E-commerce marketing solutions enable your potential customers to find your e-commerce business with relative ease using the internet. Most e-commerce startups typically rely on e-commerce marketing strategies developed by internal staff, which isn’t the most effective solution if you’re looking to grow your business.
The process of creating, managing, and executing a digital marketing campaign can be challenging, especially if you’re running your e-commerce store at the same time. Marketing is often a long game, and adding more to your workload or the workload of your team can put you collectively under additional strain.
The solution to that problem is to do some of the marketing yourself and leave the “heavy lifting” to a marketing agency. However, not all marketing agencies are the same, and in this guide, we’ll discuss the benefits of e-commerce marketing services, tips for optimizing your digital strategy, and how to choose the right e-commerce marketing agency.
How Can eCommerce Marketing Services Help Your Business?
E-commerce marketing services aim to position your business as a response to a potential customer’s problem or inquiry through various e-commerce marketing channels. This is really important because not all your customers will arrive at your platform through Google or Facebook. Some users, like industry professionals, are more likely to arrive through email marketing.
E-commerce marketing services help your business in several ways, primarily by putting your business in front of potential customers who might be in need of what you have to offer. This is great compared to an in-house team, as outside service providers tend to give you a different perspective on marketing and provide you with e-commerce marketing tactics you might’ve overlooked.
These service providers usually start by assessing your current marketing efforts and strategies to see which strategies simply require optimization, which ones are completely unnecessary, and just how much you lose by underutilizing other, more effective marketing strategies.
However, the real reason you’d want to hire an e-commerce marketing agency for your online store is their expertise. They can help implement all the necessary marketing strategies, including search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing, and email campaigns, all with the aim of reaching your target audience.
Tips for Optimizing Your Digital Strategy
While we highly recommend that you hire an e-commerce marketing strategy, there are several things you can do in the beginning that would save you both time and money in the long run and expand your customer base and brand awareness early on. Here are some tips for optimizing your digital strategy.
Local SEO
Google relies on algorithmic automation to index your e-commerce website, going through product pages, product descriptions, user-generated content (reviews), and other corners of your e-commerce site.
Once your page has been indexed, Google will rely on its algorithms to cross-reference users’ inquiries with its index and return a list of websites in its organic search results. These results are often based on the thematic relevance of your website, as well as your domain authority, and ranking higher in these categories will help your business position higher in search results pages.
As per the law of averages, more visits equals more sales, so by increasing the number of new customers, you’re also increasing the conversion rate of your business.
On-page SEO
On-page search engine optimization refers to a process of optimizing individual web pages in order to improve their ranking in search engine rankings and thus generate more organic traffic. This includes introducing thematically relevant content to your page, improving meta descriptions, improving category pages and title tags, and product recommendations. This SEO effort is mostly aimed at enhancing the content and the customer experience on the specific pages of your online store.
Technical SEO
Technical SEO refers to the optimization of your website for faster loading times and better responsiveness for mobile devices, among other things. These days, website visitors don’t like slow loading times, and failing to optimize your website will drive your potential customers to the competition.
Customer Loyalty Programs
Don’t forget to reward your loyal customers by offering personalized discounts and special offers, insights into upcoming online sales, and perhaps a referral system for existing customers who would earn discounts by bringing their friends onto your e-commerce platform. This would help with the retention of current customers while also marketing your e-commerce brand to target demographics.
Affiliate Marketing
Social media platforms are a marketer’s dream, as they’re among the most effective marketing tools in a marketer’s arsenal. They offer marketplaces for online shopping, and they’re great for promoting new products and engaging with your customers, thus providing incentives to buy from your e-commerce platform.
However, you don’t personally have to spend much time on social media. You can simply partner with a social media influencer as part of your e-commerce marketing plan and let them market you to their following. This is a mutually beneficial relationship that provides your brand with plenty of exposure.
Mail Your Customers
Set up an automated email system that would send promotional emails to your whole email list. Additionally, you should also set up an abandoned cart email; shopping cart abandonment isn’t as rare as one might think, and that one email notification from your business could nudge the customer into completing the order. Major retailers like Amazon do this all the time.
How to Choose the Right ECommerce Marketing Agency
Before you venture out to search for a good e-commerce marketing agency for your small business, it’s really important to outline your marketing goals. After that, you need to decide on which type of digital marketing agency you want to hire. There are two basic types of marketing agencies:
Full-service digital marketing agency: These agencies provide a comprehensive range of marketing services, ranging from web design, SEO services, and content marketing to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and social media marketing.
Specialized agencies: These agencies focus specifically on different aspects of digital marketing, which makes them better-suited for companies with specific marketing needs but not as viable for companies who need help across multiple marketing channels and disciplines.
Summary
Hiring an e-commerce marketing agency makes a ton of difference when it comes to running a successful online store, regardless of whether you’re just starting or you already have an established online presence. If you’re looking for a company to help you with an e-commerce marketing strategy, don’t hesitate to contact Orchard Marketing.