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Marketing Strategies Every BigCommerce Store Needs To Know
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Congratulations, you’ve decided to launch your eCommerce store! It’s very exciting! But now comes another challenge. When you own an eCommerce store, it can be difficult to know where to start. Millions of businesses launch products and services online each year, but without the right marketing strategies, they struggle to get sales.
Digital marketing and small businesses have a tricky relationship. Small businesses need to create awareness and gather customers. Digital marketing can help them reach their target audiences, but it's extremely difficult to craft the message that'll resonate with them (in fact, most people fail).
In this article, we’ll be discussing some strategies you can use to market your small business in 2022. It doesn’t matter if you're a beginner or a veteran, this information is worth it.
- Email marketing
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For attracting new customers, improving sales, and driving traffic to your website, email marketing is still one of the most trusted and effective marketing strategies.
This is especially true in the case of small ecommerce businesses. When you don't have a massive budget or aren't ready to engage in a paid advertising campaign, email marketing can help you boost sales.
According to McKinsey, email marketing is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook and Twitter. Email is still the king of ROI, even in the age of social media and content marketing.
You can create automated email marketing campaigns to connect with customers and keep them coming back.
Automated email marketing has been proven to help eCommerce businesses increase sales by 50 percent.
Email marketing is easy to set up, especially if you use an email marketing service like MailChimp, Drip, or ActiveCampaign. Once you have a list of subscribers, you can use an email service that integrates directly with your ecommerce platform or email software.
Automation is another reason why email marketing is a huge time-saver for ecommerce businesses. For example, when someone buys a product, you can set up an automated email series to send them upsell emails and new product information automatically.
Here are the types of emails you could send and automate:
- Welcome emails
- Transactional emails
- Re-engagement emails
- Nurture emails
- Promotional emails
Email marketing is a powerful tool for both business owners and their customers. It is also one of the best methods to remain in contact with your audience, which is vital in today's world of endless internet content and social media feeds.
- Neuromarketing
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Neuromarketing isn't new, but it is becoming more popular. It refers to the use of physiological and neural signals to learn more about customers' motivations, preferences, and habits. This helps marketers make better advertising, product development, positioning, and pricing decisions.
A lot of big companies that make consumer goods (CPG) use neuromarketing techniques, but it's becoming more popular with smaller businesses that make less money.
Neuroimaging has been used by brands like Campbell's and Frito-Lay to change the way they package their food. During studies, customers were shown packaging and their reactions were recorded as positive or negative, or mixed. In addition, they were interviewed a lot about color, text, and imagery.
The study found that buyers dislike shiny packaging but don't reject matte packaging. Frito-Lay then ditched the flashy packaging in favor of a more matte design.
NeuroMarketing is a newer way to do market research that talks about how customers make decisions, how customers act, and how brands are seen. It also talks about how customers live their lives. Neuromarketing can help you take your marketing to whole new heights. Learn more about neuromarketing here.
- Content marketing
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Content marketing is cheap and helps you to connect with your customers. In order to succeed as a new store, you must first define your brand and attract customers. You must be able to physically and audibly explain who you are as a business. Content marketing allows you to do so using social media, blogs, and other channels. It's all about cultivating customer relationships through high-quality content that offers value, not making blatant sales pitches!
Brands who understand what it's like to be a content creator and producer are discovering innovative ways to approach content and connect with their audience. These are the brands who standout today.
Here are a few examples of content you can work on:
- Blogs
- Webinars
- Newsletters
- Short and Long Videos
- Infographics
- TikTok videos
- Contests and giveaways
- Forums
- Guest podcasting
- Live streams
And more! The sorts of content you publish will be determined by who your target audience is and where they spend their time online. When you consider that inbound content generates over three times as many leads as outbound marketing and costs 62% less, it's clear that it's a good marketing strategy to use in your business today.
- Advanced Retargeting
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Retargeting helps companies reach people who have previously been to their sites. How it works is if you've ever been to a website and left, you might soon find advertisements for that site on other sites you visit.
You can set your ads to show up again on social media sites like Facebook or Instagram. The idea behind this strategy is that customers might be interested in what you have, but they just need a little push to go back to your website and buy something.
Facebook ads are one of the best choices for retargeting because more than 2 billion people use Facebook every month.
Retargeting can help you grow your business because it allows you to present ads to people who have already expressed an interest in your products or services, enticing them back to your site and converting them into customers or leads.
- Podcasts
Podcasting is an inexpensive marketing strategy, which makes it especially appealing to small business owners. Podcasts are a great way to connect with potential customers because you can take advantage of the trust and personal connection people have when listening. And, fortunately, it doesn’t take a lot of tech know-how to get started with your own podcast.
Here are some of the best ways you can use podcasting to market your ecommerce company:
Interviewing other people in your industry can help you build relationships with people who have built up their own followings and expand the reach of your brand. Interviews also allow you to bring in new perspectives that may be different from yours while providing value to your listeners.
Podcasts that share behind-the-scenes information about running a business or how products are made tend to do well because people love a good story. If there's anything interesting about your ecommerce company or the products you sell, share it through a podcast episode so that listeners feel like they're getting exclusive insight into what goes on behind the scenes at your business.
Collaborating with other podcasters is a great way to spread the word about your podcast. It's also a good way to cross-promote with similar shows.
