10 Easy Marketing Ideas For eCommerce Sites

Running your own online store isn't as easy as everyone thinks, it's not a field of dreams, you can't just build it and they will come, sorry Kevin Costner. Having a good-looking, fast loading, a well-stocked site at competitive prices is only half the battle. You still need to consider marketing it and content is critically important for generating traffic to your store.

It's been proven that having a blog significantly improves search rankings and gives you a chance to connect with more customers. But hey not everyone amazing writer, not everyone has time to come up with a content strategy, so what do you blog about? The first blog post is always the hardest, so to get you going we decided to put together 10 ideas you can use on your eCommerce site, be it a product sale site or subscription model. Check out these ideas and we hope it helps you get in touch with your inner blogger.

1. Answer Questions About Your Industry

- Drives trust and authority Do your research and see what are the popular questions people are asking around your products and services and create a QandA about it and host it on your site. You can even take it further by amplifying it on your social media channels, hosting a live QandA via video streaming or posts on your social media pages, and engage consumers in real time. A really amazing success story of QandA comes via Marcus Sheridan of River Pools and Spas. River Pools and Spas installs fibreglass pools, the cost of which is not always transparent.

Sheridan decided to write blog posts about every aspect of fibreglass pools. Sheridan’s posts were so good that the New York Times profiled him with a headline: “A Revolutionary Marketing Strategy: Answer Customers’ Questions.” His blog posts often rank on the first page of Google for their search terms. And that’s driven both traffic and sales. While different industries have different buying cycles and buying concerns, it really doesn't matter, regardless of the journey to purchase customers will always have questions before they're willing to part with their money.

2. Profile your team

- Drives trust This one allows you a little more creative freedom, to set yourself apart from your competitor, endear yourself to the potential customer, put a face and human element to your services and reassure customers of the calibre of people they will be dealing with. There’s a variety of things that you can do from can writing up a short bio of them that includes their interests and where they’ve been. Or as an interview in the format of a QandA, when you spend 15 minutes chatting with someone on your team and then write up the questions and their responses.

Protip! These concepts and type of content can easily be translated to a video or podcast format and give you added exposure across multiple mediums.

Team profiles is an easy way to generate some good content. Most importantly, it gives your customers a sense of who they’re dealing with. When they purchase a product from your store, they know that they’re buying from real people with real passions. I'm sure your team is made up of interesting people. Why not feature their stories?

3. Tell the history of your company

Being an entrepreneur means something special, it's synonymous with risk-taking and normally has special motivations behind it. Few people think of it, and even fewer people act on it. So what’s your founding story? Share the story of why you decided to become an entrepreneur, why this field of businesses and how you aim to shape your business going forward. Was it driven by an event? Was it the result of a special trip? Were you struck by inspiration of some sort? Tell the story that brought on the brand and connect better with your customers.

4. Give a sneak peek of new products (and ask for feedback)

- Drives interest and authority There’s two ways that this tactic can be valuable: First, it generates excitement from your customers for a new product. If they like what you do and are loyal towards your brand, they’ll feel especially good that they get to see a new thing first. Second, it has the potential to increase engagement. If you manufacture your products, consider floating a prototype for people to see; they may offer valuable input on what can be improved. And if you don’t manufacture your own products, ask your readers which of the options you can stock most appeals to them. Let them anticipate something that they’ll buy from you.

5. Make a tutorial/unboxing of your products

- Drives authority Not every product needs an in-depth tutorial on how it's used. But for certain products, this can be a big help.Does your product have cool, non-obvious uses? Is it best enjoyed in a certain condition? Is there something that the customer should do to make the most of it? By all means, point all of these things out. Potential customers may see one more way to use your product and existing customers may be pleased to discover a new way to use it. Everybody wins when your customers know how to use your products.

6. Write about an event you participated In

- Drives interest and authority If you help put on an event then you should definitely write about it. But you can also write about something that you don’t own, like your thoughts on a conference. Write up your impressions and thoughts about a conference or meetup you went to. It shows that you’re paying attention to where your industry is going and people will appreciate the insights. Make sure to snap a few pictures and post them up too.

7. Make a video

- Drives interest and authority Content marketing is only blogging. It can be making videos, writing emails, and other kinds of content-generation too. Sometimes you just can’t write about how to use a product. You have to show, not tell. Then it’s time to post a video on Youtube (or some other platform). Besides, video marketing is effective. By one estimate, consumers are 64% more likely to purchase a product after watching a product video. Shoot a product tutorial, launch your product or service, its benefits, news on our business and more

8. Make a video: How your product is made

- Drives interest Our last suggestion for an easy piece of content: Make a video of how your product is made. Do you have a very interesting manufacturing process? Does it require special tools and equipment? Is the process fun to look at? Shoot a video of its production.

9. Create content around common problems

- Drives authority This one is very similar to my first point in this article but has more of a CRM focus and ideal for post-purchase issues. Let's face it not everyone who purchases your product or uses your service will take to it naturally. There are many reasons your consumers may not be getting the best out of your product or service. Creating content on common issues and how to get around them, how to optimise performance and how to extend the life expectancy or get the maximum use out of something will not only set you up as the go-to resource for many but also where customers will return to when they need a replacement product or as their preferred service provider.

10. Guest posts from suppliers or industry professionals

- Drives authority As you grow in your industry you should have built up some relationships, have friends with similar interests and expertise so why not take advantage of it. Have them contribute to your site with key insights, views, experiences in the industry, how they've seen your business or even their business grow. Do not limit their creativity, as long as the content they provide is relevant to your audience.

Check out the guest post section on our site for a better idea on how to execute this strategy

11. Bonus tip! Creating exclusive content for newsletter subscribers

- Drives interest Building a strong email database is key to creating a marketing mix that constantly grows traffic and lowers ROI at the same time. But people aren't going to subscribe to your newsletter database unless there's something in it for them. Using your emails to drive exclusive content or using it as the first medium of release is a great way to attract users to sign up without breaking the bank on monetary incentives like competitions, vouchers or discounts.

Gain trust and show your authority

Remember you are the expert and you know your business well, customers don't simply purchase on price but they want more of a relationship with brands and service providers. Hit the key touch points of knowledge and authority and Google will reward you in SEO rankings while customers will begin to trust you know what you're talking about. The list above is a great way to get started but there are lots more opportunities to create great content, that is compelling. Telling people about cool things in your field in a cool enough way, so go out there and spread the good news.

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Tags: Content Marketing, SEO