One of the main pillars that determines the success of an e-shop in a highly competitive market is ensuring effective marketing in e-commerce. Its forms can vary, from social media, creating special content, SEO settings, to various email and advertising campaigns.
Its importance for an e-shop is enormous, as greater awareness leads to an increase in both visitors and orders. However, the market is extensive and predominantly international, with estimates suggesting that there are currently up to 24 million e-commerce sites worldwide.
Different marketing activities are needed to stand out. For example, according to Bigcommerce statistics, online stores that present themselves on social networks have up to 32 percent more sales than the average store that does not.
However, sales growth does not only occur on social networks. In this article, we will take a closer look at various ways to do marketing in e-commerce.
Greater Traffic, Stronger Sales
Digital marketing helps an e-shop acquire potential new markets, often extending beyond the company’s usual reach. The growth of the e-commerce environment is undeniable, and to maintain competitiveness, businesses have no choice but to invest their time and capital in marketing.
Investment in marketing, with the right campaigns, will sooner or later bring the desired results. However, massive sales and a strong reach among consumers usually do not happen overnight.
Marketing often requires diligent effort, and an e-shop can also turn to an external marketing firm for help. They know how to attract consumers and evaluate campaigns. Ultimately, e-commerce marketing can bring:
- Reaching New Markets – The e-commerce environment is currently international, and expanding into new markets is a way to make yourself known among new consumers through marketing. It is essential to remember that markets and their customs often differ, so to achieve desired goals, marketing campaigns must be adapted to the specific location.
- The Higher the Rank on Google, the More Interactions – Improving positions in search engines is a crucial step to increase traffic. This can be done through paid methods, such as advertisements, but can also be achieved with smaller financial investments, such as social media engagement, good SEO settings, backlinking, etc.
- Improving Branding and Visibility – Fun graphic design or catchy jingles can reach a large audience. If your marketing activities become viral and people start sharing them, they will recognize your brand just based on your branding.
- Keeping Customers – Creating good and regular content helps bring customers back to your site more often. Gradually, a habit is formed, turning a first-time customer into a regular shopper, thanks to marketing.
- Stronger Sales – Ultimately, the most important point is the results of your business. The advantage of marketing activities is their measurability. You can easily determine what each campaign has brought you. The higher the traffic, the more purchases, which ultimately positively impacts the e-shop’s profits.
Every Marketing Step Counts
From the beginning, it is clear that e-commerce marketing offers sellers several ways to improve their search engine rankings and reach their customers. Generally, the more an e-shop uses them, the greater the potential reach.
However, not every form of marketing may be right for a particular e-shop or have the potential to yield results. Therefore, we present a few options that, if chosen, will not only help your sales but also ensure you do not miss out on any opportunities:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Properly setting up SEO makes your e-shop more visible and easily accessible on Google. It involves using the right keywords, helping customers find your site. For example, if a product is named one way in one country, it doesn’t necessarily apply to other markets. Therefore, it is crucial to consider what words customers use when searching for products and include them in your SEO.
- Social Networks – Being closer to customers means they have more trust in the e-shop when shopping. Social networks are currently a bridge between the e-shop and the customer, where customers can express their feelings about their purchase. The e-shop can also promote its products, offer behind-the-scenes information, and motivate followers to shop with various activities. Activity on social networks also helps achieve higher search positions, which is another advantage of this marketing step.
- Paid Advertising – Not everything can be achieved overnight, especially with organic reach. E-shops can use a crutch in the form of paid ads in digital marketing, whether on Google, social networks, etc. By paying for advertising, they can achieve high page rankings on Google. Similarly, posts on social networks can directly reach a larger number of users, thus promoting their e-commerce business or products. The advantage of this form of promotion is that the e-shop can precisely target the audience it wants to reach, increasing the potential of its invested money in acquiring new customers.
- Affiliate Program – This form of e-commerce marketing is based on partners who refer to a specific product in various ways, increasing site traffic. In return, in case of a sale, the affiliate partner earns money for each sale. This can include blog articles, videos, social media posts, and more.
- PR and Content Creation – Being as visible as possible pays off. Gaining references for your e-shop in the media is an ideal way to reach the broadest group of consumers. Additionally, for your website and social media, don’t forget to create native content in the form of videos, images, etc. This type of promotion has a greater reach among users and, thus, a higher potential for product sales.
- Emails and Newsletters – Although not the most modern form of communication, email promotion is still a popular marketing tactic in some cases. Through this activity, sellers can offer various promotional products, remind customers of special events throughout the year, or create events that attract customers. However, too much can be harmful, and in the case of email spamming, this is even more true. Therefore, it’s essential to approach the content and volume of newsletters and other emails with care to avoid annoying customers and prompting them to unsubscribe.
Marketing Might Not Always Be Enough
The relationship between product and marketing is significant, as when one lags, the other can support it. However, another pillar essential for the success of an e-commerce business is logistics, without which an e-shop cannot function properly.
When logistics run smoothly, they can attract and retain customers. After all, the consumer’s first physical contact with the ordered goods happens upon delivery.
A large part of shoppers is influenced by factors such as delivery time, the condition of the goods upon arrival, and other aspects like the carbon footprint of the shipment and the return process. Many e-shops, despite having quality marketing, cannot keep up with the latest trends in logistics, hindering their business expansion.
Therefore, more and more e-commerce sellers rely on help from 3PL fulfillment companies. They take care of the complete logistics for the e-shop, often offering added value in delivery for both customers and sellers.
In the end, sellers can forget about logistics and focus on activities that help sell products. Moreover, if the fulfillment company is modern, the e-shop can also use the advantages offered by the service provider for marketing purposes.
Take Care of Marketing, Fulfillment by FHB Group Ensures Logistics
Leave logistics worries behind and rely on the services of the largest fulfillment provider in Central and Eastern Europe. Fulfillment by FHB Group has been taking care of e-shop logistics for over 15 years, making it a market leader.
Regular average double growth is due to increasing warehouse capacities, the growth of e-commerce clients, and continuous service improvements. The extensive warehouses are equipped with the latest technologies, complemented by their own warehouse information system.
Thanks to this, processes run with maximum efficiency and without errors, ensuring fast delivery and customer satisfaction. Additionally, the company has its own transport lines across Europe. In combination with courier companies for last-mile delivery, delivery within 24 to 48 hours is the norm. Services also include complete cash-on-delivery processing in multiple currencies and even returns management.