Internet sales have been rising exponentially. Internet sales make up 8.8% of retail sales within the US and that number is still rising.
What could this mean?
The death of the brick and mortar store? That the economy has been rejuvenated? That Millennials are taking over?
No… It means you’re back in business, baby!
With so many consumers turning to the internet, business are missing out if they aren’t taking their marketing online tips.
81% of shoppers search online before making a big purchase.
Mobile commerce makes up 30% of all commerce.
The statistics don’t lie. Whether you have a brick and mortar store, an ecommerce shop, or something in between, your business can grow exponentially by utilizing online marketing.
If you’re ready to watch your sales explode, then checkout amazing tips below!
8 Best Online Marketing Tips For Increase Your Brand Sales
1) Utilize your fans.
Diamond Candles went from selling 12 candles on their first day to making over $1 million in revenue their first year by utilizing their fans.
Their product is a candle that melts to reveal a ring hidden in the wax. The rings range in value from $10-$5,000 and there’s a ring in every candle.
In order to get around their nonexistent marketing budget, they crafted a “ring reveal” campaign around their users uploading photos and videos of their rings surfacing as the candles burn.
And guess what? It worked.
Thousands of customers uploaded pictures of their rings. Conversion rates increased a whopping 13% on product pages that featured customer photos.
Create campaigns that encourage your customers to talk about your product. This is by far the cheapest and most effective way to market. Encourage them to upload pictures, videos, to share articles.
Your customers are your greatest (and cheapest) asset. Use them!
2) Celebrate the small things
We all love to have something to celebrate, right? Use this to your advantage!
When relevant, plan your marketing efforts around the holidays!
Take a look at iHop. On National Pancake Day, they offer a free stack of pancakes from 7 am to 7 pm and guess what?
They do a lot of business that day.
Similarly, on National Taco Day, Taco Bell offers a limited special taco gift box and you can bet the lines are out the door.
Do limited promotions. Give away free gifts. People love to have a reason to celebrate, so why not have them celebrate with your product?
Not to mention it will help your brand awareness and create a positive correlation between your brand and your customers.
3) Give it a deadline
Let’s take a look at Black Friday, the single largest retail event of the year. For one day only, stores slash their prices storewide up to 75%.
What makes Black Friday so popular?
The sales, yes. Everybody wants to save money.
More important though, is the urgency of it. For ONE day only, you can get these sales. If you wait longer than that, you’ll have to wait a whole year before you can find a deal this good.
Consumers feel pressured. They don’t want to wait a year to buy a TV for $400.
So, what have we learned here?
Sales are good. Sales with a deadline are even better.
4) Use Google Shopping Campaigns
Did you know that Google processes over 40,000 searches per second?
That’s a lot of people searching for things on the internet. Wouldn’t it make sense that some of them will search for products that you sell?
Google offers a service that allows retailers to sell their product within their search engine.
This allows retailers to market to customers without leaving their search engine. Remember, the less work a customer has to do, the more likely they are to buy your product.
A few ways to make your Google Shopping Campaigns stand out are:
- Make sure that your images are high quality. You want your images to be crisp and clear with a simple white background.
- Make sure your images are SEO Optimized. See, Google can’t tell what a picture is about just by the image alone. Instead, they need an Alt Tag, an HTML attribute that is applied to images to provide a text alternative for search engines. This will help your products rank higher.
- Include product reviews. You need at least 50 reviews for them to show up on your product, so make sure you solicit reviews from satisfied customers.
5) Everybody loves video
Videos are amazing marketing material. It’s estimated that between 64%-85% of viewers are more likely to buy a product after watching a video.
This commercial from Purple, an online mattress retailer, has garnered 158 million reviews on Youtube. That’s a lot of publicity from one video!
When creating your own product videos, keep in mind what consumers are looking for. They want a solution to their problems, and they want it delivered in an entertaining, engaging format.
6) Work with your trends
If you’ve been in the industry for awhile, you probably know when business is booming or when it begins to decline. If you don’t, you can check out the United States Census Bureau to check out trends within your industry.
Plan around these peaks and declines. Doing things such as expanding your ad budget during seasonal peak times or creating new products to attract new customers during a decline in business can help you gain more business and more profit.
7) Retarget your ads to get the most out of your customers
Retargeting your ads to consumers that have either bought or interacted with your product online is a great way to get the most out of your consumers.
Using online retargeting, you can choose to remarket to customers that have clicked on a product page without purchasing, to customers that have gone through with a purchase, or to customers who are interested in products similar to yours. The possibilities are endless.
For instance, if you sell a vacuum that needs an air filter change every 3 months, a smart way to retarget would be to send that customer an ad for air filters 3 months after purchase. Or if a customer bought hiking boots through your website, sending them ads for cushioned sport socks may be a good idea.
8) Speak Local
There’s a reason huge, multi-million dollar enterprises split their marketing companies regionally instead of just advertising nationwide. People want to feel like a business is a part of their community and are more likely to do business with them if they feel like they’re involved.
So, pay attention to what’s going on in your area or the area you are targeting. Is there a run for cancer research happening? Offer to table a booth and give out free bags or hats with your logo on them. Sponsor local sports teams. Donate to charitable local organizations.
People do business with people, not businesses. Get to know your community!
Watch your sales EXPLODE
Take these ideas. Make them your own.
If you sell cups, create a Shamrock green one for St. Patrick’s day. Create a limited time sale for that stock you’ve been trying to get rid of for months. Encourage your customers to upload their cool pictures using your photo app.
The possibilities are endless!
Oh, and leave a comment and let us know which of these tips worked out best for you!