Ecommerce is not just about selling products online. The concept includes a complex series of elements starting with pitching the product(s) and ending with the brand and customers.
As such, once you manage to create a self-sustaining ecommerce business, it’s time to start thinking about brand development and the marketing strategies that support it. While some business owners don’t grasp the importance of branding, this step is crucial in creating an online and offline persona for your company.
The brand is easier to recognize in the market (due to unique visual design and name) and creates stronger bonds with the customers. Also, once your brand awareness campaigns start bringing results, you’ll see an increase in sales and overall business value.
Still, to get there, you’ll need to build up the brand using various marketing strategies. So, to give you a boost in the right direction, we listed some of the most common strategies applied (with successful results) by big and small brands alike.
Create High-Quality Content
We’re sure you’re already familiar with the idea that content is the king when it comes to online businesses and their promotion strategies.
Still, it’s not just about the content; it’s also about attention. More exactly, the attention your content gets from possible leads. Put in short, content doesn’t have value if the right people aren’t interested in reading/viewing it.
High-quality content that brings in traffic and drives sales must provide genuine, relevant, and helpful tips and information to the customer. You can also use entertainment, as long as it fits the niche and your target audience enjoys it.
Quick tip: According to FitSmallBusiness, 45% of people say they would unfollow a brand on social media if it spends too much time talking about their products. So, make sure to avoid this pitfall when creating content. Make sure to put the focus on helping people solve their problem instead of pushing your products.
Once people start to relate to your content and find it useful, they’ll see your business as an industry authority. In this stage, customers will start trusting your brand, which means they’ll be more interested in buying your products without any extra reassurance from other customers.
Finally, once trust is established, loyal customers will be happy to share your content, thus exposing other users to your brand. This gets the word of mouth going, which is a fantastic way to gain new customers and spread the news about your business.
The Power of Reviews
While ads are quite effective, they may not be able to reach out to an entire generation of people: the millennials. These young adults were exposed to commercials from a very young age, which made them rather resistant to their charm. As such, there are several studies that show millennials are more likely to use adblocking software and ignore most professionally designed campaigns.
Still, there are ways to market to millennials without having to reinvent the wheel! For instance, they are extremely likely to respond to reviews and comments left by other customers. In fact, they rarely buy something online without doing a bit of research first.
So, to make sure your branding campaign doesn’t miss an entire generation of people, find ways to generate genuine reviews from your customers. Even more, you can collaborate with several review platforms to put your business on the map.
Social Media
Most ecommerce businesses focus on Facebook ads and other similar campaigns, which is a legit way to drive more traffic and increase sales. However, Foundr experience demonstrates that Instagram (when used right) is the best social media channel for most businesses.
The platform is ideal for building a strong ecommerce brand because it focuses on the visual and offers businesses a wide array of tools that can drive powerful engagement. For instance, besides the regular posts, Instagram now features Stories, live streaming, and the possibility to publish short and long videos.
Moreover, Instagram allows you to showcase the team behind the brand and let people see the human side of the business. It’s also a fantastic way to get people’s attention with light posts, gorgeous visuals, and witty quotes.
Instagram Influencers
One of the “hidden gems” of the Instagram world is represented by the so-called influencers. These are people (or accounts) with a large following that drive engagement through their posts and can be contacted to help you promote products or the brand.
Still, to make sure things will work out in your favor, it’s best to do some research on this topic. While it’s not too complicated to find a good influencer, the topic is a bit sensitive as you want someone who knows how to create content that fits your company’s mission and image.
Email Campaigns
No matter how many times you hear that emailing is dead, we are here to tell you that it’s a huge lie.
As long as people will use emails to communicate on a daily basis, email campaigns will remain one of the most effective and less expensive methods to promote brands and products. So, make sure to create a solid email list, with various categories, that allows you to communicate with customers and leads on a personal level.
Overall, just like with all the strategies mentioned in this article, the secret behind a successful campaign stands in moderation. No one likes to be constantly bothered by commercials, but most customers love to hear from their favorite brands from time to time. It shows them you care about their needs and want to keep them in the loop.