Many business owners believe launching an online store is enough to succeed in e-commerce. Unfortunately, the online selling world is not Field of Dreams. The space is so vast and competitive that waiting for customers to come is not the best strategy for success.
The pandemic has also contributed to making it more challenging to compete for attention. Online stores are now the norm in the retail industry. Offline sellers had no choice but to adapt and go online.
Given the current situation, it would be best to consider how you plan to promote your new Shopify store. The guide below can help you with marketing tips for your eCommerce business.
Included are some of the best tactics to advertise your Shopify store, from user-generated content to pop-up shops. If you employ these strategies correctly, you can increase your site traffic and conversion rates.
How to Promote Your Shopify Store
One of the best things about setting up an eCommerce store is you are on a level playing field. Most marketing tools and techniques enable businesses of all sizes to compete on equal terms. With an adequate budget for your campaigns, these online marketing practices will help you boost your Shopify store's visibility and revenue.
Run engaging campaigns on social media
Social media marketing has become essential for boosting a brand, especially with billions of active users worldwide. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram enable brands to reach their target audience through free and organic ad campaigns or paid advertising tools.
These platforms offer tools that allow businesses to target their key demographics better. Targeting goes beyond the generic demographics such as age and location. They offer various options to make your targeting more specific. These include education levels, occupation, hobbies, and relationship or marital status.
Specifying these factors will narrow your reach, preventing your campaigns from going out blindly. Of course, you should have buyer personas to help you choose the best identifiers per campaign.
However, audience targeting is the easy part. The challenge is creating a highly-engaging campaign that will convince your target audience to shop with you. That requires research.
Find out what your target audience is looking at now and use trending hashtags. Use a variety of social media ad posts to mix things up. Finally, listen to feedback to improve your content for future campaigns.
Most people use mobile devices to shop, so your content must be visually appealing on mobile. You should always hook them with a compelling call-to-action to trigger a response.
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Use the power of influencers
Is influencer marketing still a thing? Yes, it continues to be a powerful marketing strategy in 2022. According to Statista, its market size worldwide has more than doubled since 2019, valued at $16.4 billion in 2022.
Influencers can have a significant impact in raising brand awareness and communicating to potential customers. The key is finding influencers that are a perfect fit for your offering. Ideally, they should have a loyal following and be known to use products in your category.
While you might find it tempting to choose someone primarily for the size of their following, that would be a mistake. You want to project authenticity, so choose an influencer that won't come off as a paid endorser.
Nevertheless, marketers categorize influencers by the size of their following. Different sources may not agree on the precise numbers, but generally, these categories are the following:
- Nano-influencers (1,000 to 10,000 followers)
- Micro-influencers (10,000 to 100,000 followers)
- Macro-influencers (100,000 to one million followers)
- Mega-influencers (more than one million followers)
As you can probably imagine, influencers with smaller numbers tend to be more affordable. However, nano and micro-influencers get better engagement, perhaps because they have fewer followers. On the other hand, influencers with more followers have a wider reach, so they can do a better job of raising brand awareness.
Ultimately, the influencer you choose depends on the nature of your business and budget. If you sell niche products and have a small budget, nano influencers might be your best bet.
However, you should note that most influencers don't work well with rules. They are good at creating content, which is why they became popular. Let them do their thing, and don't enforce rules when you've found a good fit for your campaign.
What you should do is educate them about your brand and your products. That will give them the information they need to understand how to present them.
Maximize user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) works in similar ways to influencer marketing. They provide social proof of the efficacy of a product, service, or brand. The difference is you don't have to pay for UGC.
Brands provide customers with the opportunity to provide feedback through reviews and testimonials. If they like their experience with a brand, they may provide images, videos, or text That put your store in a positive light. This is the best type of social proof you can hope to get.
Online users are not shy about making their voices heard. They use a variety of platforms, including social media, to share their experiences with brands, products, and services. Many do so to raise to help others make the right purchasing decisions.
The catch is if they have a terrible experience with your brand, you and everybody else will know about it! However, these should be a rare occurrence if you do your job.
Positive UGCs allow you to show others that people have tried and liked your offerings. It's a way to let your customers speak for you and support your claims. Since UGCs are often supplied voluntarily by actual users, people tend to trust them. The most common types of UGCs include product reviews, videos, and blogs.
It's also important to remember that UGCs are from the customer's perspective. They may not be in line with your brand messaging. Encourage UGCs but be mindful about what you feature. Choose those that are consistent with campaign goals and brand identity.
Use affiliates
Affiliate marketing is a subset of performance-based marketing where you pay a third party for referrals. Your affiliate receives a unique link as the basis for the commissions.
Depending on the agreement, referral fees may be per sale or lead. It's an excellent way to drive traffic to your online store. It's also cost-effective because you only need to pay for results.
While affiliate marketing is similar to influencer marketing in expanding a brand's reach, they have different goals. Affiliate programs generate new customers, while influencer marketing focuses on increasing brand awareness.
