Marketing with a strategy can make you feel invisible, like you’re shouting into a packed room and no one is listening.
Having a documented marketing strategy directly impacts your success, whether you’re a scrappy startup or established business. Research shows that top marketers were 414% more likely to report success when they documented their strategy.
This article will walk you through the top successful marketing strategies and examples to date, with tips on how to apply them.
1. SEO
The majority of your store’s website traffic will come from search engines like Google. According to Wolfgang Digital, online businesses should expect 35% of total traffic and 33% of revenue to come from search engine results pages. Although this marketing strategy takes time, it’ll become cheaper to acquire customers through search versus paid advertising, which levels out the costs.
Ranking high in search engines can get you more daily traffic. Take Gymshark, for example. The retailer ranks fourth for the keyword “workout clothes,” which gets nearly 90,500 searches per month. The average click-through rate for URLs in position four is about 4.87%.
If we do the math, Gymshark should be getting around 4,400 visitors per month from this one keyword, which is a lot of potential customers.
While optimizing your store for search may seem like a daunting task, it’s a lot easier than you think. That’s why we’ve created a few guides below that go further into search engine optimization and will help you increase visibility and grow online sales.
2. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing is one of the best ways to market your brand and build awareness online. It involves building partnerships with creators who align with your brand messaging, and promoting products through their channels. According to Influencer Marketing Hub, nine out of 10 marketers believe influencer marketing to be effective.
With reason: influencers generate higher user engagement than branded content. The average engagement rate with influencers is around 5.7%, roughly two times higher than content brands publish themselves on Instagram. Moreover, businesses that use influencer marketing earn $18 for every dollar spent.
Some top influencer marketing channels are:
- YouTube
- Blogs
Businesses like yours have endless opportunities in influencer marketing. Finding an influencer may seem time consuming, but there are many influencer marketing platforms to help find creators, start your campaign, and keep track of metrics easily. To learn more about this marketing strategy, we recommend reading this beginner’s guide to influencer marketing on Instagram.
3. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is an advertising strategy in which a business pays another business or person—a.k.a. an affiliate—to generate leads and sales. Affiliates are often paid commission fees to encourage them to find ways to promote the company and its products. It’s a fast way to reach target customers and make sales, with nearly 15% of all digital media industry revenue coming from affiliate marketing.
Similar to influencer marketing, affiliates will refer to your products by sharing it on their blogs, social media platforms, website, etc. The affiliate earns money each time someone makes a purchase or signs up for something through their unique link. Both parties benefit when done well: your business makes more revenue and the affiliate earns a nice income from their marketing efforts.
4. Google Ads
Google pay-per-click (PPC) ads is the most misunderstood channel for marketing an online business. Many stick to social media ads on Facebook or Instagram for ease of use but miss out on finding customers on the two largest search engines in the world: Google and YouTube.
You can set flexible budgets as low as $5. Pay only when someone clicks on your ad, and target specific audiences based on behaviors and past actions. But what makes Google Ads attractive is the ad types you can use to reach customers.
For example, say you’re selling vegan protein powder. More than 110,000 people search for the term each month. It’s a specific term likely to convert because it’s closely related to your product.
You could run text ads, which show up as a blue link and green URL. They’re identified from organic results by an ad tag. Or you can run Google Shopping ads, which show as a product carousel with different products, their prices, and average reviews. The carousel has a subtle Ads tag in the upper left corner.
Setting up Google Ads is a bit tricky. But if you’re willing to learn how to advertise with it, you can reach a massive target market with high buying intent, run retargeting campaigns, and drive more sales and traffic, faster.
5. Podcasts
People are listening to more podcasts every week. Data shows that there are over 120 million podcast listeners in the United States as of 2021, and that number is expected to reach 160 million by 2023.
There two ways to market a new business with podcasts:
- Start your own podcast.
- Become a guest on someone else’s podcast.
Running a podcast could be a great way to reach your audience and expand your business. You don’t need to be a technical person to create one, nor does it take a heavy upfront investment. But it can take a while to build traction.
Podcast hosts are always looking for intriguing people to interview. If you have an interesting story, industry experience, or valuable information to share, you’ve got a chance at becoming a guest on any podcast.
6. Video marketing
It’s no secret that people enjoy video content, whether it’s a movie, a TikTok, a YouTube video, etc. According to recent research from Wyzowl, 92% of businesses regard video content as important to their overall marketing strategy.
To make sure you’re engaging with your target audience, video marketing should have a place in your digital marketing strategy. But to jump on the latest trends, you’ll want to know what types of video content marketers are creating.
The top video trends include:
- Explainer videos (which 72% of marketers create)
- Presentation videos (48%)
- Sales videos (42%)
- Video ads (42%)
Trends like short-form videos (think TikTok) and livestreaming are also here to stay. Ecommerce brands can monetize them by selling products directly through the video.
Another way brands can use video is by surfacing user-generated product reviews. Apps like VideoWise automatically search, verify, and show your product video review from YouTube to shoppers on your site. The app also tracks ROI and conversion so you can see how video reviews impact your sales.
7. Facebook ads
Over 10 million advertisers use Facebook ads to market their businesses. These PPC ads run on Facebook’s advertising platform and can show up in:
- Facebook’s feed
- Messenger
Facebook ads come in a variety of formats, like single image ads, video ads, and carousels. The best part? You can target these ads toward specific audiences.
When it comes to gaining new customers, Facebook ads are often successful for online businesses. For example, men’s skin care brand Lumin wanted to reach a new audience in Mexico, in addition to its traditional markets in the US.
Lumin ran a video ad showing a man receiving Lumin products in the mail, then applying them and talking about their benefits. It also ran photo ads that showcased the same products along with an offer to try them for free.
Lumin ran the campaign from November 1 to December 22, 2021, and saw the following results with the addition of Mexico:
- 40% decrease in cost per website purchase
- 62% decrease in cost per landing page view
Wrapping up:
We at ShopShipShake have been working with businesses like yours with fulfilling experiences. We offer one-stop services, including an efficient supply chain, over 10 thousand of China’s suppliers, over 1,000,000 SKU and more. With a successful track record of over 100,000 clients, we are sure to deliver your orders requirements.
Let’s get in touch to build, sustain, and grow your businesses! If you would like to know more details about us, please contact us: blog.shopshipshake.com. If you are interested in cooperating with us. Please register on: https://bit.ly/3Cfdu4w
This article partly refers to: https://www.shopify.com/blog/marketing-strategies