The Four Basics of eCommerce Marketing

The Four Basics of eCommerce Marketing

When it comes to running an online business, one needs to develop a comprehensive and omnichannel digital marketing experience to generate leads, foster engagement and increase conversions. Ecommerce marketers can use social media, create digital content, employ a search engine optimization strategy and use creative email campaigns to attract more website visitors and drive purchases online. While this may sound like any other business’ digital strategy, eCommerce marketers may need to think outside of the box when it comes to using these marketing channels. Read on below for more on how to use these channels to your advantage and lay a foundation for your eCommerce marketing strategy!

Social Media Marketing

For any business, social media is an excellent way to connect with their target audiences and gauge their interests and needs on a more personal level. This is especially true for ecommerce businesses – just be sure you’re using the platforms that work for you!

One great platform for eCommerce businesses is Instagram, since it gives you the ability to show off your products and drive traffic to product pages. You can show the product in use, giving potential buyer’s a feel of what their “lives” would be like once they make the purchase. If you have the room in your budget, you can even work with “Influencers” to promote your product to their followers. People are more likely to buy from people they know (or feel like they know), and it will give a signal boost to your product and increase brand recognition.

Additionally, eCommerce businesses can use Facebook Business Pages to promote their product with reviews and customer testimonials. Not only will this give you more traction on social media, but it can also bring in more material to use on your site!

Content Marketing

Yes, content marketing includes blogging and creating videos, but it means so much more for eCommerce companies. Let’s say you run an online running shoe company. Your blog can contain articles about how long you should keep a pair of running shoes before replacing them, or compare different types of shoes based on whether you’re running on a treadmill, a track or out on a trail in the woods. Videos for your site could include instructions on how to properly fit running shoes. All of these things keep visitors on your website longer, can increase customer satisfaction and establish your brand as a thought leader.

Search Engine Marketing

As opposed to search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) employs pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to rank in top spots on search engine results pages. If you do a Google search, you’ll notice that there are anywhere from one to three results that appear at the top of the results. These spots are highly coveted, of course, since they’re the first that a searcher sees and often the ones that they will click first. PPC campaigns guarantee your website’s placement in these spots when someone enters the search terms that match your campaign. Going back to the running shoe business example, let’s say you pay for a campaign with the terms “best running shoes for outdoor trail runners.” Now, when someone does a search using these terms, your eCommerce site will show up before any others.

The extreme upside to this, is that you only pay Google when a person actually clicks on your link, thus the return is pretty high – as long as once you get the person on your site, they end up converting, of course!

Email Marketing

When it comes to marketing, email marketing is one of the most tried-and-true ways to connect with your target audience and stay top-of-mind throughout the buying process. Whether it’s through offering a promotion or discount, or offering up exclusive access to content, it can be relatively simple to gain email addresses – just make sure that you don’t purchase them or do anything that can violate data privacy laws.

There are many ways you can use email marketing to drive your eCommerce business and increase revenue, but there are two situations that stand out – the post-purchase follow-up and abandoned cart messaging. If someone has made a purchase on the site (and agreed to receiving emails before/during the checkout process), you can send a follow-up email thanking them for their purchase, pointing them towards relevant content on your site and suggesting similar products that may interest them. Additionally, you can use this opportunity to ask for a review of the product or shopping experience. On the opposite end of the conversion spectrum, let’s say a person puts in their information, fills up a shopping cart with products, then navigates away from (or bounces off of) your website. Rather than let that business slip away, try sending an email politely reminding them that their cart is waiting, including a discount code or more content to attempt to sway them into completing the purchase.