Cennos, Inc.
  • Core Services
    • Product Content
    • Imaging
    • Editorial Content
  • Advanced Services
    • Paid Marketing and Analytics
    • Price Matching Market Research
    • Invoice Reconciliation
    • Dedicated Project Consultant
  • Who We Are
  • Contact
  • Particles
  • Core Services
    • Product Content
    • Imaging
    • Editorial Content
  • Advanced Services
    • Paid Marketing and Analytics
    • Price Matching Market Research
    • Invoice Reconciliation
    • Dedicated Project Consultant
  • Who We Are
  • Contact
  • Particles

Marketing 202: Beyond the Basics

7/20/2017

0 Comments

 
We all remember a time when having cursory internet skills made us slightly more attractive to employers, and opened up some opportunities for those of us with businesses to expand a bit.

That was then; this is now. It’s hard to imagine a strategy that would allow your online business to flourish without a dedicated, consistent presence in social media. While Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and the other major sites used to be a fun, experimental way to attract interest in an ecommerce platform, they now may be considered essential marketing tools.

And why not? The U.S. Bureau of Census estimates that the proportion of commercial product sales conducted online rose from .06 percent in 2001 to 8.5 percent in 2016.  That’s a staggering number considering sales that by nature primarily occur locally—food and groceries, retail malls, area-specific specialty items, bakery goods, etc.
​
If that growth rate holds, online transactions will dominate the picture in the next few decades. Ecommerce players like Amazon are determined to increase their gargantuan market share and to carve out new markets, so it’s likely to happen.
Picture
Socializing in Social Media

Americans have developed an affinity for the leisurely experience of searching for products online, comparing prices, and making a selection without starting up a car. If you’re a savvy ecommerce merchant, you will embrace this with vigor and build a business model that takes that into account.

What does that mean for you? A lot of factors are at play, including the type of product you sell, your target consumer audience, and your comfort with digital marketing. We’re not talking about the bread-and-butter “pay-per-click” advertising campaigns that involve you feeding the coffers of a third-party mediator to place advertisements on websites. We’re focused here on strategic, hands-on efforts to personalize your brand. The good news? It’s mostly free. The bad news? There may be none, unless you dread the idea of spending time researching markets and making yourself comfy with the social media world.

Here is a motto to remember: think like a consumer; act like a marketer. Learn the basics of various social media sites and notice the types of interactions that occur. Notice how other merchants work their (non)ads into content. Teach yourself how to identify a potential client base.

By now you’ve been told repeatedly to create your own branded content through blogs and other social media platforms. If you’re on board, good. If not, get there. Somebody out there loves your product, and they will love it more if you work them in to a community you care about, perceiving their needs and wants and forming a personal relationship.
Email soliciting was once called “spam” for all the right reasons. Now it’s tailored, mostly to existing customers. They won’t mind if you send them a friendly greeting once in a while, especially if it’s well written and alluring. Invite them to revisit your page, and make access to your blog visible and obvious. Use enticing words to capture attention. And make sure what you write is top-quality and relevant.
 
SOS for Dummies
If you’re not entirely blog-savvy, here are some apps and platforms that can move you in that direction. Feedly offers a free trial and tons of examples of productive, successful commercial blogging. Pre-written, customizable content is available at Bloglovin. Both of these give expert advice and instructions for putting together compelling blog feeds that exploit the most palpable resource you have — your own followers.
​
Above all, resist the temptation to speed through the process. This is not a one-size-fits-all; nor is it true that your business name yields sufficient loyalty to grow your business. Aside from quality merchandise, ease of ordering and payment, and excellent follow-through, your ability to create good messaging strategies that generate sales through the perception of a lasting business with no plans to go away, and a personalized relationship with customers who’ve already experienced a start-to-finish order, may be the single-most reliable predictor and impetus for future growth.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    Categories

    All
    Accessibility
    Ads
    Amazon
    Analytics
    Augmented Reality
    B2B
    Best Practices
    Branding
    By Alexa
    By Jan
    By Jessie
    By Joe
    By John
    Chatbots
    Color Of The Year
    Content Marketing
    COVID19
    Data Protection
    Decor
    Delivery
    Digital Marketing
    Eco-friendly
    Ecomm
    Ecommerce
    Editorial Services
    Email Marketing
    Facebook
    Finance
    Google
    Green Commerce
    Holidays
    Instagram
    IRCE
    Las Vegas Market
    Misc
    NRF
    Outsourcing
    Pantone
    Payments
    PayPal
    Pinterest
    Productivity
    Product Services
    Q&A
    Retail
    Seo
    Shipping
    Shopify
    Shopping Cart
    Social Media
    Social Media Marketing
    Style Spotlight
    Supply Chain
    Sustainability
    Tips And Tricks
    Tools
    Trends
    Twitter
    Usps
    Voice Search

Core Services
Advanced Services
About Cennos
Blog: Particles
​
Contact
© COPYRIGHT 2020. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.