Opening up an e-commerce business is one thing, but marketing it efficiently is a whole other ballgame. Not only do you have to decide what your operating budget will be, but where to spend it, and what your goals will be (leads, traffic, conversions, etc). For that reason, marketing can be a huge obstacle for every new business owner. Here are a few steps to get you started.
1. Have a Social Media Presence
Outside of your website, social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc), gives you a home that you can collect your fans and followers around. Not only can you announce new products, but you can also distribute your content to help it go “viral”, interact with your fans via video, and do cross-promotions with other businesses to help drive sales on both sites. An effective social media strategy for your business is different than one you would have for yourself, so make sure your familiarize yourself with the nuances.
2. Create a Blog
Once the haven for would-be writers hoping to break it big into the publishing world, blogs are now a mainstay for every business website, and for good reason: they allow you to create keyword-rich, high-quality content that drives eyeballs to your website and helps create trust between business and reader. If you’re really looking to scale this, you can always outsource the writing part to others, but otherwise, it’s a completely free and reliable source of traffic.
3. Consider Paid Advertisements
In a perfect world, every bit of your traffic would come through passive marketing techniques like SEO and backlinks. Unfortunately for most sites, that can take months or even years to develop a reliable source of that type of traffic, so many people look to speed up that process by using paid advertising. Almost every platform has a version of this in some form, but the two most popular are Facebook and Google Adwords. Both will allow you to choose your objectives, such as lead generations or conversions, and can help tremendously no matter what stage your business is in.
4. Get Involved in Groups
Online forums like Reddit are fantastic avenues that you can engage with others in your industry, as well as learn about the latest news or promotions. While you won’t want to spam your links immediately after joining, it’s perfectly acceptable to send a link from your site on a topic that people are genuinely asking about. Moreover, unless the post is deleted, that link will sit there for the foreseeable future and give a decent-quality backlink from then on.
5. Ask for Influencers
Anyone with an audience is technically called an “influencer,” and a shoutout from them can make the difference in your website. While some of them will require a fee for plugging your business, a few of the lesser-known (but still valuable) influencers may be able to squeeze you in if you return the favor. Still, even if you have to pay, a quote from them can do wonders for your business.