With large e-commerce giants like Amazon getting the bulk of the online shopping action, it can be difficult for small to medium-sized online retailers to compete, especially as the holidays approach. However, with a thorough and precise e-commerce marketing strategy, your business can build some well thought out promotions that will help your brand grow.
Pay-Per-Click
If organic traffic to your e-commerce website just isn’t cutting it, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is an excellent route to consider. In PPC marketing, a business bids on keywords used by potential consumers on search engines, allowing them to show a product-related ad associated with that keyword. Keep in mind that competitors to your brand will likely be vying for the same keywords, driving up their costs.
Most search engines offer PPC, however, with Google being the largest by far, we will review their process of creating an ad hierarchy. Along with a company’s keyword bid, Google uses a Quality Score to determine ad positioning. According to WordStream, a quality score takes into consideration:
- ad relevance in relation to the keyword
- ad relevance in relation to the landing page
- the ad’s click-through rate
- how the business’s account has performed historically
Making sure your ad checks all of these boxes will give your brand a better shot at a higher ad ranking.
Paid Social Advertising
Making the transition from strictly organic social media posts to paid advertising can be a little scary at first. But before you begin creating ads on any social platform, it’s important to determine which networks your target audience engages the most with. Is your product marketed more towards teenagers? Then you may want to advertise on TikTok. Is your target audience comprised more of adult moms? If so, then Facebook may be a good place to start. Once you have determined the best platforms to showcase your ads, take some time to look into the different kinds of ad displays your chosen social platform offers.
Remember, when it comes paid social ads, the one-size-fits all approach doesn’t work here. Each platform has its own ad size parameters, calls to action, and acceptable regulations. Tailoring your creative and copy to align with each of the different social ads you plan to run will yield the best results.
Syncing Your Content and Promotional Calendars
Nothing can be more disastrous for a business than running a promotion with no marketing behind it. It can be equally detrimental to advertise a product that isn’t actually on sale. The simplest way to ensure this doesn’t happen at your e-comm business is to combine your content calendar and your promotional calendar into one. By doing so, you will avoid a great deal of miscommunication between your marketing team and your sales team. Take this example: if you’re throwing a weekend sale on a certain product, then none of your social ads promoting the sale should still be running on the following Monday. Having your sales and marketing teams working in tandem will help your business avoid these pitfalls.
User-Generated Content and Influencers
Another effective way to increase engagement among your target audience is through user-generated content (UGC). With user-generated content, you are encouraging shoppers and fans to create their own images and videos that feature your product. This can often be initiated by offering an incentive. Something as simple as giving away a free product to the winner of a photo contest can prove to be effective.
User-generated content helps build trust for your brand in the eyes of potential customers every time they see your product in the photos and videos of everyday people. Including this content in your brand’s messaging will create a bond with the community and resonate with your audience.
Partnering with an influencer can also position your product favorably in the minds of consumers and build your brand’s credibility. It should be noted that hiring an influencer is not to be confused with having a celebrity endorse your product. Aside from a large gap in cost, influencers differ from celebrity endorsements in that they allow your brand to target a very specific audience. In fact, according to Digital Marketing Institute, an astounding 70% of teens that took part in a study said that they trust influencers more than traditional celebrities.
Finding an influencer in your industry who is well respected and has a large following and prove to produce higher conversions for your product at a cost-effective rate.
Putting it into Practice
The best way to see if any of these strategies work is to test them out. For example, this is a perfect opportunity to try some A/B testing to see if one Facebook ad set performs better than another. It’s important to pay close attention to what your audience reacts best to and then try to replicate those results. Following up your campaigns with thorough analysis will allow you to stick with what works and save your business money in the long run.
The team at Summit Creative Marketing understands that ramping up an e-commerce marketing strategy for your business can seem like a daunting task to manage while still running the day-to-day operations, especially if you’re doing it alone. After we help you create an effective brand strategy, our experts will increase your brand’s visibility with pay-per-click advertising and develop engaging paid social ad content. We also offer a free social media content calendar to help you keep organized. Feel free to reach out to the Summit Team for all of your marketing needs.