eCommerce marketing on a shoestring budget – everything you need to know

When you’re running an eCommerce business, it can be a struggle getting things moving. It’s not always clear which areas you should prioritise spending. Do you invest in internal growth? Staff training? New stock?

It’s tough because they’re all essential. But, make no mistake, marketing one of the more important aspects in the initial stages. If you want success, you need to get the word out about your products. Luckily, this doesn’t have to cost a fortune – all you need is some passion and some smart ideas.

Content is king

Content marketing is one of the most cost-effective types of marketing available to businesses. According to the Content Marketing Institute, it costs 62% less than outbound marketing while generating three times the amount of leads. Content marketing also:

• Drives conversions
• Builds brand awareness
• Asserts your brand as an authority and builds credibility
• Builds stronger customer relationships
• Helps streamline the buyer’s journey
• Generates traffic long after publication
• Increases the time customers spend on your site

But by far the biggest advantage for those with limited marketing funds is you can do it yourself. It includes producing blogs, emails, social media posts, videos, images, infographics, and other content to further your brand goals, according to your customers’ preferences.

Here are a few tips for producing great DIY content marketing:

• Do your research – You won’t be able to target the right people if you don’t know who or where they are.
• Post regularly – Sporadic posting hinders your ability to build strong customer relationships. There is no ‘right’ amount or frequency, but your posting schedule should be consistent and adapted to what works best for you.
• Produce helpful content – Your content should help your audience solve a problem they have and reflect your business values.
• Always add a call to action – There should be information detailing how your customers can purchase your product, find more information, or get in touch.

When you’re ready, a professional content marketer can rework your existing content and produce new, high-quality content to increase your reach, traffic, and sales. They will free up your time to focus on your main role while vastly improving the ROI on your marketing.

Social media

Whether you love or hate social media, it’s one of the most effective marketing tools in the world. Social media is not only free to use, but it also gives you access to billions of people, not restricting your market potential.

To market effectively on social media you should:

• Know where your audience is – Instagram users comprise 39% women and 30% men with a huge saturation of users under 25. There are 2.41 billion people using Facebook every month, with a higher percentage of users over 35. The largest age group using Snapchat is 18 to 24-year-olds, making up 37% of users. Only 2% are over 55. If you’re a B2B seller, LinkedIn is the place to be. This is the type of information that will influence where you connect with your audience.

• Understand the best way to reach your customers – Do they respond better to videos or text post? What hashtags should you use? These will all impact the success of your posts.

As your income increases, you’ll be able to take advantage of premium social media advertising features for a fee, which allow much more effective targeting. You could even consider social media influencers.

As your business grows, you might have to get the professionals in to maximise your marketing ROI, but these are a great place to start. Especially if you’re a sole trader. You should make sure you give yourself a head start by choosing an eCommerce platform which prioritises easy marketing.