Word of mouth marketing is not just good for acquiring new customers, but also to retain old customers. One of the best ways to attract new customers is by referral marketing and this is because people are much more likely to act when their friends or family direct them to do something.
You can implement a referral program that will encourage your existing customers to refer new customers. To do this, you must offer some form of a reward for those who refer other people to your business. The reward could be a discount code, coupons or even cash – whatever you think will be enticing for your current customers.
You can also use social media as a means of generating referrals for your business. You can offer discounts or incentives to individuals who refer others to your business using their social media accounts.
- SEO
Whether you're a new or established eCommerce business, SEO should be one of the most important parts of your digital marketing strategy.
When people search for something online, whether it’s “restaurants near me” or “buy organic dog food,” Google is usually the first place they go. That’s why it makes sense for small businesses to focus on getting their website optimized for Google searches.
For small businesses specifically, SEO can be a powerful tool — especially because of how Google works like 46% of all Google searches are looking for local information. So if you’re a small business trying to reach customers in your area, SEO is important because it enables them to find you first.
Here are some other benefits of SEO for your eCommerce business:
You don’t have to pay for clicks or impressions with SEO. This means you’ll be saving money compared to paid search campaigns like PPC.
SEO is something that you can easily do yourself if you know the basics and want to save money on hiring an agency. Wix has plenty of resources on how to learn about SEO and make those optimizations work for you and your website.
Unlike paid ads, your content won’t disappear after someone stops paying for it. It might take a few months but the results will last much longer than a PPC campaign, making it one of the best eCommerce marketing strategies out there!
If you want consumers to discover your eCommerce store, then you need a strong SEO strategy in place.
- Social Media Marketing
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This is painfully obvious, but if you’re not investing in any social media marketing, you need to get on it asap. Social media is an absolute must for the eCommerce business owner. An eCommerce site can make a noticeable impact on the customer and generate more sales using social media marketing especially if you are a small business.
Social media leads to a bigger customer base. Who doesn't want that?
In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, 6 in 10 Americans have at least one social media profile. Therefore, not using social media means missing out on tons of opportunities to gain exposure for your brand and boost your sales.
Start by:
Doing your research. If you are a new eCommerce business, you should learn everything you can about your target market and customers. Researching your target demographic, their needs, and how your products will benefit them will help you generate effective marketing content.
Make social media accounts your target consumers use. Choosing a platform that suits your marketing requirements, matches your brand, and is able to reach your target market. Popular social media platforms include:
- TikTok
- Snapchat
Create unique and relevant content. It is not enough to just post anything on social media websites. You should create unique content so that people feel interested in visiting your website or reading what you have written.
Use social media tools and analytics to gain insights. Platforms like Facebook and Google have useful tools and information that can help you learn more about your audience and how they react to your advertisements and content.
- Video Marketing
Video marketing is a great way to share information and engage with your audience. We all love watching videos, whether they're from a movie, TikTok, or YouTube. It's a fact that 90% of businesses think that video marketing is important to their overall marketing strategy. Video marketing should be a part of your digital marketing plan to make sure you connect with your target audience.
There are many ways to effectively use video content. Here are some suggestions:
- Create product/service demonstrations or tutorials
- Interview and feature customers and employees
- Showcase company culture- events or values you hold
- Create videos for social media campaigns
Remember, don’t just make videos because you think you should. Your videos should provide something of value to the viewer. If they don’t see the value in watching your video, they won’t watch it. You can do this by entertaining them or educating them on a topic related to your product or service.
You also need to keep it short and concise. Viewers have short attention spans when watching videos. The average person watches just over 10 minutes of a one-hour long show on Netflix according to Vox. No more than 2 minutes should be good so that viewers will continue watching the whole way through for maximum engagement and reach.
Apps like Reeview allows you to measure ROI and conversion to discover how video reviews affect purchases. A well-executed marketing strategy may help you stay ahead of the competition. If your platform is Shopify, you can get it for free on the Shopify App Store.
- Create a personalized experience
In the online world, consumers expect a personalized shopping experience. They don’t want to be treated like a number or a statistic. Online shoppers want to feel like they are unique and their needs are being met by their favorite stores.
These expectations aren’t new, but it was only in the past few years that companies began to realize they could use technology to better understand their customers and create individualized experiences for them. Today, building a personalized experience is essential for eCommerce businesses of all sizes.
Personalization doesn't mean creating customized products for each shopper — although that is certainly one way to approach personalization. Instead, this technique allows you to create an experience that appeals directly to each customer's unique needs and desires.
For example, if someone visits your website once a week but never buys anything, try sending them an email offer with a discount on their first purchase. If someone hasn't visited in several months, send them an offer for free.
Consumers aren't willing to settle for mediocre customer service anymore, and many companies are taking note. Instead of just providing a good product or service, you need to provide a great experience through every interaction people have with your brand.
CONCLUSION
No matter if you are a seasoned veteran or a beginner in the eCommerce business, it’s always important and effective to continuously look for ways to improve your marketing strategy. The tactics above will help any entrepreneur achieve a competitive advantage, sell more products and eventually, grow their business to new heights!
Developing a single eCommerce marketing strategy is not enough. It may be effective at first but over time, certain marketing strategies will fade while others become stronger or more relevant. Test out different aspects of these marketing strategies to see which one works best for your business and communication style.
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