Don’t be surprised if the lion’s share of blog posts and other venues devoted to offering tips on building and sustaining your ecommerce biz are directly related to marketing. It’s clear by now that the virtual world of shopping has expanded consumer options exponentially, which comes with its own Catch-22: yes, you have a built-in audience you’d never have as a simple physical store; no, you are not the only game in town. Crafting a smart, savvy marketing strategy is the only way to become a viable presence with a statistically significant customer base.

Thankfully there are innumerable useful hints on how to market an ecommerce business, and they range from commonsense to proven to edgy, new approaches developed after the phenomenon of online buying reached its multi-decade stage.
​
Following are strategies known to generate business and, more importantly, to keep it.

• REWARDING REPEAT CUSTOMERS
  
  Once you hook a buyer and deliver both excellent products and superior service, consider offering them a loyalty bonus in the form of a discount, exclusive sales info, or anything you create as an appropriate and do-able campaign.
  
  
  
• TAP INTO THE UNKNOWN
  
  People seem to crave a quasi-gamble, as evidenced by the volume of lottery tickets sold every week. Carry that over to your ecommerce store by converting lookers into buyers, enticing them with a “mystery discount” they will only uncover after spending time on your site. It’s a tactic that’s irresistible to some, and unoffensive to those who aren’t terribly interested.
  
  
  
• PERSONALIZATION PLUS
  
  Online shopping is as personal, if not more personal, than in-store buying. Consumers tend to execute targeted searches in their spare time. Consider developing segregated sub-stores within your main store, setting up “lifestyle segment promotions” aimed at luring buyers in search of something special.
  
  
  
• ‘TIS THE SEASON
  
  Holiday or seasonal promotions are as old as time in the commerce sector, and in ecommerce, they reflect a superb sales strategy. Take great care in presenting a campaign that is aesthetically pleasing, well planned, and reflective of an offer that is unique – not just an extension of a current sales promotion.
  
  
  
• FLASH-BANG FOR EFFECT
  
  Repurpose the tried-and-true “flash sale” invented by predecessors in commerce. Whether you’re offering a clearance price on older inventory or a temporary price reduction on current fare, these tend to be effective for capturing the attention of shoppers. Even better, design a secret flash sale that teases with a graphic offering a percentage-off deal by “unlocking” through a website click.
  
  
  
• NO DOWN TIME
  
  Our final tip is to be on-brand, on-time, and on-target every day. Accomplish this by ensuring every visitor to your store’s site experiences the full potential of engagement and interest. Promotions should target existing customers, but also be incentivizing new buyers who want to be part of the club. In short, make every contact count.

 
For a bevy of fabulous tips, facts, strategies, and overall info on the evolving ecommerce world, check out ecommerce specialist Namogoo. They are awesome.

The dizzying pace of futuristic strategies to enhance your online store has a somewhat new entry, and you might want to pay attention. Enter “augmented reality,” or AR, to the mix of methods for capturing and keeping a customer base devoted to revisits. This is a proven hack to showcasing the best of your product mix.

The definition of augmented reality is an overlay of computer-generated imaging over an authentic environment. In lay terms, it means AR picks up on an element in the real environment, then inserts objects related to it using varying levels of interactivity.
​
Sound complicated? It may, but as with any emerging technology, there is plenty of help to get you started. First, evaluate how useful it will be to your business. If your products are heavy on design (as opposed to strictly functional and generic), AR can make them come to life for potential buyers. All smart phones are equipped with AR-capable functionality. Beyond this, the visualization customers experience will put into context how the product will work in their everyday world. This is an ingenious invention.
 
Let’s talk numbers.

• With respect to ecommerce, augmented reality catapults buying decisions in a manner that once was reserved for onsite shopping. Experts estimate that customers are 11 times more likely to make that purchase when an AR “try-on” is available.
  
  
• Almost one-third of retailers are already at one stage or another of implementing an augmented reality feature.
  
  
• 55 percent of customers surveyed say they want to access interactive content when pointing their phone at a product.
  
  
• 75 percent of customers surveyed expect retailers of all types to offer an AR experience in the future.

​The perks of augmented reality are obvious. Whether you sell fashion, sporting equipment, home goods, or gardening tools, the ability to craft a moving image of how your products will appear in the real life scenario is invaluable. Furniture sellers may allow potential buyers to superimpose a sofa into their living room using AR over a smart phone, which saves them the trouble of imagination. You get the idea. It’s the next-level boost for remote commerce that is sorely needed.

But there are restrictions, naturally. Smart phone viewing scales down the actual size to virtual size. Though phone users are accustomed to this adjustment, it’s not perfect as a way to present your products. Counter this by getting tutored on a more streamlined, effective presentation.

Cost is another issue, as many e-tailers are budget-conscious. Complex apps for AR can be spendy. Consider this as part of your deliberations, taking into account the importance and likely success of capturing buyers through virtually real imaging.