An affiliate may be an individual or company that can market a brand's products through various content. These include reviews, blog posts, landing pages, tutorials, and more. Partnering with affiliates is an excellent way to widen your reach.
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Communicate through video content
Video content has become a vital part of digital marketing since the rise of short portrait videos and live streaming. Online users have become more visual, especially with platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels. These give marketers and influencers a platform to produce video content.
A study on video content found that 64% of customers are more likely to purchase online after seeing a video about the product. That's because video content has more storytelling elements like visuals, audio, and movement than static images. It helps potential customers visualize what the product looks and feels like in person, encouraging more purchases.
Video content helps brands communicate with their customers directly. For example, a tutorial video makes learning the ins and outs of a product easier so that clients won't struggle to understand and can start using it immediately. Videos also elicit strong emotions from viewers, which may lead them to respond, discuss, and share.
Embrace live selling
Live selling or live shopping is a popular movement that's gaining popularity in the eCommerce industry. It lets your business inform customers about your products while simultaneously showcasing them to customers in real-time.
Various social media platforms now have live functions, including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Most of these services are free. To make your streaming look more professional, you should invest in high-quality equipment, a functional setup, and an entertaining presenter. You can do how-to guides, demos, and contests to keep viewers engaged and help them decide on purchasing.
Live videos can also humanize your Shopify store. Adding a human element provides the same charm as brick-and-mortar or physical stores, allowing you to connect more with your customers.
Show off your trust seals and logos
Aside from high-quality product page images, you can also incorporate trust seals and logos. They add credibility to your brand, signifying you are a legitimate retailer with a good performance record. Consumers are more likely to trust an online store with these badges, leading to more conversions.
However, you should avoid crowding your product images with colorful and oversized badges to prevent looking too spammy. If you've earned many trust seals for your brand, choose the most prestigious ones and incorporate them with your product photos. It also helps if you have high-quality images to pair with your badges for a more professional look.
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Reach out to expert bloggers
Many think blogging is a marketing strategy past its prime in the age of visual-heavy content. However, it continues to be an effective way to raise brand awareness. One study shows that around 400 million online users read nearly 20 billion blog pages monthly. More marketers find blogging more effective than they did years ago.
Blogs offer a cohesive approach to content marketing. An excellent way to leverage blogs is to reach out to owners of established blogs for an in-depth article on your brand. Getting featured on blog sites with a substantial following can help you target more potential customers beyond your current reach.
The key is looking for bloggers in the same industry or niche to get believable content about your brand. Compared to influencers, it could be more challenging to reach out to them because of their transparent social media follower numbers. The best way to start is by searching blogs about your product or any similar brand to narrow your blogger list.
Getting a partnership with bloggers may also be different than partnering with influencers. Influencers frequently cross-promote other brands, which is a positive for their online profile. Being featured on blogs benefits your brand more than the blogger, so find a way for them to benefit.
Send an email blast
Even in the aggressive age of social media, email marketing is still an excellent way to connect and engage with customers. Recent data shows that around 319.6 billion emails were sent and received daily in 2021.
Most marketers consider email a strong contender for marketing eCommerce shops because it is versatile. You can send exclusive gifts, discounts, and bundles for either loyal customers or new ones to encourage them to shop.
Various email marketing platforms are available today to help brands send the right message. Most of them offer excellent features like targeting and personalization.
Your biggest issue with email marketing is getting people to opt in. That largely depends on your content. Convince them that signing up for the email list will benefit them somehow. It could be exclusive discounts, a preview of new products, or access to gated content.
Once you have your email list, always choose a personalized approach when using email marketing. Engaging your customers with customized campaigns is excellent for building a community centered around your brand.
A strong community of loyal customers can help attract more potential customers to your online store. Give the Archive blog a quick read to learn more about creating communities for your brand.
Other essential factors for email marketing include captivating visuals and short yet catchy copy, from subject line to preview text. Avoid the hard sell approach as it might put off recipients. Remember, once they opt out of your email content, there's little chance of getting them back. Know the latest email marketing practices and maximize all the tools.
Boost Your SEO Performance
Online shoppers use search engine platforms like Google to look for products and services and find out everything about them. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) helps your Shopify store climb the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP). The goal is to become the top result so potential customers will notice you.
SEO is a set of practices designed to improve the search engine ranking of a website to make it more visible to users. While Shopify provides merchants with excellent SEO features, they don't go far enough. Equip yourself with more tools and strategies to maximize SEO and guarantee better rankings.
One of the best SEO practices is using the right keywords. Identify the ones your potential customers often use when searching for products in your category.
Utilize those keywords on various parts of your online store, including product titles, descriptions, URLs, title tags, and meta descriptions. Fortunately, you can do keyword research for free with tools like Google Keyword Planner. Still, some platforms provide more features if you have the budget.
Blogging can also increase your SERP rankings. According to a study, websites that regularly post blogs get 434 percent more indexed pages than those without blog posts. Index pages are those added to a search engine's database of web pages. The more pages the search engine indexes, the higher the likelihood your site appears in search results.
