Every entrepreneur views getting their first actual customer as a huge accomplishment.
But it takes effort and attention to close your first transaction. Finding the marketing strategies that make the most sense for your company and yield valuable results can be challenging given the vast number of platforms and methods available.
Table of Content
- Why targeted traffic is important for new business
- Pursuing low-hanging fruit as free traffic sources
- Paid advertising: Investing money to generate income
- Reaching out to already-existing audiences
- Analyse: Looking back to improve
To advance, you must get out there
Why targeted traffic is important for new business
It’s simple to assume you’re doing better as a new internet store owner if you pick at the smallest elements when developing your company behind closed doors, such as changing your mind about fonts, pricing, and brand colours.
On the other hand, only by opening your company up to the public can you actually progress. If you don’t develop a standard that you can quantify with precise data, you won’t know where you’re progressing. Because of this, traffic is crucial.
If you don’t drive traffic, you won’t know if there is any demand in your products. If you don’t generate traffic, you won’t know if your pricing are too expensive. If you don’t generate visitors, you won’t be able to tell if your brand appeals to your target market.
I put forward this challenge as a result:
“No matter where you are in your business, devote the next 30 days to concentrating above all else on bringing targeted visitors to your store.”
I’ve put some of the most broadly applicable ecommerce marketing strategies into a checklist you can use to focus your efforts, along with beginner-friendly resources to learn how to implement them, to help you step up your marketing.
To get warmed up, we’ll start this checklist with some free and simple traffic sources. Next, we’ll move on to marketing that is even more precisely targeted and calls for greater time or even monetary inputs.
What you should know before starting
Avoid a method if it doesn’t work for your business and the products you sell. It’s unlikely that Pinterest would be your first choice if you were selling computer keyboards, for instance.
As you apply each marketing strategy, set up Google Analytics in ahead and keep a tight check on traffic. Not everything will succeed. So prepare to spend the next 30 days swiftly studying and iterating as you work towards making your first transaction.
Pursuing low-hanging fruit as free traffic sources
The free sources of traffic should be looked into initially. Usually, this entails manually promoting your store to your network and pertinent internet communities.
These traffic sources are an excellent place to start because they’re accessible to all online store owners and reasonably simple to implement. The following advice should be kept in mind when you work with free traffic sources:
- Tip 1: To encourage visitors to visit your store, think about providing a promo code.
- Tip 2: Every online activity you take has the potential to increase foot traffic to your shop. Your personal web accounts, such as your Twitter bio or your Disqus profile for blog comments, should include your store URL.
- Tip 3: Don’t bombard audiences with unoriginal, ineffective marketing messaging. Instead, focus on adding value and developing sincere relationships.
Connect to your own network
It’s not untrue that many business owners make their initial sales through personal relationships. In order to let your whole network know about your store, post it on your personal Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Snapchat profiles.
To spread the word about the opening of your store, think about sending individual emails to your closest contacts. Ask them directly to contribute a share; they are not need to make a purchase from you in order to support you.
This is an excellent technique to collect early feedback even if any sales you make this way won’t be as satisfying as when you gain the trust of a total stranger as a customer.
Don’t get disheartened if you don’t make any sales from this because it’s the least qualified traffic source on the list overall.
Everyone (since we all have friends, family, and coworkers), but especially those with sizable personal networks on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, or LinkedIn who are already reasonably engaged online.
Participate in internet communities
Don’t underestimate the importance of placing a link to your store in the appropriate location. Find specialty online groups in your field, post in forums like Reddit, and join Facebook Groups. You can connect with folks who have banded together based on shared interests through any of these methods. Look for hobbies that are related to your line of work.
Join groups that your target audience is a part of, get involved, and make connections with other members of the group. You can share a link to your store, possibly along with a discount code, once you’ve established a reputation and made genuine contacts.
Groups are another way to access advice and assistance from seasoned businesspeople. Check out, for instance, the following communities:
- r/Entrepreneur
- r/ecommerce
- Shopify Business Owners Facebook Group Increases Sales Instagram Group
- Entrepreneurs and innovative ideas Facebook Group
- Community for Shopify
- Suitable for: stores that cater to particular interest groups, such as dog owners.
However, anyone can benefit from online support groups for entrepreneurs to gain helpful advice from people who have already done it.
