Marketing (SMM)
You can quickly increase your engagement score by using the white magic of SMM. By highlighting the human side of your business, and introducing them to the fleck and speck of your brand, you can gain the trust of your customers and encourage them to keep coming back for more. Pick your poison, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, whichever suits your brand the most. You may take up the path of using organic social content since it is an integral part of maintaining your SEO game. When you start combining organic content with the new features of social commerce, you will see a higher engagement rate.
Pinterest says: Our users drive 50% more purchases than the average social media user, profiting businesses affiliated with us. Also, we’re 20% higher than the users who purchase through search ad.
- Powerful PPC
Paying an ad network, when your advertisement is clicked on, is a great idea. It is one of the foundational elements of an e-commerce marketing strategy. Google for one, uses a method called “query click” system that is highly targeted, so it turns more profit. As for another PPC channel, Facebook Ads holds a large database of consumer information, allowing you to reach out to anyone, anywhere in the world. Since PPC consists of various types of advertisements like, display campaigns, paid search, shopping campaigns, etc., you must analyze your strategies to conclude as to which ad space would work for your brand.
Did you know that 46% of the clicks received by a page are from the top 3 paid advertising spots?
- Content Marketing
The strategy uses infographics, long and short content, graphics, videos, you name it, to promote your brand and its products and services. Posting regularly on various social media channels can be profitable if done the right way, by grabbing your consumers attention. Providing meaningful content means that you gain their trust, and they start valuing the products or services you provide, driving them to make a purchase. Through inbound marketing, i.e. pulling the customers toward your brand, you cut off all the noise and attract viewers who are actively looking for the solutions you are providing.
In spite of being an evergreen channel, content marketing is used by 37% of B2B brands and 38% of B2C brands.
- Email Marketing
There’s no way you can leave out email marketing when you’re planning your e-commerce marketing strategy. It might not bring you a crazy number of leads, but it will be the boost you need. When you send out emails that promote your product, they will be reminded of your brand and may shop with you. This would work exceptionally well when your email list is segmented according to their last purchase or things in their cart. Make use of the automated features that emails have so you don’t have to worry about a lot. Along with that, you could use the newsletter format to make your brand stand out from the other emails your customers receive.
According to an estimate, there will be 4.3 billion active email users by 2022,rising from 3.7 billion users in 2017.
- Influencer Marketing
You must have heard all the fashion and style of brands using the influencer marketing tactic where they pay people with a large number of followers to promote their brand. Well, this can be done essentially by any industry as long as the influencer can get through to their viewers. With influencers on your side, your service/product shall become the talk of the town. A partnership with an influencer is one of the best ways to build awareness and drive more sales. Even when they are subtle in their promotion, they may generate better results.
Growth of 1,500% has been seen in the Google searches for “InfluencerMarketing”, and it is expected that the industry shall become $10 billion stronger by 2020.
- Local Marketing
Do you remember how we advertised in the old times so that people would come into the store because we didn’t have online marketing? So, local marketing is a bit similar to that. Targeting audience and encouraging them to visit your store to increase the foot traffic is known as local marketing. Yes, the reach for such a strategy is limited, but it can also drive profit if the right audience is targeted using the correct keywords. There are still various customers who prefer in-person shopping, rather than online shopping, and this is what marketers must take advantage of.
An approximate of 50% of people who had carried out a local search through their phones, had already visited the store within 24 hours.
- SEO Marketing
If we’re talking about e-commerce marketing, there’s no way we can forget about SEO. Search Engine Optimization is, and always will be an integral part of the strategy. To stay atop the industry, it is a must that the SEO strategy is updated whenever necessary due to the changes that Google keeps making in its algorithm. When SEO brings you customers, organically, who are willing to pay, working towards a properly formulated SEO strategy isn’t bad. You must know that everyone on the internet is making use of search engines to look for things and solutions they need.
Each second, there are about 67,000 searches that are carried out only on Google, with 39% of all e-commerce traffic being generated through these searches.
With such a wide range of channels at your disposal, there’s no reason for you to keep wondering as to what must be done to create an e-commerce marketing strategy that really works.
I am sure that when you start applying these strategies in your e-commerce business, you will find success in your ventures. You must consult with your team and hire experienced personnel to formulate your strategies.
Oh, and remember to keep in touch with the new trends that keep popping up in the world of digital marketing so you can stay on the top of your game.
Good luck!
Hemal Bhatt is a marketing strategist for www.jiteshkeswani.com. He is well-versed in social media marketing and content marketing. He likes to share tips related to the marketing industry for budding marketers.