Let’s face it: running an eCommerce business, let alone to notch up success, is not at all a simple or easy journey. It is far away from being that ‘piece of cake’ or ‘a breeze.’ In your initial stage, just simply setting up your Facebook page or an eCommerce website is by no means even yet a triumphant completion. A lot of entry (and even existing) entrepreneurs mistake that step as a victorious completion–screaming out in joy, “There it is–my store; my business!”–but to set up an eCommerce without a digital marketing plan forward is but to put a house upon a land that has no road and thus no traffic for both your visitors to get in and you, along with your employees, to reach out; a connection is let loose; your victorious move is now but solitude and suffering. The thing is that whether right now you are an entry or existing player, you can begin to pave a road for your eCommerce business and connect it to larger traffics for more customers, sales, and profits as much as you indeed desire. Whether you are in any state right now, be informed that you are not alone in your downtime and, at the same time, in your opportunity to bounce back. The number of giant eCommerce businesses all experience the similar suffering state at one time or another and can bounce back upon discovering one or two or more suitable eCommerce marketing channels for their businesses. The following 3 eCommerce marketing channels, along with further tips for your further references and adaptions, are selected for its most influential status and proven success. It may sound quite slippery to place trust in the words such as ‘the most’ in your decision-making, but when it’s come to eCommerce marketing channels, do trust us, a prominent eCommerce marketing agency based in Bangkok for many years, that chances are one or two or all the following traffics will be your most valuable tool(s) at one time or another and even all the time for your long-standing, sustainable success. Beyond ready? Here we go:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Standing for Search Engine Optimization, SEO refers to the practice of increasing traffic to your website through organic search engine results. The term “traffic” refers to the number of visitors who come to visit a web page, and the term “organic” here refers to an authentic (non-paid) search engine result that does not come from paid ads. To appear in a search engine result, particularly on the first page and in top positions, is not simply to increase your presence but all your chances to reach out and connect with your clients–the main road towards your potential traffic, sales, and profits. According to statistics conducted by HubSpot (2020), about 64% of marketers “actively invest in search engine optimization,” and according to a 2019 study, “search traffic generated 65% of total eCommerce sessions,” in which “33% was generated through organic search, and 32% was generated through paid search” (Statista, 2019).
What We Advise our Clients Regarding SEO:
- Although paid ads such as paid-per-click (PPC) can boost your rank into the top position in almost an instant and you may find that paid ads help increase your sales and profits, it is important to note that once you stop paying that specific ad, you also in an instant disappear from the rank while an efficient investment in SEO can secure you a more long-standing, sustainable top position. That is, a thoughtful entrepreneur may consider PPC for a short-term purpose and SEO for a long-term purpose. In a 2019 survey conducted by Databox, 70% of participants also said that “SEO is better than PPC for generating sales.”
- SEO is not about to increase any traffic but high-quality traffic, meaning your optimization goal is not to receive any visitors but visitors who are genuinely interested in your products and services.
- The current trend in SEO right now is no more simply desktop traffic but also mobile traffic. According to Statista (2020), “mobile web traffic has consistently accounted for about half of all global web traffic since the beginning of 2017,” and almost 25% of companies “invest in mobile optimization as a top SEO tactic” (HubSpot, 2020).
2. Content Marketing
Another long-term strategic approach is content marketing or so-called Inbound Marketing with a specific focus on creating valuable, high-quality content to attract and maintain a target audience. The content strategic approach can include blogs, video content, infographics, and guidelines or all form of content to attract and maintain your target audience. Indeed, Inbound or content marketing is also a part of SEO tactics. That is, if you can optimize your content with an SEO strategy, e.g., with some suitable keywords, a search engine will also recognize your brand more and suggest you more to your target audience. Today, “70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing” (HubSpot, 2020) and 70% of companies hire “a team of one-to-three content specialists” (SEMrush, 2019). It is another fundamental digital marketing approach that you should never take for granted if you desire to acquire a sustainable competitive advantage.
What We Advise our Clients Regarding Content Marketing:
- Our clients often ignore content strategy, thinking that content is but a text and perhaps requires no optimization, but it is important to note that a text is but everything that a potential consumer will first evaluate a brand. It is a form of communication that establishes a brand presence and value, not simply SEO. Invest in content marketing is thus an investment in both your brand presence and your connection with your both potential and existing customers.
3. Social Media Marketing
Social media networks are no longer merely a place of communication between families or friends but also, more and more, a center where consumers and brands meet and interact with each other. The social media digital marketing channel can be both free organic traffic or paid advertisements provided by each own platform. The way to thrive in social media marketing is to comprehend each platform’s mechanisms, strengths, and weaknesses that all lie in its all features. While both Facebook and Twitter do have similar hashtag feature, for example, Facebook does not design its website in a way that supports hashtag activity and engagement as quite best as Twitter, and to succeed in Twitter is not to get more likes as in Facebook, but more retweets, a feature that is similar to Facebook’s share feature, but is quite more easily acquired than Facebook’s share due to Twitter’s specific supportive climate. All the same, if you want to invest in branding, Facebook, with its platform design, can be a more suitable choice for you than Twitter, and on Instagram, pictures and short yet engaging captions are what it counts. It is, therefore, important that you are aware enough of each platform’s strengths and weaknesses to optimize your social media strategy.
What We Advise our Clients Regarding Social Media Marketing:
- When it’s come to social media marketing, do consider including your social listening as an integral part of your social media scheme. Social listening refers to the practice of monitoring your brand’s social media channels for all information related to your brand, such as customer feedback or direct mentions of your brand. One way to comprehend social listening is to think of it as a center of all information you shall need and directly get from your audience to improve your social media performance. It is also a great strategy to establish and nourish your brand loyalty. According to a study conducted by Sprout Social, 83% of participants indeed “like when brands respond to question” and 68% “like when brands join conversations.” The survey conducted by HubSpot in 2020 also reported that “social listening is the number one tactic used by marketers.”
Whether you are considering investing in any eCommerce marketing channels, make sure that you have set up a clear expectation and goal and comprehend deeply each method’s strengths and weaknesses. Consider hiring a professional digital marketing agency if you feel that each step is too much overwhelming because, truth be told, it is overwhelming. All the same, whether you consider hiring an agency or not, be knowledgeable about all your options as much as possible, because at the end of the day, it is still you who makes a final decision, and although an agency such as us will almost decide everything for you, we still respect and value our clients much enough to leave all final decisions to our clients–we walk you through all tough steps but we will not take any steps for you unless you most agree.
