Marketing

A Step-by-Step Guide to Create a Basic eCommerce Marketing Plan for Your Startup

You may have all the details nailed down when it comes to startup funding. You probably know your target market and price points. But do you know where to start when it comes to eCommerce marketing? With eCommerce spending set to hit $4.9 trillion by 2023, putting an eCommerce marketing action plan together is a task your startup can’t afford to avoid. Are you unsure how to get started on creating an eCommerce marketing strategy that will help your startup achieve its goals? Follow this step-by-step ecommerce marketing plan to ensure your startup is getting its piece of that pie.

Step 1: Know your product. If your product is in demand, you as the seller need to have an in-depth understanding of why that is. What are the features of your product or service that clients most appreciated? What are the benefits of your product over others on the market?  List out the details of why your product is in demand and how you intend to capitalize on that. Knowing what drives the demand for your product will then drive how you complete the following steps.

Step 2: Do your homework: According to Forbes, it is vital that you understand why a consumer chooses one seller over another. Take this step to investigate how others in your market are doing business. Are their Instagram posts creating a ton of engagement? Do they have a lot of follower interaction on Twitter? Understand what is being done in this market to create and retain business. Make note of what works and does not work for your competition. You will need to use this information when creating your own ecommerce marketing plan.

Step 3: Determine the appropriate marketing channels: After step 2, you now know how your product performs on various social media platforms and how traffic is driven to websites that sell it. It is now time to zone in on which of the platforms will be worth your while as a means to generate business. If you sell desk chairs, is Twitter the best place to engage customers? Should you start a subreddit about lumbar support? The details of your research will inform your decisions about where to expend your effort on social media.

Step 4: Dial in the Search Engine Optimization (SEO): It would be great if a website with engaging content was all you needed to get to the top of the Google search. Make sure that your site is optimized to show up in the search results. You will want to create some backlinks, add relevant key words, and invite engagement. Sitting back and hoping people stumble across your site will not bring the clicks you need. Ensure you have created a site that invites visits and offers a great user interface to easily allow customers to make purchases.

Step 5: Begin Content Marketing: When creating content for your site, it is not enough to just be relevant and engaging. Use your sites content to encourage future customers to sign up for an email list. eBooks and free PDF are also great tools to bring site visitors. Instead of posting content that tells protentional customers about your product, write blogs explaining what important features one should look for when buying that product. Revisit step 2 and see how the competition is doing it to learn from their successes and avoid making their mistakes.

Step 6: Put your data to use: Data analysis an important part of your eCommerce marketing strategy because it demonstrates what went well and what could use some adjustments. It will show you plenty of details about your customers such as age, location, and buying habits. You have access to this data in real time which means you can make any needed adjustments to your strategy quickly and easily. It also prevents you from making changes that won’t be effective since you’ll have a clear picture of who your customer is and what drives their habits as a consumer.

Step 7: Don’t stop: Your eCommerce marketing action plan may seem final, but it never truly is. Markets change. Customers change. The popularity of social media platforms changes as well. That means you will always need to review your strategy and make sure it is continuing to drive the results you are looking for. Stay on top of market trends. Know what consumers are looking for and what is out of style. Use this info to correct the parts of your strategy that may no longer work.

Now that you have reviewed these steps, you can jump right in to creating an eCommerce marketing plan that will work for you needs and create the results you want. This work can be completed right from your laptop, so there’s nothing hold you back from starting to put together your strategy today. There is a $4.9 trillion pie out there. The time is not to start making a plan for how your organization will get is piece.

Marketing Chatters team has web designers, bloggers, and influencers talking about online marketing, web and social media. The purpose of this blog is to share easy tips and tricks along with best services and products recommendations.

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