Meanwhile, it's important to remember that duplicating your content is a big no-no in SEO. Keep your content original and of good quality to avoid hurting your ranking.
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Showcase positive product reviews
Product feedback is among the best user-generated content or social proof that you can use to boost your Shopify store. Incorporating them in your eCommerce site can help establish your brand as trustworthy, increase buying decisions, and drive sales.
The homepage and product pages are the best spots for posting positive feedback on your site. Visitors always land first on the home page, so showing them good reviews can create a great first impression. Meanwhile, putting them on product pages helps reduce a potential customer's time to research the item. Unbiased and helpful information is already available on the page.
One survey revealed that 87 percent of customers read reviews before considering buying a product. That's why showing positive reviews can be a helpful factor in convincing your potential customers to buy. You can install a Shopify review app to help you collect reviews and show them off your online store.
Launch a referral program
Word of mouth is among the oldest existing marketing strategies because it still works, even for eCommerce sites. Relying on your current customers to try and convert new ones is effective. Try referral marketing if you want loyal customers to benefit from promoting your brand.
You can reward existing customers with referral marketing for their successful recommendations and welcome new members to the community. The rewards could be promos or giveaways for every purchase. Among the most common referral program tools are discount codes and links that customers can send to their friends. There are Shopify apps that you can use to launch such programs.
Any kind of reward will probably do the trick. It should encourage customers to recommend you to others and potential buyers to buy and refer.
Install chatbots in your store
Chatbots are among the fast-growing features for Shopify merchants worldwide. Like any other workplace automation program, chatbots instantly save you time by responding to common and frequently asked inquiries. By reducing the number of chats needing attention, your team can focus on critical queries.
The best thing about enabling chatbots for your Shopify store is that you can provide customer support 24/7. It is also cost-effective as it avoids the need to employ additional staff.
Chatbots help customers find what they need without going through hoops on your site. If you can save them a lot of time, they are more likely to convert.
Additionally, chatbots can collect data about visitors to make more refined suggestions and recommendations. This allows you to personalize product pages to cater to your potential customers. You may also use chatbots to offer discounts to current or future consumers, giving them one more incentive to make a purchase.
Chatbots are becoming such a massive hit that their global market size was worth 526 million U.S dollars in 2021. Consider a chatbot for your online store if you want to save time and money while improving your customer service.
Don't skimp on offline opportunities
While most of the strategies listed here are online, offline tactics might come in handy. One such tactic is participating in relevant events and trade shows.
One offline strategy you can use is joining trade shows or events related to your industry. These events help you connect with existing and potential customers.
Participating in events can also help you connect with businesses that share your values or complement your own. It also provides an excellent opportunity to meet with suppliers and build your network.
Another strategy you can try is to launch pop-up stores. They can help you increase brand awareness, humanize your online store, and experiment with new concepts. Additionally, this is an excellent opportunity to test if you're ready to set up a brick-and-mortar store.
Launching a physical store for online brands may be a bit challenging. The key is not to invest in big-scale shops with a year-long lease.
Try setting up a temporary one with a one or two-week lease for an affordable option. Go with a small space that can accommodate a showroom. You can limit your inventory to your best products. If your customers are looking for something that's not in the shop, you can refer them to your online store.
Check Out Archive App and Improve Your Shopify Marketing Today!
Launching an eCommerce store on Shopify is easy. The hard part is attracting customers in a highly competitive environment. Fortunately, online strategies such as social media and offline marketing models can help promote your Shopify store.
You can focus on UGCs like Instagram Stories to provide you with the social proof you need to build trust. However, finding and sharing Instagram stories can be challenging as you only have 24 hours to do it.
Fortunately, Archive App can help you with that. Archive App searches the Internet for brand mentions and UGC on Instagram, including Stories, and stores them automatically. You can check the UGCs any time and use any you want for your marketing campaigns.
Visit Archive to learn more about how to use Archive App to acquire user-generated content about your Shopify store.
If you're looking for more ways to execute the best marketing strategies for your Shopify store, visit Archive.com. Learn more about how the Archive app can help you maximize the content your loyal customers are making.
FAQs on Attracting Customers by Promoting Your Shopify Store
Does Shopify have an email marketing app?
Yes. Shopify launched a free email marketing app in November 2019. The app allows merchants to send 2,500 emails per month. Once they exceed that number, they will be charged one dollar for every 1,000 emails sent.
How do I get my Shopify store on Google?
To set up a Google Channel, you need to go to the settings of your Shopify admin page, then click the "Visit the Shopify App Store" button. Look for Google in the Shopify App store and click "Add channel."
Next, click on "Connect Google Account," then choose a Google Account or create a new one. You need to allow Shopify to access your account information for the connection to work.
How can I make my Shopify store go viral?
Unfortunately, there's no guaranteed way for a campaign to go viral. You can use clever messaging, evocative imagery, or attractive giveaways to excite your audience. They make excellent campaigns and could boost conversions and generate sales even if they fall short of viral status.
