When your company takes the plunge and launches a website focusing on e-commerce marketing, you may be lost as to which strategy to adopt. But having a concrete strategy is crucial to successful online marketing of your products and services.
There are so many sales channels available now to online marketing that having a basic set of goals and KPIs will make your job easier in deciding a strategy to pursue. These goals and KPIs will serve as a benchmark and a source of measurement in whatever approach you choose.
It’s prudent to be cautious when starting out in e-commerce marketing. You need to perform a thorough vetting of what each sales channel offers, and what are its drawbacks. Often, investigating what similar companies with similar products to your brand have been successful at will point you in a specific direction. But ideally, you want to tailor your strategy to your brand’s specific message, products and target customers.
In this way, you have a better chance of choosing a marketing strategy that will serve you well for a longer period of time. Creating an ad campaign that you’re forced to abandon because of non-performance can hurt your brand image. You want to get it right the first time.
Build a Loyal Customer Base
The best way to increase your brand’s positive exposure is to choose a sales channel that perfectly suits your customers. You want to encourage repeat business and loyalty. Making it easy for your targeted customers to find your site is only half of the battle. You also want to use sales channels and transaction methods that suit your desired customer base.
For marketing to a more regional customer base who favour local brands, Facebook ads might work better than Google ads because of its low cost and ability to target customers by region.
If you offer a large variety of products to a small, but fiercely loyal ‘BtoB’ clientele, case studies and testimonials from respected key opinion leaders in your industry may work well for your brand to increase traffic to your site and drive sales.
Whatever direction you choose in e-commerce marketing, make sure it suits your customers and makes it easy for them to become repeat buyers of your products and services. You’ll end up paying less and getting more out of your advertising budget with repeat customers.
Work with Professionals
Whether you venture out on your own or hire a digital marketing agency to devise a strategy and run your ads, you’ll be involved in key decisions because of your familiarity with your products and the most likely buyers. But you can use the agency’s expertise in analysing data to help you make those crucial decisions.
An agency can offer a fresh perspective and knowledge that will help you negotiate the various channels and marketing opportunities that arise once your brand invests in e-commerce marketing. This fresh perspective can serve your brand well in making a successful transition to marketing your brand’s image online, as well as its products and services.