Just building an online store is not enough to succeed in the competitive ecommerce landscape. To increase brand awareness, generate qualified leads, and boost sales, you need to build a thorough online marketing plan.

Here are a few tips and tricks to apply.

1 Assess the Current State of your Ecommerce Business

Use website analytics and digital marketing analytics to measure organic rankings, brand mentions, customer sentiment, customer engagement, the conversion rate, etc. By understanding your current situation, it will be easier for you to focus on the right digital marketing tactics.

2 Define your Value Proposition

A clear value proposition gives your ecommerce brand a unique personality and encourages customers to buy from you. Most importantly, it guides your marketing efforts. Any quality value proposition answers the following questions:

• What kind of products do you sell?
• What benefits can customers expect?
• How do your products solve specific problems?
• Why should a customer choose you over your competitors?

3 Create Buyer Personas

By trying to cater to everyone’s needs, you may fail to generate qualified leads and convert them into sales. Just because 10K people are following you on Instagram does not mean they are eager to purchase from you. Precisely because of that, you need to define your target audience.

Buyer personas are based on demographic and psychographic data, such as customers’ location, age, job title, interests, pain points, and challenges. They help you focus on the tactics that resonate with your customers and personalize user experiences.

4 Set Clear Goals

Your digital marketing goals should align with your ecommerce business objectives. Always make them very clear, specific, and reasonable. Use relevant metrics and KPIs to track whether your marketing campaigns perform as expected.

For example, one of your goals could be increasing sales by X% during the slow season. That way, you can plan appropriate marketing tactics, such as hosting a contest, creating engaging content, or offering massive discounts to boost sales.

5 Choose your Marketing Channels

Digital marketing consists of a wide range of diverse practices. The goal is to identify the digital marketing techniques that resonate with your target audience and help you fulfill the goals you have set.

There are three types of digital marketing channels:

• Owned media include any channels and content you own, such as your online store, blog, product photos, 360-degree product views, email, organic social accounts, etc.
• Paid media, such as paid social ads or Google Ads, are there to boost your online store’s exposure faster and target your audiences more precisely.
• Earned media relies on social proof, such as user-generated content, product reviews and ratings on your website, customer testimonials, case studies.

6 Execute your Marketing Strategy

There is no one-size-fits-all ecommerce marketing strategy, so be ready to test, tweak, and evolve your practices until you find the most effective ones. Always allocate a portion of your budget to new marketing channels and tools. Test them in narrower markets to precisely estimate their results.

Effective Digital Marketing Tactics for Ecommerce Businesses

• Brand Transparency

In ecommerce, transparency is critical to gaining customer trust. For example, say you are running a cbd online store. Each product page should include detailed product descriptions, including the product name, pricing, ingredients, perks for health, daily dosage, multi-angle product images, tips for applying the product, etc.

Your ecommerce site should also have detailed shipping and returns policies. To build trust with customers, you should also display security badges to emphasize that customers’ sensitive data is safe with you.

• Segmented Email Marketing Campaigns

Sending generic emails does not help you engage and convert your audiences. That is why you need to segment your email list and provide users with highly individualized brand experiences. For example, send out personalized product recommendations based on their previous product views, purchases, or age.

• Instagram marketing

65% of Instagram users rely on this network when seeking online shopping inspiration and discovering new brands. Instagram is an invaluable resource for any online retail brand, especially for those that are visual in nature. Apart from sharing quality photos and videos of products, you can also use this channel to display user-generated content.

• Influencer marketing

People seek influencers’ opinions and reviews before making purchasing decisions. Find an influencer in the same industry and ensure they can create content that is in line with your brand values and messaging. From quality content to giveaways, you can collaborate with influencers in multiple ways to grow your account organically.

• Facebook Ads

Even though many brands are ignoring Facebook, this social network is still an invaluable part of ecommerce advertising. It offers incredible targeting options, allowing you to put your marketing campaigns in front of the right audiences. You can target them by their gender, location, age, income, interest, engagement, etc.

Over to You

Digital marketing is essential for any ecommerce business’ growth. That is why you need to plan your every move strategically. These are just some of the numerous steps to building an ecommerce marketing plan that delivers results.

Eve Anderson is a marketing specialist turned blogger. Interested in sports and exciting travel destinations. Love to share content that can inform people.