Ecommerce Marketing:
A Beginner’s Guide
ith worldwide eCommerce revenue hitting nearly $27 trillion, eCommerce marketing has become fundamental for businesses of all sizes.
A tailored eCommerce marketing plan can help you increase traffic, driveconversions, and fuel your brand’s long-term growth.
But because we know that running an online business is hard enough on its own, we’ve put together an eCommerce marketing guide that will help you understand and explore today’s digital marketing landscape.
KEEP READING BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE.
What Is Ecommerce Marketing?
Ecommerce marketing is the catch-all term for all marketing practices and promotional tactics that an online shop can use to market its products and services online.
An integrated eCommerce marketing strategy can help you establish brand awareness, retarget engaged visitors, and ultimately increase online sales.
At the same time, it can reactivate existing customers with relevant messaging, leading to enhanced customer loyalty and a higher number of repeat purchases.
Types Of Ecommerce Marketing
Ecommerce marketing includes a wide array of promotional tactics and digital channels, ncluding social media, paid media, search engines, and podcasts.
Let’s take a look at the most common types of eCommerce marketing, so you can decide which ones fit your brand’s goals and objectives.
1. Social Media Marketing
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know what social media marketing is all about.
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest are some of the most popular channels out there, and it’s essential to establish a strong organic social media presence on such platforms and wherever else your target audience hangs out.
With social media marketing, you can share company news, tell your brand story, and educate your audience about your products and services.
Moreover, social media channels provide a great opportunity to connect directly with your prospecting and returning customers through chats and DMs.
If you want to take it a step further, you can also take advantage of Instagram’s shoppable feature and enable users to purchase your products right away.
Once you’re up and running, you will also be able to create curated content using collections and create product tags.
2. SEO
With more than 8.5 billion Google searches every day, SEO is becoming more important than ever
before.
But what is SEO exactly, and how can it help your eCommerce brand? SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation, and it’s about making your website visible on search engines like Google and Bing.
From performing keyword research to optimising your website structure and building backlinks, you can do several things to help your website rank better on search engines, and potentially appear among the top 10 results.
Although there are a few things you can do on your own — like improving meta titles and adding more context to your product page — contacting an expert to help you is often the best choice.
SEO experts and professional website developers like Hats ON can help you increase your website’s visibility by addressing more complex tasks like improving page speed and optimising the website structure.
3. Blog Post Writing
Whether you’re selling clothes, accessories, or glasses, blog post writing can get you ahead of the game in attracting organic traffic and converting visitors into leads.
For example, a blog post about ‘autumn fashion trends’ may potentially attract people interested in fashion, make them consider your collection, and eventually lead to a purchase.
That said, you should keep in mind that all blog posts should be relevant and useful to your audience. Whatever you’re writing about, you should be educating, answering questions, and helping people choose the right products.
Plus, don’t forget to strategically use keywords throughout articles in order to help these pages rank better on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
4. Paid Advertising
When used effectively, paid advertising can be highly effective for reaching the right audience, at the right time, with the right message.
Advertising platforms like Facebook and Google give you the opportunity to select your audience
based on demographic factors, personality traits, and even previous user behaviour.
For example, if you’re selling wedding dresses, you could target women of Young age looking for wedding dresses. You may even use lookalike audience ads to target people that are similar to your existing customer base.
Moreover, you may use retargeting ads to target users who showed an intention of buying your
products, such as those who visited your website or added products to cart. Targeting these shoppers with tailored messages and personalised offers can be a great way to drive results for your brand!
5. Email Marketing
Email marketing is not dead. In fact, 37% of brands are increasing their email budget, and 77% of
marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months.
There are many email marketing tools out there, such as Mailchimp and Active Campaign, that can help you build your email list, segment your audience, and automate your email marketing sequence.
Here are some types of emails you need to be sending:
Welcome emails — introduce new subscribers to your brand (you could even treat them with a discount code).
Educational emails — educate your subscribers about your brand, products, and services.
Abandoned cart emails — send a reminder when shoppers leave items in their shopping cart.
Purchase confirmation email — thank shoppers for their purchase and provide them with all important information about their order.
Win back emails — bring back a relapsed shopper that hasn’t purchased in a long time.
Upsell and cross-sell emails — encourage upselling and cross-selling based on previous purchase behaviour.
VIP emails — activate VIP customers with exclusive offers and personalised messages.
Newsletter — a regular email update that informs subscribers about company news, product launches, and offers.
6. Influencer Marketing
Did you know that 9 out of 10 marketers believe influencer marketing is an effective form of marketing?
Influencer marketing is a great way to accelerate your growth, build brand awareness, and reach new audiences. Depending on your goals and budget, you may choose to work with a celebrity or people with influence in your niche.
When working with influencers, you should expect a monthly fee per an agreed number of posts. However, some influencers may also be open to discussing other partnership options, such as free products or discounts.
Now, something to note. When advertising content that features an influencer, it’s important to denote the collaboration using the paid partnership label. That said, make sure to read all branded content policies and comply with Industry regulations, regardless of what platform you’re using.
7. Guest Post Writing
If you want to get your products out to relevant audiences, then guest post writing is an important promotional tactic to consider. Plus, guest post writing can help you increase the authority of your website and accelerate your SEO efforts.
If you’re just starting with guest post writing, you first need to ensure that you’ve done your research. Spend some time identifying the sites within your niche that rank well for your keywords, and then plan a course of action!
8. Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is another form of paid advertising that targets a digital ad space on search engines. As its name suggests, PPC charges advertisers a fee each time a visitor clicks ontheir ad.
With PPC, you can target keywords for your website to appear at the top of search results. This is often a great way to attract ready-to-buy shoppers or retarget users who have already visited the website.
When done right, PPC could yield a great ROI, making it a must-have channel for your eCommerce marketing efforts.
9. SMS Marketing
Depending on the nature of your eCommerce business, you may also choose to add SMS marketing to your list. This means text messages, WhatsApp, or Viber messages.
Although SMS engagement rates are far better compared to other channels, such as email, it’s ecommended to reserve SMS marketing for special occasions. It’s best used for limited-time offers, alerts, or product launches.
Before sending an SMS, make sure you have the permission of the receiver via written consent. Otherwise, you may run the risk of non-compliance.
Get Started With Ecommerce Marketing.
The great thing about running an eCommerce business is that you’ll never run out of promotional tactics and digital channels.
From social media marketing to blog post writing and TikTok ads, there are plenty of options for attracting customers and growing your online store.
If you need help setting up your eCommerce website, contact our professional team for a free consultation! We will guide you through everything you need to know about setting up your eshop and establishing a digital presence!