There are other drawbacks, but also other definite pluses that aren’t mentioned here. Your best bet is to research, research, research. Start here for a comprehensive primer on how to make this technology work for you.

If augmented reality is not for you now, it may be in the future as your online store grows. Keep in mind its robust features and potential, and continue to study AR as its technology advances. But if you’re ready to take the plunge, there’s no time like the present.

The ever-expanding reach of Facebook as a town square for social interactions brings with it a prime opportunity to capture consumers, building a formidable customer base. Ecommerce merchants are learning more about its utility as they go along, both through personal dalliances in the social media realm and the due diligence required to stay afloat as an online seller.

Whether or not you are enamored of video ads on Facebook and other platforms, be aware that others are. It’s a fast-growing strategy for branding, which turns into carving out a niche clientele and – well – selling to them. It’s that simple. It’s the Ecommerce 101 concept of conversions, or turning lookie-loos into staunch customers.

What isn’t quite as cut and dried is the creative elements of this growing technology. Those who lag behind in internet usage will naturally need some hand-holding to strike out with the latest in ad and marketing efforts. Luckily there is no shortage of help to be had, expedited by a quick Google search.
​
But the nuts and bolts of video presentation as a medium for advertising are not altogether different from using simple photography. You need your content to be fresh, compelling, and relevant to the type of audience likely to warm up to your inventory. 

It’s not every day you read a blog post that promotes other blog posts. In the growing sector of ecommerce, the novelty factor is still in play, and merchants can use all the help they can get. Trading ideas may be a boon for both parties, as small fish rely on big fish, and big fish discover trending new product lines, marketing strategies, and fresh ideas from the relative minnows.

Some of the best and most useful ecommerce-related blogs both sharpen the focus of online selling and invite an expansion of old ideas. They recount what works and what’s been more duplicitous or unwieldy. They draw readers out of a place of isolation faced by many who move from in-person operations to digital selling.
​
Here are some of our favorite blogs that explore comprehensive facets of online merchandising, in no particular order:
 
Ecommerce Nation Blog
Geared to a global audience, this site delivers news, tips, interviews with industry movers and shakers, and an assortment of creative topics.
 
Nosto Blog
Greeted by a sweet little basenji, your first experience with Nosto’s current post goes beyond the dog-eat-dog world and ferrets out the reimbursement element of commerce. Though nearly a year old,  its most interesting entry addresses multi-currency as a solution to cross-border selling. Finance-related concerns rarely age, and on Nosto you’ll find a menu of useful topics laid out in a nice interface.
 
EcommerceFuel Blog
True to its name, ECF dazzles with an array of news and information relevant to both small and big businesses. From advice on customer loyalty programs to personal wellness for the ecommerce merchant, and from unconventional email campaign strategies to cathartic humor, this site makes it fun to devote your energy to online selling.
 
BigCommerce Blog
Don’t be fooled by a title – Big Commerce is just as useful for the little guy. With a bevy of tips from veteran online merchants, this blog offers incentives for experimenting with both proprietary and unconventional ways to conduct business from start to finish. Its clean layout is easy to navigate; its content is inspiring enough to peruse for extended periods of time. Many like sites add tips on the best ecommerce business ideas, but BigCommerce follows through with numerous examples sourced from outside their domain.
 
Volusion Blog
Volusion’s blog, “The Ecommerce Authority,” is a veritable treasure chest of information and tips. With Black Friday around the corner, its multiple posts related to holiday sales makes it a worthy read. Add pieces on personal merchant stories, web page optimization, rating payment platforms, and running SEO tests, and you have a blog source you will want to bookmark.

Last week we introduced the topic of inbound marketing, a new approach to integrating the lifestyle aspect of potential and existing customers with meaningful content that can lead to a longstanding commercial relationship. For ecommerce merchants, inbound marketing holds enormous promise.

But it’s not as simple as its reverse strategy of outbound marketing. Sending emails, buying pop-up ads, and initiating contact at your chosen pace is waning as an effective way to win customers. Learning to work your marketing into the increasing online engagement of buyers takes patience, insight, a bit of technical know-how, and a sincere desire to improve the lives and livelihoods of everyone.
​
For newer sellers who may feel out of their league, here are some tips on how to make inbound marketing work for you.

Confused as you may be by the litany of jingo surrounding Everything Internet, there’s a term you will want to embrace: Inbound Marketing.

The “inbound” modifier sets forth an important distinction between the conventional idea of marketing employed by businesses for decades. It refers to a trending 21st Century concept of capturing both the lifestyle factor and the online engagement of customers and potential customers. “Outbound marketing” involves pop-up ads, direct-sales emailing, and anything produced as a proactive attempt to sell your brand or product.

With the proliferation of information made possible by online commerce, and the evolving comfort level of humans warming up to an increasing amount of time spent online, marketing strategies in current times demand more creative adaptations. Inbound marketing seeks to make your brand part of a consumer’s life, avoiding the tendency to disrupt their focus with unsolicited communications.

