Today, everyone wants to start an online business. There are many success stories out there when it comes to eCommerce businesses, be it on Amazon or somewhere else online, with several true case studies of 6-figure businesses being established within short spans of time.
However, for every success story, there are hundreds of online businesses that crash and burn—often within the 6-12 months of operation. One of the main differences that set the successes apart from failures is strong digital marketing strategies.
Below are 6 digital marketing strategies you can use to grow your business online and be one of those success stories.
1. Email Marketing
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that email marketing is an effective marketing strategy for any type of business, especially online. After all, as an online vendor, your audience is poised and ready to follow through the sale whenever they receive your email.
If you keep a database of previous clients and use it to reach out with engaging content that converts them to instant sales, it will help to grow your business exponentially.
For Amazon sellers, it’s crucial to note that Amazon owns the consumer email lists, which is essential for marketing to old customers and encouraging repeat business, along with building your consumer base.
2. Incentives
Incentives are one of the best ways to build an email list. A large, engaged email list is crucial to successful digital marketing. You can, of course, encourage your audience to sign up to your email list in other ways like generating interest in your upcoming product launch or distributing useful content.
However, offering incentives to sign-ups actually increases their motivation to do so. Some common incentives include giveaways (e.g., discounts, free products, samples, etc.) and contests (e.g., to win free items from you or a 3rd party product or service).
To take this step even further, you can offer sign-ups an incentive in order to get others to sign-up. For instance, once a new user signs up for your list, they’re directed to a thank you page where they will find a unique link that can be used to get others to sign up.
They’ll receive a prize in return for a certain number of sign-ups. This type of approach can significantly grow your mailing list as more people will be sharing the link within their networks.
3. Competitor Analysis
From product development to marketing strategies and keyword research, competitor analysis is critical in many parts of the business and marketing cycle.
Detailed competitor analysis allows you to see what’s working for your competition and what isn’t, enabling you to reverse engineer the most effective aspects to apply to your own strategy while avoiding the pitfalls.
Competitor analysis is especially effective when used for deep keyword research and other top-notch SEO strategies. There are tools like Ahrefs that let you check the top performers in the business and see which keywords they’re using, so you know which keywords should work for your niche. Other similar tools like Ahrefs can show you the backlink profile of your competitors’ sites, helping with your link building strategies.
4. Split Testing
Also known as A/B testing, split testing is one of the most underrated marketing strategies. It can be highly effective in developing products that are more likely to sell and help you refine your marketing strategies.
A/B testing is the practice where you present two nearly identical items that have one key difference. Once enough time has passed, you can examine the data to identify which item achieved your goal most successfully. So, if you’re still trying to figure out how to detox your marketing strategy, look no further than A/B testing as it involves testing several different variations of a product or a marketing campaign by exposing each of the variants to specific segments of your audience.
For instance, you could promote several versions of your eCommerce product listing to various segments of your email list, and test which one performs the best.
5. Product Listing Optimization
Creating an excellent product listing means higher conversion rates on your products, as well as more sales, and better word-of-mouth marketing.
Product listing optimization involves a number of factors, most notably the listing copy, product title, and images. Listing copy needs to be relevant, engaging, and integrate sales tactics to convince users to buy your products.
It’s also necessary to include as many details as you can about the products to encourage users to purchase them. Make sure to add dimensions, secondary functions, materials, bonus features, and accessories.
That said, before your site visitors even read your perfectly written bullet points and description, you must convince them to click on your listing and hang around for more than 2-3 seconds. This is where the product title and images show up. Both of these are extremely critical for conversions as the majority of prospects avoid reading through the entire listing before deciding whether or not to purchase.
Ensure that your title is perfect and engaging. It needs to be “clickable” and should contain as many keywords as possible, while at the same time explaining the benefits and features of the product.
Keep in mind that your images should be engaging too. They should contain value-added elements in order to demonstrate the features and benefits of the product and be mobile-friendly.
6. Create an Amazon Promo
If you’re selling on Amazon, consider creating a promotion via the platform.
There are several options to do this, all of which you’ll find in the Amazon fulfillment center right under “Advertising” and then “Promotions.” These are especially great for boosting visibility and helping your products rank in the critical first seven days of your listing.
Amazon promos give you the option to choose between various percentage off options. The higher the discount, the more sales you’ll generate. However, it’s typically not recommended to go over a 50% discount unless part of a unique strategy.
Final Words
Whether building an online business on Amazon or elsewhere, putting effective marketing strategies into practice is essential to not only having your online business thrive but survive.
Add a combination of on-platform and off-platform digital marketing strategies to drive more people to your listings, boost conversion rates, and eventually grow your profits.