Paid advertising: Investing money to generate income
Using paid advertising to swiftly attract targeted traffic is the best approach to make money online. The good news is that you can pay per click on a lot of paid advertising channels. You may be able to start with a budget of just $10 in some circumstances.
Because each advertising platform is unique, you should pick these channels depending on your target audience and how the tools will help you connect with potential customers. You might even want to look into which social networks are popular in particular marketplaces if you’re targeting particular nations.
Fill your primary profile’s feed with a number of posts before looking into paid social media marketing (curating content is a simple route to take). Then it won’t be entirely deserted.
Learn more: Improved Shopify Audiences Can Help You Attract More Clients While Spending Less on Advertising
Advertising on Facebook
Facebook has one of the most diversified user bases of any social network in terms of age, income, gender, and ethnicity, according to Pew Research.
Because of this, a variety of firms can use Facebook’s targeting features, which include age, gender, job title, geography, and interest, to find their ideal consumers.
Interests is a very helpful one to mention. The pages that Facebook users have liked can be used as a starting point to create ideal buyer profiles that decide who sees your adverts.
Recommended for: Business owners that have a firm grasp on the characteristics of their prospective clients. If you focus on individuals who are interested in pop culture icons, a company that sells t-shirts with pop culture references, for instance, can easily find its audience on Facebook.
United By Blue advertises on Facebook to spread the word about their green products. To market their clothing, they can specifically target customers who are concerned about the environment and conservation. This illustration shows a carousel advertisement that advertises several product groups.
Instagram Marketing
The website has other appeals besides its primarily young demographic and visual nature.
In addition, according to data from Smart Insights, it has one of the most active user populations among social networks. If you employ pertinent hashtags, it’s a terrific venue for regular unpaid posts to reach a sizable audience in addition to influencer marketing. A tool like Taler can help you select the best Instagram story templates to get started if you need assistance with your creativity.
To increase traffic, you can use Instagram advertising to show your own visual advertisement in other people’s feeds. The cosmetics and skincare company Follain advertises on Instagram to promote its free samples. The advertisement has received over 3,600 views, as you can see.
Pinterest advertising
A frequently overlooked outlet is Pinterest. But it’s also the one with the best-defined user base. According to Pinterest, the majority of its users are female, and HootSuite claims that many of them are affluent. Furthermore, both free and paid initiatives might result in significant traffic generation.
Similar to scrapbooking, using Pinterest involves users creating boards to gather and save “Pins” based on predetermined themes. When you promote on Pinterest, keep in mind that it’s frequently used to organise wardrobes, save fascinating articles, and organise events.
Pinterest has many options that make it simple to market on it, from Promoted Pins to Buyable Pins.
Recommended for: Any sector where visual appeal is key, especially if you’re learning how to sell products online to women. This includes fashion, home décor, food, art, and designs.
Ads by Google
When they want to buy something, many individuals search for it on Google first. When customers search for pertinent terms, your website can be displayed at the top of the page using Google Ads, formerly known as Google AdWords.
Google advertising has several choices, including text advertising that are prominently displayed in search results and shopping ads, which present your product’s image and price in a format that is more suited for online stores.
To find out how many people are searching for terms that may be relevant to your target audience, conduct keyword research. Because of the confusing design of Google Ads, many people find it scary. If you want to take advantage of the possibility but would prefer to delegate it, think about hiring a Shopify Expert.
Recommended for: Local businesses, popular products/services, and trending goods.
Reaching out to already-existing audiences
If you are the only one communicating about your brand, it won’t be particularly effective. Thanks to the internet, anyone may now create a platform, which enables you to collaborate with them.
The following strategies not only aid in increasing traffic, but also frequently involve the usage of content (a news article or a product review, for instance) that enhances the legitimacy of your business. Essentially, with each fruitful partnership, you’re slaying two birds with one stone.
Always keep in mind: “What’s in it for them?” is a crucial question to ask oneself when pitching to develop these partnerships.
Contact with bloggers
A little-known fact regarding online material is this: Publishers are constantly searching for new material and compelling narratives.
You might be able to land a space on a blog or publication that your ideal clients read with a strong pitch built around a compelling tale or intriguing product. Find magazines that are related to your niche and try to pitch them on your company.
Here are some suggestions for how you can collaborate:
- Make a guest post and submit it. Use your author bio to describe your business and link to it while sharing your knowledge on a certain subject.
