Marketing Trends eCommerce Businesses Should Look Out For
Marketing trends in eCommerce are always advancing. As technology develops even further and people start shopping in new ways, it’s important for businesses to keep up. Figuring out how to interact with your customers and how to market your services to them is essential. The way your users react to your marketing campaign is the making or breaking point of your company.
Even though eCommerce operates entirely online, you’re still going to have to make use of offline marketing as well. The real world is every bit as relevant as the digital world, even in the age of technology. People need to find out about your services somehow.
Your audience will respond best to those two marketing tactics combined. You’ll cover both the digital and real world and get more business easily.
Online marketing
1. Site performance
The first thing users are going to see when they interact with your brand is your website, regardless of if they’re using a phone or a computer. eCommerce revolves around site performance and mobile optimization as that gives your customers a better chance to get to know your business and interact with it.
Web design and development are one of the most important aspects of site performance. As well as making sure your site is optimized for mobile phones, you also need to make sure it doesn’t take more than three seconds to load. On top of all that, you should also make sure that your website is aesthetically pleasing so that it retains customer attention. When you pay attention to these factors, you also increase your SEO as Google uses them to rank you.
2. Voice search
Voice technology is one of the biggest technological advancements today. In the olden days, only about ten percent of queries were conducted via voice search. As predicted, the situation has greatly changed today and voice search is one of the most popular methods of searching the web. This means that marketers need to optimize their websites for voice as well as text.
The main reason for the increased popularity of voice search are smartphones, the internet, and smart speakers. There are simply more opportunities than ever before to search with your voice and people are taking advantage of that.
3. Content marketing
Up until a few years ago, content marketing used to be kind of a side project. It was a bonus instead of an essential role, but that quickly changed once people realized how much it can aid business. There are no more one-sided conversations masked as articles that are pushed toward the customer. Instead, content marketing is used as a way to open the door for two-way conversations between customers and brands.
In that respect, we can see that content marketing helps eCommerce businesses better engage with their customers, provides information and ultimately helps them sell products. Content marketing and SEO have become very closely connected, too.
4. Reddit ads
Reddit is one of the fastest-growing social networks out there. If you’re not trying to get traffic from it, why are you even online? Social media marketing and content marketing is extremely effective and popular on Reddit. As well as that, Reddit ads are one of the biggest eCommerce opportunities today.
You have the ability to target specific subreddits and can highly niche your offering. This helps you reach the perfect audience and makes it much easier to make a sale. Finally, let’s not forget you’ll be saving some cash as Reddit ads are much cheaper than ads on Facebook or Google.
5. Mobile advertising
Even though mobile phones aren’t really new, they’re very popular. For years, people have been working on mobile site optimization, mobile apps, and responsive designs. Even mobile advertising isn’t new and has been a commonly used method of marketing for some time.
Still, this year, investing a great percentage of your PPC marketing budget in mobile marketing is a good idea. There’s a lot of potentials. Some even estimate that there are more than 1.2 billion mobile users across the world. Other research shows that more than half PPC conversions come from mobile devices.
Offline marketing
1. Celebrate your success
Celebrations are amazing for giving people a taste of your company. They’ll all be gathered under one roof for a happy occasion without feeling compelled to buy anything. This makes the atmosphere much more comfortable and the people more open to what you have to say and what your company is all about.
Hosting an event or a party also shows people that you’re human and that you value your team and the hard work they put in your company. As well as showing people who are present at the event what you’re all about, word is also bound to spread around town. Your target audience is bound to be impressed that you’re not just another corporation that takes advantage of their workers.
In a socially conscious age, where people only support companies who have a soul, this is extremely important. Having a little fun and taking a break is going to be good for your team and give them a boost of motivation, but it will also secure future business with new and old clients alike.
2. Donate gift certificates and products as contest prizes
The best way to get people talking about you is to give them a free sample. Once they see how high-quality your services and products are, they’ll be much more likely to try them again. The difference is, the next time they’ll pay. Donating gift certificates or products also gives you the opportunity to do some social work. You could either hold your own contests or join someone else’s. It’s a great way to show people what you support and that your company is big on social responsibility.
You can also look for charities and silent auctions where you can donate your products and services. All of this also helps you connect to your community and be closer to the public. Brands are often too abstract for people to perceive them as something real, but that doesn’t have to be the case with you. Show them how human you are and how much you care about making an actual difference in your community.
3. Place your ad on a billboard
Placing ads on billboards is in no way overrated. This effective way of attracting new customers and raising brand awareness has been around forever. When picking the billboard for your ad, always pay special attention to the location. The location is everything. Since you’re in the real world, you won’t be able to find your audience as easily as you would online. This means you’ll have to think like them and figure out where they might spend their days.
So, if you’re selling a service or product meant for home use, you should always find a billboard in a suburban area. After all, that’s where families live. You’ll be closer to your target audience and will thus have a much easier time selling your services and products. It’s easy when you’ve found the people who need it.
4. Attend association conferences and trade shows
Even though it’s 2019, trade shows and association conferences are still popular and useful. They’re highly effective ways of promoting your business. A lot of people come to these things and they’re all already interested and willing to listen to what you have to offer. You’ll have a much easier time spreading the word about your business and interacting with your target audience.
Of course, to attract more people, you’ll need to pay attention to your stand. It should be stacked with brochures, promotional materials, stickers, and anything in between. Even t-shirts are exceptional and loved promotional material. To ensure the material you share with your audience is of the highest quality, you can talk to firms like All Star Graphics which do the hard work for you and just give you the final results.
5. Distribute business cards
Offline marketing with business cards works even today. You never know when you might meet a person in need of your business. When you carry your business card with you, you’ll be able to easily get your information out and deliver your services to new potential clients.
This strategy is also great for networking. If you’re in the company of other business people often, giving them your business card is a great way to make new business partners and even be-friend other companies. You never know when an opportunity for collaboration might arise.
Conclusion
As you can see, both online and offline marketing have something to offer to your business. The world of eCommerce is growing and evolving every day, and now it’s your turn to join it. It’s never been easier to figure out what your audience is thinking and to find a way to give them what they need. The marketing trends above truly are shaping the world of eCommerce and will continue to do so for quite some time.