Analysts call this “interruptive marketing,” citing dismal results as consumers already inundated with an overflow of stimuli are more inclined to seek out their own personalized content that will lead to buying decisions. The advent of mass interruptive advertising and marketing has led to a greater demand for technology that blocks such content, and that demand has been mostly fulfilled.
​
Currently about one-quarter of web crawling prospective clients employ ad-blocking software. This is a disaster for any business still clinging to proactive, interruptive advertising. Worse, the traditional display ad on digital media shows a click-through rate of less than 1 percent among those who do not block ads.

Just over two decades ago an entrepreneur near Seattle embraced the idea of using business owners to help pad the success of another business. He called it “friendship marketing,” and wrote extensively on it as a way to generate leads and brand familiarity.

That was in the pre-eCommerce days. The field now is far wider; the competition much stiffer. But the ideology remains, and it’s now known as “affiliate marketing.” Though not quite as personal, it’s a way to piggyback off of successful businesses to both generate and divert sales. For the most part, it involves allowing other businesses targeting the same audience to receive commissions from their willingness to refer out to you. Sounds simple.

It’s a bit more complex, but the possibilities are plentiful. The obvious big-time affiliates range from Shopify to Amazon Associates; from Ebay Partner Network to Coinbase; and from ClickFunnels Affiliates to Wayfair Affiliate Program. Each offers a varied payout structure and a different set of unique benefits. On the low end, commissions may amount to 5 percent of each sale. That said, individual arrangements may spice up the deal with kickbacks as high as 50 percent. Your mileage will vary.

For newer or smaller online sellers, it’s a way to get established as you are building what hopefully will be a thriving business, and earn revenues in the process.
​
It may sound counterintuitive to send business away, but consider this: if someone is already signed on to you as a seller, they will buy a product from you unless you don’t carry it. This is where affiliate marketing referrals kick in, earning you a slice of the pie.

Meet Shoploop, Google’s latest toe-dip into creative digital selling. It’s been called everything from a “Tik Tok for shopping,” to a new version of an old idea, to the next hottest thing in the future of online buying. Some even liken it (for better or worse) to telemarketing for ecommerce.

Somewhere in the middle may work. It goes without saying that the younger generation of consumers is already fully on board with video. They’ve cut their teeth on it, be it through large-screen gaming to Instagram feeds. That captive audience is fruitful, but older shoppers are also taking to the medium in large numbers. The upshot is an intriguing way to personalize and expand your marketing.

The Google surge to dominate online buying explores the spiking reliance on video to entertain and inform, turning the tables and using it as an ingenious way to offer detailed visual and audio product information. Shoploop is under the Google “Area 120” umbrella, which explores ways to expand its reach into ecommerce. Unlike close competitors and platforms, its video services come grouped, eliminating the need for multiple apps.
​
At rollout, its focus is on the obvious sectors such as clothing, cosmetics, and skin care. Expansions are inevitable as the trend catches on.

Every ecommerce vendor has a fantasy of standing out among the competition. And why not? Name recognition gains new customers and retains current customers, if you play your cards right. The way to rise above the crowd comes down to the ability to provide excellent products and service or services. It also comes down to a concept known by entities for a very long time: branding.

Brand Management involves personalizing your business with an aspect of familiarity that makes you recognizable, attractive, approachable. Marketing experts call it a way to translate emotions into behavior on the part of consumers. To get there, you have to do the heavy lifting first.
​
Consider large companies we all know well. Apple Computer. REI. Microsoft. Nike. IBM. Uber. All of these mega-corporations have packaged customized imaging, slogans, philosophies, and outreach through advertising that requires little attention to know whom it’s coming from.
Branding occurs with a consistent presence through all of your correspondence, advertisements, web page design, and everything connected with your business. When you have it down right, your path is practically obstacle-free. When you don’t, you’re left vying with countless others.

Marketing, marketing, marketing.

If you’re weary of hearing the term, let alone employing it in your ecommerce business, you’re not alone. It feels like a never-ending, energy-sucking pursuit. You know it’s essential, but with the vast expanse and reach of the internet and its mind-numbing competitive obstacles, it ought to be ranked among your highest of priorities.

Developers and app geniuses know this. They’ve responded to the call, rolling out a wide array of tools to assist you along the way.

Unlike advertising, marketing requires an ability to gauge your most promising audience. Real-time features of online tracking, analytics, and other tailored options that help avoid wasting too much time, are in reach. One relative newcomer is Traffic Jet, a release by SEMrush, a digital marketing firm devoted to streamlining successful marketing campaigns.

A recent study shows that more than half of all marketers indicate machine learning is speeding up their day-to-day work a bit, while just under one-third said it does so a lot. Traffic Jet, with its Artificial Intelligence (AI) process, is likely to make those numbers grow among fledgling, growing businesses.
​
Traffic Jet allows full automation of your traffic acquisition, or new traffic flow, offering easy access to quick numbers. Those are all words you like to hear, so read on.