- Request product evaluations. Give a blogger a free sample of your goods in exchange for a review.
- Suggest a news item. Make the hook for an interview-style piece your unique product or captivating origin story.
Whatever you decide, be sure your pitch will be intriguing to the writer or editor as well as their audience. Think about magazines that “fit” you first, and then consider how many people read them.
Recommended for: Entrepreneurs with captivating backstories, distinctive items that bloggers haven’t seen before, and entrepreneurs with in-depth knowledge of their specialised field who are willing to share it.
Look for strategic alliances
Partnerships can be a terrific method to expose your goods to another’s customer base.
Finding non-competitive, like-minded brands that already draw the demographic you’re after is crucial here. Finding and creating these chances can take some time and luck, but the trade-off is that you can be incredibly creative with the partnership:
- Run a competition with your item up for grabs.
- Include free samples of your goods or special offers with complimentary purchases (for instance, a drink mix sample with each order of your business partner’s water bottles).
- Support a cause.
- We’ll jointly produce something.
Prive Revaux, a manufacturer of sunglasses, frequently teams up with well-known individuals to introduce their product lines, including Madelaine Petsch, Hailee Steinfeld, and Jamie Foxx.
Engage influencers
Not just large corporations can use celebrity endorsements to promote their goods.
You can collaborate with influencers—creators who have sizable followers in your niche—to draw in an existing fan base for traffic and, while you’re doing it, get some content made about your goods.
On every platform, from YouTube to Instagram, there are influencers. In addition, there are a number of influencer marketplaces that link producers and businesses, so you may approach them directly to make a deal:
- Grapevine: One of the more well-known influencer marketplaces.
- Famebit: Endorsements start at $100, but influencers must have 5,000 followers or more in order to be listed.
- Crowdtap: This marketplace, which is smaller in scope than many others, enables you to reward tiny content creation “tasks” with cash and other incentives.
Recommended for: Products for technology and fashion are advised. Working specifically with Instagram influencers, lifestyle firms have several opportunities to market their goods in the context of lifestyle photography.
Learn more: How Can Influencer Marketing Increase Shopify Sales?
Guerrilla advertising
Not all of your traffic needs to be generated online. Take your marketing offline and do your own word-of-mouth advertising if you’re having trouble getting early sales.
Consider going to your neighbourhood dog park to distribute fliers while conversing with folks if you’re selling dog collars. Alternately, if you can quickly turn your product into samples, think about offering some for free. With your own pop-up store, you may generate some buzz.
Guerrilla marketing requires both guts and ingenuity. However, it’s never been simpler to tell someone offline to “check out my website” and watch it transfer into traffic online in the linked world we live in.
Recommended for: Anyone close to a location where offline gatherings of similar-minded people take place. If you enjoy interacting with people and don’t mind putting yourself out there, it helps even more.
Analyse: Looking back to improve
Hopefully by this stage you’ve tried enough strategies to observe an increase in traffic and perhaps even some revenues. By exposing your store to traffic, establishing a standard for its performance, and then working to improve it, you may learn how to create feedback loops as you take on this challenge.
Now that you’ve looked at your analytics dashboard (both Shopify and Google Analytics) and the feedback you’ve received from actively promoting your business, you can start diagnosing any potential issues with your site.
You can infer plausible explanations for why clients might not be purchasing from you based on the behaviour of your visitors:
- Your traffic may be of low quality or your store may be taking too long to load if you have a high bounce rate, which refers to users arriving at your website and leaving right away (you can test the latter here).
- It’s possible that you haven’t achieved product/market fit if none of your visitors added anything to their shopping carts (in which case you should look for the appropriate niche or test out various products). Or maybe they simply lack the confidence in your store to make a purchase.
- You may want to reevaluate your shipping if many carts are being abandoned after checkout.
Based on these insights, you may start making adjustments to your store to improve your chances when you do another round of promotion.
To advance, you must get out there
Connecting the dots between your brand and your customers in a world of ever-expanding options is the key to driving traffic. The fact that there are so many chances available is in part what makes marketing seem so overwhelming.
There is no one method that works for everyone. Only by experimentation, trying, failing, and improvement can you discover what works for you. Get your store out there, as that is the only way for it to expand. If you’re still having trouble, see our tutorial on how to assess your store’s performance and make improvements if you’re generating traffic but no sales.
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