E-commerce Marketing Plan to Defeat Your Competitors

The e-commerce industry is constantly evolving, and those who don’t remain at the top of new improvements and trends, will quickly fall behind the competition.

In spite of the healthy growth in the e-commerce market, numerous online business owners are finding it difficult to break through the noise and make their products stand out. Following crucial e-commerce SEO tips has become extremely necessary to defeat competitors. 

Below are some killer marketing ideas and strategies that you can use to draw customers’ attention and generate more sales.

 

1- Set a Marketing Goal

The key to defining achievable marketing goals is to invest time assessing your current position.

Keep in mind that the focus here is to answer the question:

“What are you looking to accomplish?”

Based on past performance and your overall business strategy, goals need to be set.

To help minimize the guesswork and set the correct objectives, HubSpot put together a free-goal setting template.

Goals need to be SMART:

• Specific- Set genuine numbers with real deadlines. Try not to say, “I need more customers.”
• Measurable- Ensure that you can track your objective. Don’t hide behind popular expressions like social impact, brand engagement.
• Attainable- Work towards a goal that is challenging, but possible.
• Realistic- Be straightforward with yourself since you can recognize what you and your team are prepared to do.
• Time bound- Give yourself a deadline.

Here are some general tips to remember when developing marketing goals and objectives: 

• Assess your present position in the market and set realistic goals.
• Understand growth year-to-date and set achievable, however, difficult goals accordingly.
• Tie your goals to overall mission and vision.
• Don’t overpower yourself.

 

2- Target Market/Personas

Recognizing your target market is the key to e-commerce success.

It’s best to build up your target market during the planning stages of your online business.

• The most important part of any form of marketing is figuring out who you are targeting. You should constantly remind yourself of who you are aiming for.
• Another thing you should remember is knowing accurately where your target market and more specifically personas hang out.
• What kind of blogs, newspapers, magazines, applications, shops do they utilize and go to? Where do they go outside of work?
• One simple approach to monitor this is to make a list.

You can see the below example:

 

3- Marketing Strategy for More Repeat Orders from Existing Customers

It’s always good to concentrate on making new deals in order to develop your business. But to keep your business flourishing, giving attention to existing customers is essential.

Below are strategies that will engage your customers in thinking about your products:

Loyalty Programs

In order to increase orders and encourage repeat purchases, use loyalty programs.

Offer points to customers when they spend over a certain amount.

Providing incentives & discounts on partner events are some approaches that you can use to make people feel special.

Engage in Brand Development

People love to be asked about their opinion and you can expect enormous engagement from your customers if you ask them for new features/ variations to add to your line.

Recycling Events

There are times when people want to purchase a new item, yet at the same time they have the old product that’s still working.

Make it simple for your customers, and more importantly lock their cash, by accepting old products for a discount in return.

User-Generated Contests and Content

You can hold a competition for your customers on Facebook and Instagram to urge them to post images with their purchases and promote the brand to their network for likes and prizes.

 

4- Marketing Strategy for Increasing Order Value

In order to make people spend more in one sitting, you can either make them get more things or purchase the more pricey ones.

Price is connected to quality, you boost your brand image, and gain trust to justify higher prices:

• Use free shipping thresholds as they are powerful and helps in increasing your average order value.

According to Deloitte’s holiday survey:

71% of customers say they’re more likely to purchase from retailers that offers free dispatching.

40% say they will purchase more things to qualify for free shipping.

• Volume discounts can be a solid strategy for increasing order value on products that customers typically buy.

For example, “If you sell nail polish, customers will typically want multiple colors, so you can offer a discount for buying 3 or more polishes.”

• You can use cashback techniques in the form of gift vouchers.

For example, “Free $10 voucher on your next purchase when you spend $40.” It can really boost your average order value.

• Add a limited duration to the offer as it can create a feeling of urgency among visitors and urge them to buy more quickly. Generally this type of strategy is used for seasonal promotions.

For example, “Get 60% off on all products” can motivate visitors to browse more products.

• Free gift offers will also help increase your average order value.

For example, “Spend just $10 and get a free gift.”

 

5- Know What Makes You Unique

Understanding your unique selling proposition (USP) and promoting that USP is essential in beating competition and setting your organization’s value in the marketplace.

Your USP links closely with your brand and your content, because those are the channels your USP will be communicated through.

Strong USP helps in building your brand. Your brand is the way people think about you.

Buyers begin to consider you differently when you have a strong USP.

Below are some approaches that will help you in differentiating your store from competitors:

●    Narrow your Target Audience

By narrowing down your best customers, you will have a strategy on how you can market specifically to future customers.

• Use your Personality

Sometimes your personality alone is a powerful difference if you are maintaining a very small business.

Here are a few things to ask yourself, using your buyer personas as a guide, to find a unique selling proposition:

• What can you offer your customers that no one else can?
• Why should your customers purchase your products?
• What value does your business convey to your customers lives?
• How can you ease customer pain points more successfully?

 

6- Competitive Advantage

It’s mandatory to have a competitive advantage. If you do not have an edge over your competitors, then you cannot compete.

There are essentially three key areas to concentrate on when choosing a competitive advantage:

• Quality: You can choose to beat the competition by offering a superior quality than others.
• Price: You can beat the competition by offering low prices.
• Service: You can beat the competition by offering a memorable customer service.

You can never convey satisfaction to your customers without the component of good customer service.

People may not remember how good your product is, how much you made them pay but they always remember how you made them feel with your service.

 

7- Share Your Story

Building a successful online store in today’s hyper-competitive e-commerce landscape requires more than an appealing website, a nice product display and simple checkout.

New e-commerce shops are popping up every week and new products are going viral each day, you need to do your best in order to:

Connect with your customers, keep them loyal, and induce them to make a purchase again and again. Storytelling enables you to do it.

You must always tell the story of your brand in a way that builds trust with prospective customers.

Why do you exist? Why should someone choose you? What do you care about?

These are some of the serious questions that every customer will ask.

Here’s how the five components of a story are also the basis of a content strategy:

You can check the below given tips on how you can use storytelling for your e-commerce business that improve sales:

Replace Product Description with Product Stories

Tell your customers interesting stories related to the product.

For example, Zady is an online retailer of apparel, accessories and home products for both men and women that uses storytelling while writing product descriptions.

Entertain Your Customers

Besides purchasing products, all customers want to be entertained. Make your product stories simple and memorable.

For example: The J. Peterman Company is an outfit website that celebrates vintage fashion.

Add User Generated Content

Publishing the feedback of your customers and their experiences with your brand can act as a great crowd pleaser.

People are not only interested in your product features, rather they are more interested in knowing how your products have helped past customers or changed their lives.

 

8- Video Marketing

In the last few years, video marketing has risen significantly with the introduction of Facebook live and other video-based social platforms like Snapchat.

Before you make a video, think about what this will offer to your customers.

Is it to explain how your product works? Or to give an inside look into your brand?

• Create a video interview with someone involved in your company.
• It should have a clear call to action at the end.
• Build your video by keeping in mind your target audience.
• Create your video with unique ideas, it will help your video stand out from the crowd.
• Be honest and authentic.
• Ensure that your video is not too long in duration. Keep it under two or three minutes.

Staying current with these latest marketing techniques is crucial for any e-commerce website.

It’s important to convey relevant, interesting and valuable content and products that really suits the requirements of your target market.

You can simply follow the above-mentioned points to protect your market and to challenge competitors.