Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
After taking the plunge into the world of e-commerce and launching your Shopify store, you’re probably looking for ways to attract new customers. Even with great design and a strong product offering, standing out in a crowded market can be tough. Fortunately, there are several practical strategies and actions you can take to promote and drive traffic to your business. Depending on your needs and goals, these can include anything from social media marketing to paid advertising to email marketing campaigns.
Shopify is currently the leading platform for e-commerce brands and powers nearly two million business online stores. It goes without saying, but the competition in the world of e-commerce is fierce; retailers looking to stay relevant and stand out must establish a strong marketing strategy this will actually move the mark.
Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your business to the next level, it’s essential to prioritize marketing and make it a crucial part of your overall e-commerce strategy. This can lead to increased sales, greater brand recognition and the development of a loyal customer base.
Related: 5 Essential Shopify SEO Tips to Get More Organic Traffic
1. Boost your search engine attractiveness
To attract more traffic and give potential customers the best chance of finding you when they search for similar products, it’s essential to prioritize Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This strategy takes patience, time, and ongoing effort, but the investment is worth it.
There are several key steps to optimizing your Shopify store. These include optimizing your store architecture, performing in-depth keyword research to identify relevant keywords for your business, refining your on-page optimization over time and implementing an effective link building strategy.
Remember that SEO is an ongoing process that requires ongoing effort. Fortunately, Shopify offers built-in marketing tools, including SEO optimization features, to help you optimize for search engines. Additionally, you can improve your SEO efforts and maintain a steady flow of traffic by using various third-party SEO tools and Shopify apps.
If you prioritize SEO and take the necessary steps to optimize your Shopify store for search engines, you will gradually be able to attract a larger audience, increase your sales and grow your business.
2. Amplify your reach with digital ads
Investing in paid ads is a very effective strategy, especially if you’re just starting out or struggling to gain exposure through organic search marketing. Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, like Google Ads, can be a great option for driving more traffic to your site because the ads appear at the top of search results. In a PPC campaign, you set a maximum bid and only pay when someone clicks on your link. A well-targeted and well-written PPC campaign can bring traffic to your Shopify store immediately. However, it should be noted that your competitors and the ad platform determine how much you pay per visitor, even though you control your overall spend.
Another option for paid advertising is to run campaigns on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok, the most common networks for paid advertising. To determine which platform is best for you, perform various tests and analyze your ad’s performance.
have attractive visual content and persuasive copywriting that attracts potential customers is key to creating successful advertisements. Be creative! Successful advertising campaigns need this creative appeal to capture buyers’ attention.
Before launching your ads, think about the most relevant keywords for your business and target your ads to specific audiences to ensure your campaigns are effective. Paid advertising campaigns can educate potential customers about your Shopify brand and retarget previous site visitors, making them an effective tactic to attract new customers and guide buyers to return.
Related: The 9 Best Shopify Apps to Increase Sales Available for Free
3. Use influencer marketing
During the last years, influencer marketing has gained immense popularity and proven to be an effective way to market your Shopify store, especially for brands in the fashion, beauty, and CPG industries. Essentially, influencer marketing is a partnership between a brand and an influencer, and it’s becoming an increasingly popular choice for brand marketing budgets. Finding an influencer whose niche audience aligns with your product or brand is crucial to getting started with influencer marketing. You also need to establish a relationship with the influencer, who will create their own content to help position your brand.
Influencer marketing is very effective for e-commerce businesses. Seventy-one percent of marketers find that it generates better quality customers and traffic than other sources. Consumers trust influencer recommendations because they create a direct communication channel and leverage the credibility and trust of public figures. Actually, 64% of merchants agree that influencer marketing is an enhanced form of word of mouth marketing, which is the most effective form of marketing.
This personalized approach is especially effective in today’s world, where so many brand choices inundate consumers. Influencer marketing is a very reliable direct marketing strategy because recommendations from real people carry more weight than conventional paid advertisements.
4. Master your referral program
Referral programs can be an effective strategy where satisfied customers become brand advocates and receive rewards such as discounts or free products. You can reach a wider audience by encouraging past customers to recommend your products to their network. This approach is particularly effective because people tend to trust recommendations from friends and family more than advertising. Word of mouth marketing is such a powerful tool that it can generate up to five times more sales than traditional paid advertising.
Unlike customer reviews, a referral program involves direct word-of-mouth marketing where people share their positive experiences with your products with loved ones, generating new leads that are highly likely to convert. There are several platforms and tools available to create a customer referral program, such as Talkable, which offers an in-app referral program to help find brand advocates.
To attract new customers to your Shopify store, you can use several strategies to promote your business and drive traffic, such as search engine optimization (SEO), paid advertising, influencer marketing, and marketing programs. customer recommendation. Implementing these tactics can attract more customers, increase sales, and develop a loyal customers. Remember to be creative and invest time and effort in continuously improving your marketing strategy to stay ahead in the competitive e-commerce industry.