That’s it. Your online store is ready. Until now you have been focusing on your products. Now you have to find ways to promote your business to generate traffic and sales. But be careful! Marketing and advertising costs can quickly grow significantly and strain your budget. Here are some tips that will let your e-business be visible without breaking the bank.
1. Optimize your website and its SEO
In order for the Google bots to find you out of all the many other sites, you need to find the most appropriate keywords that match your business sector, then incorporate them into the texts of your website or in the so-called meta tags. A keyword planner will help you target the most relevant terms. You can also use the “long tail technique” – using expressions with more than three carefully selected words will get you a higher search volume on the search engines. Do some research on the internet. Many blogs explain in detail how to take advantage of this strategy.
2. Purchase keywords and advertising
Paid search remains an effective solution to generating traffic in the short term and at low cost. It consists of purchasing keywords or sponsored links. This advertising will draw potential buyers to your site. Do not hesitate to get help from professionals to implement an effective strategy.
3. Affiliate!
Becoming affiliated with other sites can pay off. These will offer your products on their own websites and earn a commission with each sale. There are specialized platforms that play the role of intermediary between online store owners and affiliates.
4. Solicit the media and create a blog
In addition to sending a press release to websites that specialize in your field, consider setting up your own blog. Producing quality and regular content is an effective way to quickly move ahead in search results. In addition, you will gain the trust of internet users by producing texts that answer their problems.
5. Take advantage of influencers
Influencers who are active in your field can be important leverage to generate traffic and sales. The goal will be to deal with those whose audience matches your target market.
6. Viral marketing
The principle of viral marketing is to encourage your customers, resellers and other contacts to voluntarily promote your business. There are several solutions for promotion on the internet, including:
- blogs and discussion forums
- email campaigns
- discount or gift offers
- affiliate programs
- organizing a contest
- providing a white paper for web users to download
Word of mouth is undoubtedly the oldest communication technique… and surely one of the most effective.
7. Take advantage of social media!
Social media is perfect to build a community while reaching your target audience. Choose the ones that are best suited to your business. For example, if you are in a B2B market, LinkedIn will undoubtedly be best for you, while Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram will be more relevant if you are trying to reach the end consumer. Each has different features. It’s up to you to use them wisely.
- Instagram, a network focused on sharing photos, allows you to share nice photos of products as well as “stop motion” videos to build an audience.
- Pinterest has lists of wishes and pins that persist over time and often continue to be viewed months after they were published.
- Facebook, meanwhile, allows a store section to be added to a regular page as well as low-cost campaigns on specific profile criteria.
8. Create a video on YouTube
The second most visited search engine behind Google, YouTube is ideal to present products and answer the questions that your potential customers ask. In addition, your videos will rank in the results of other search engines.
9. Set up a pop up shop
You can also bet on a pop up shop – you just rent a space for a short period (a weekend, a few days or a week) to meet your future customers in person. This physical location will give you the opportunity to put certain products forwards as well as to sell your old stock and talk with you customers in order to get to know them better.
10. Don’t forget traditional marketing
In addition to all the proposed tips, mainly based on digital marketing, don’t forget to also use conventional advertising techniques: advertising in the media, poster campaign, participation in exhibitions, etc.
To sum up, digital communication today offers many channels to promote and reach a target clientele. Take advantage of these many possibilities! And above all, analyze the impact of your marketing and communication strategy regularly to adjust your strategy as needed.
To read more:
- 10 questions to ask before opening an online store
- 10 winning strategies for a successful online store