Online Store Marketing: 5 Effective Strategies for eCommerce You Should Use
Arkadiusz Krysik
8 min
In addition to the many challenges associated with setting up and developing an online store website, a very important step is to create an effective and universal marketing strategy. It is thanks to the marketing strategy that we mark the brand's presence on the web, promote the offered products to potential customers and acquire new ones. Today, on the blog, we will consider how to build an effective eCommerce marketing strategy.
In this article we will cover:
- How to build an effective marketing strategy for an online store?
- Which channels should you use as an online store?
- Is it worth working with a marketing agency?
- How to do content marketing and SEO strategy?
- How to do an e-mail marketing?
- Paid PPC campaigns - how to start?
The eCommerce industry sees record increases.
It is estimated that by the year 2027 the eCommerce market could generate up to $ 10 trillion in revenues globally, and by 2025 online sales will total 25% of retail sales.
This data may encourage potential investors to try their hand at the eCommerce market.
How to build an effective marketing strategy for an online store
In retail, there is a very popular saying - advertising is the driving force of commerce.
For the online sales area, it is probably an even more important element of acquiring new customers.
A brick-and-mortar store by its presence and an interesting storefront may attract potential customers who want to check the offer. It is impossible for an online store - without proper advertising and publicity on the web, no one will know about its existence.
However, marketing is not only about advertising and promotion. It is so much more.
A well-thought-out marketing strategy is therefore extremely important in order to develop your online business.
Taking into account the development of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, a good strategy should evolve, ensuring a steady return on investment.
An overall eCommerce marketing strategy consists of marketing tactics both on and off the website.
Creating a complete and effective online store marketing strategy should take place in the 3 most important areas:
1. Developing the basics of an eCommerce marketing plan
This step should include the profiles of the target customers (persona) for which the products are intended, the monthly marketing budget and the time frame.
You cannot forget about the main goals that we want to achieve, expressed for example by a specific level of sales or a given number of visitors.
2. Marketing channels, tactics and tools
In the next step, taking into account the previously selected budget and target market, you should choose the marketing channels.
There are many ready-made tools that can support the store owner in various promotional activities and it is worth considering using their help during this step.
3. Delegating tasks: team vs marketing agency
In the last step you should consider who is best to entrust the designated store marketing tasks to.
If we are dealing with a large store and with a large marketing budget, it is worth creating a team of several people managing all marketing channels and promotional campaigns, or possibly entrusting these tasks to an advertising agency.
Examples of eCommerce marketing strategies
1. Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is the process of creating online content that can attract your target group thanks to its substantive value.
This strategy is not used to encourage potential customers to buy directly, but rather serves as a way to educate potential customers about the offered products and services and to increase brand awareness.
Experts agree on this aspect - content marketing is currently one of the most important and effective marketing strategies.
According to HubSpot report from 2020, up to 70% of marketers now invest in this strategy and as many as 87% of customers believe that the content related to the product offered (whether it is its description, promotional video or blog entry) is extremely important.
Creating content related to the offered products and services will both prove helpful in website optimization (we will deal with SEO in the next section) and make potential customers perceive a given brand as an expert in their field, which will result in greater customer trust and better visibility (building authority).
There are many types of business-related content that can be embedded in your store’e website and corporate social media channels:
- Text content: articles, blog posts, social media posts, guides, ebooks, case studies, reports
- Visual content: infographics, diagrams, memes, graphics
- Video/audio: webinars, podcasts, video tutorials, demos, animations
2. SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization), i.e. content optimization for search engines, is an essential part of the marketing of online stores.
If the owner wants his store and product pages to be displayed high in search engine proposals, he must ensure that the entire website is well optimized for the keywords that his audience is looking for.
According to statistical data, as much as 70-80% of Google users focus only on organic search results proposed by the search engine.
3. E-mail Marketing
Email marketing is probably one of the oldest types of customer acquisition on the web. Does this strategy still make sense in the year 2021? Yes, certainly.
Statistics showthat up to 91% of eCommerce website customers check their email inboxes at least once a day, and more than 102 trillion emails are sent each day globally. Moreover, email marketing campaigns can give you up to 38 times return on investment.
Email marketing consists of two main components:
- Building a mailing list
- Sending emails
Before we start sending messages, you need to build a mailing list.
Customer email addresses can be obtained via a corporate newsletter, to which customers interested in topics related to the store's operations register.
A good strategy for encouraging users to register may be an additional discount on purchases in the store.
The content of the message should be thoughtful and preferably enriched with personalized elements so that customers do not treat them as worthless spam.
There are many types of messages that can be used in your mailing campaign:
- Welcome email - these are messages that the customer receives immediately after registering for the newsletter or after creating an account.
- Abandoned cart reminder email - mailing campaigns can be a great opportunity to remind customers of the products they left in their cart and encourage them to visit the store's website again to complete their order.
- Email confirmations - emails confirming the purchase on the website are another opportunity to present customers with new and interesting offers that they might be interested in.
- Information messages - this type of messages may inform the store's customers about the introduction of a new product to the offer, a new promotion or a price reduction.
4. Social Media Marketing
The biggest advantage of running an online store marketing activity on social media is that it is completely free.
Social media is a great way to build and nurture customer relationships.
They are also an ideal platform for sharing content posted on a company blog, which will have a positive impact on both brand perception and website traffic.
What's more, social platforms can also greatly help you connect with potential customers through sharing, Facebook recommendations and reach enhancement algorithms.
On top of that, a large number of users like to follow the social channels of the brands whose services or products they use to keep up to date with the latest offers and promotions.
According to the latest data, up to 57% of customers will follow the brand's social media channels to learn about new products or services, and 47% will want to be up to date with the latest news about the company.
Due to this approach to social channels, it should be a mandatory element of building an effective and complete online store marketing strategy.
5. Google Ads Campaigns
Google AdWords campaigns are a popular way to display advertisements for your online store on the web.
Neil Patel, a network marketing expert, suggested 3 tips to help you use Google AdWords in your marketing strategy:
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Don't spend a lot of money - it's a good idea to set a budget that you plan to spend on promoting on AdWords and stick to it. Even smaller amounts can bring satisfactory results, so you should not overpay and overdo it with the budget.
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Patience - this is by far the most important piece of advice when using Google Ads. The vast majority of people who did not get a satisfactory return on investment using this tool ended their campaigns too early.
The process of running a campaign in AdWords is complex and complicated, so it's best to be patient, learn and wait for the results.
- Keep it simple - the Google AdWords interface is complex, it's easy to get lost in it and start creating dozens of different campaigns. It is worth creating one, solid advertisement and control its effects.
Summary
When dealing with marketing of an online store, it's hard to choose one universal strategy that works every time. Many factors influence purchasing decisions and customer behavior, and each niche on the eCommerce market has its own rules.
Even so, the methods outlined in this article should be included in any successful eCommerce marketing strategy. You should check which of them bring the best results and constantly adapt them to the needs of the store and customer expectations.
