E-commerce marketing has become very common in recent years, individuals and companies have resolved to advertise online and offline using strategies on different platforms to achieve their goal of increased traffic, sales, service, and awareness of a brand. Advertising in the E-commerce marketplace requires certain skills to be taken to the next level. Below are a few tips to help you get ahead as an e-commerce marketer.
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What really is e-commerce advertising?
E-commerce marketing is a way of creating awareness online. It is a way of using tactics to promote and drive traffic to an online store and convert the traffic into paying customers. A marketing strategy is required to build awareness which will lead to more sales of a particular product or business. It could be a medium of displaying paid adverts on channels online; it all starts with an advertiser bidding for ad space. If the space is given, the advertisers will place their advert which will appear when triggered by clicking a link or by a keyword.
Read: Top Growth Hacking Tools for Small Businesses
Some of the practical ways of e-commerce marketing
E-commerce marketing can be daunting, especially for beginners; adopting the best way of e-commerce marketing is essential to be successful as a marketer. Here are some of the ways adverts can be made online that will yield a positive impact on the service you render or your business. Below are some of the marketing channels that are very effective for e-commerce marketing:
Social Media Marketing
Individuals, companies, publishers, and contractors use social media channels to create awareness. It is essential to identify the social network that will be a good fit for your product or services. Imagery is used to attract attention and traffic to the product page.
Facebook Ads
In recent years Facebook Advertising has become highly effective and common. It has gone from strength to strength in revenue generations and opportunities granted to advertisers, carousel ads are one of the most effective for e-commerce businesses. Facebook carousel ads have proven to be a success. Several products and services can be advertised in one space. The step it requires is just to click, swipe or scroll.
Instagram Ads
Instagram presents great potential for businesses, target audiences can easily be accessed through Instagram. The only problem is in recent years it has become harder to stand out, due to its increasing competitiveness caused by a larger number of users. Some of the reasons it is one of the best advertisement platforms for audience growth is because of a high number of users worldwide.
E-commerce marketing: Tik Tok Ads
TikTok is one of the most embarrassing social media in the world; the rate of users is fast increasing daily, making it a platform for productive advertisement. There are a few ways to make your content on TikTok attractive, they are:
- Use of popular TikTok music
- Include TikTok theme, jokes, and creator challenges.
- Use TikTok soundbites
Aside from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok there are other social media through which marketing can be made; Snapchat, Pinterest, Linkedin, Twitter, etc.,
Content marketing- Blog
This method is more of a long-term technique; it is one of the most impactful and effective e-commerce strategies. A blog can be used basically for anything; It can be used to address an issue that will be of benefit to the reader, it draws people to sites, give room to answer their questions, and build trust. To talk about your own services or products it can be done through blog posts. If you blog; do it well and regularly, there can be an improvement in the number of audiences which will eventually lead to an increase in customers, brand awareness, and business growth.
Email Marketing
Though one of the oldest forms of eCommerce marketing, it is still relevant and its use has increased tremendously in recent years. It is usually automated, it is a marketing strategy whereby messages are sent to subscribers to encourage purchase, create awareness and enhance customer loyalty.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is carried out by making reference to a product or service for a commission. It is done by sharing links on blogs, social media platform or website. Third parties publishers are paid by companies for generating traffic or leads to its product and services. The third parties are known as the affiliates, the commission comes based on the number of users they were able to link to the company’s product or services through their promotion.
Best practices in E-commerce marketing
Image optimization
Naturally, an image catches attention easily. The images you post should be of a high standard, optimize the images this is because the customers will be able to have a better understanding of the product they are purchasing and build more trust in the brand. To optimize an image, use high-resolution images; which will present a clear image to every viewer. Also, product images should e showcased from multiple angles, and finally, keep the images as simple as they can be.
Enhance your ad copy
Ad copy is very significant in E-commerce marketing, the keyword used determines the number of audiences that will end up viewing your ad. It is an integral part of advertising online to use the right keywords. Where the keyword will be placed should also be considered; that is most important keywords should be placed in the forefront of titles and descriptions.
Give a clear and catchy call to action
This step is very essential to grab the attention of audiences. A call to action in an ad is meant to make the users act, take a step or make a purchase. These are phrases like “buy now”, Download here” and “make an order while stocks last”. However call to action statements make it clear, consistent, and related to the advertisement.
Retargeting should be highly utilized
This step works a lot for most brands. I get emails from sites I once visited reminding me of the product and even persuading me to make a purchase. Retargeting is a very effective way of advertising in e-commerce, it targets those who have in one way or another expressed interest in a product or brand. This interest could be by clicking a link, or those who started a process of purchase and left the cart. It is usually done by sending a series of emails to encourage and persuade users to make a purchase or download.
Few tips to go ahead in E-commerce marketing
Invest more in SEO
Ecommerce SEO means the search engine optimization of a store online. SEO helps to get your product pages to be among the ten top results on search engines like Yahoo, Bing, and Google. Investing in SEO can be done by first of all carrying out keyword research and adding up keywords in your product description, blog posts, and URLs.
Marketing through an influencer
Influencer marketing is very effective; a great number of customers can be reached through an influencer on social media like Instagram, or Tik Tok and pays them for promoting your products, or giving free products to them. The influencer can be said to be ambassadors of the product you want to market.
Marketplace sales
The marketplace is where people make shopping online, market places like Amazon, eBay, Jumia, JiJi can make millions of people who assess the marketplace to discover your brand easily. Below are examples of the best eCommerce marketplaces for online sellers: Walmart, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Jet, etc, each platform has its unique features, find a match for your product. You can use as many as possible marketplaces; it all depends on your goals and needs.
Improve your SMS campaign
SMS messages should be sent to existing and prospective customers to promote a brand, product, or service. The messages are sent to inform shoppers of special offers, updates, alerts, promotions, and product information. As an eCommerce marketer, SMS can be used to promote sales, reviews, and customer support.
Increase email subscribers and email campaign
In recent years email marketing has been a very effective tool in the hands of eCommerce marketers, emails are sent regularly to subscribers, customers, and prospective customers to ensure they gain awareness about a particular product, service, or brand. Email marketing is done with an automation app. Emails can be sent to customers on their birthdays, during festivities, to appreciate them for their patronage and regular newsletters to alert them of new products and discount offers.
Engage visitors of online stores or webpages with live chat
The live chat tool gives an opportunity to have a direct conversation with browsers who visit your page. Responses can be given to questions directly and also given room to address concerns of customers and prospective customers immediately.
Optimize your store for mobile
The online store of your product should be designed with mobile visitors in mind, mobile users should have access and be able to view as much as other users.
Retain customers with reward
Retaining customers could be cost-effective, but it is a way of increasing online sales. Extra incentives can be given to customers if they make purchases or referrals. Discounts can also be given to retaining customers
Final Thoughts on E-commerce marketing
E-commerce marketing is meant to create awareness among a large number of internet users, using different mediums like social media, content writing, and email marketing. These mediums are becoming more effective and popular daily. With this article on Advertising in the e-commerce marketplace- a few tips to go ahead, several techniques have been stated above for successful ecommerce marketing.