Creating and launching an eCommerce business is a popular option today for those who want to start their own company. And, Shopify has grown to become one of the most well-known and most-used options for doing just this. No matter what you decide to sell online, creating the ideal Shopify marketing strategy for your online store can be a daunting prospect at first. Keep reading to find out more about ensuring that it is a success.
Starting a Shopify Marketing Strategy – The First Steps
As any business owner knows, a good marketing strategy is essential to almost every business today. But if you’re starting your own business, where to start can be one of the burning questions you might have. There’s certainly no shortage of marketing advice out there, but where do you even start with it all?
Before launching your marketing strategy, a strong foundation is essential. This should involve carefully planning the campaigns, researching your target market, and setting clear goals and objectives to give your strategy a solid direction to move in. The stronger the foundation, the stronger your marketing strategy will be. Take your time and avoid rushing, to give your store and marketing campaigns a better chance of being able to withstand changes in the market.
Define Your Business
Before you can start a successful Shopify marketing strategy for your online store, you will need to decide what your business is. Come up with a clear answer by asking a range of questions such as what you sell, what your unique selling point is and how it is set apart from the competition, what values your brand has, and your brand message. The answers you give to these questions will help with putting together a definition of your business that can be used to inform and make the best decisions for your marketing approaches in the future.
Understand Your Competition
A successful marketing strategy isn’t just about your business on its own. One of the main things to consider when planning your Shopify marketing is how your company sets itself apart from its main competitors. And with eCommerce becoming as popular as it has, it’s hard to not find any competition even if you are in a really niche market.
Thorough competitor analysis can help you use your competitors for inspiration and strengthening your own business approach. Consider the competitors that match your business the closest, find the top players, and learn more about what they do well. Once you know what your competitors are doing well and what is successful for them, you can use their approach as inspiration for your own. Along with this, it’s also wise to take the time to find out more about what your competitors might be getting wrong or have gotten wrong in the past, as this gives you a clearer idea of what to avoid, and a chance to determine how your business is going to be an improvement.
Define Key Metrics
Shopify marketing can be quite complex, and simply adding ‘make more sales’ as your main goal is not always enough. In fact, to stand out in a saturated market, it’s often very important to make the effort to avoid coming across as too pushy with sales. For example, if you are using email marketing as part of your Shopify marketing strategy, then it’s important to consider all the goals that you’ll need to meet along the way before a customer has actually made a purchase and contributed to your goal of making more sales. Increasing email signups, for example, may be the first goal to focus on.
The metrics that are used to measure the progress your business makes towards meeting its goals are known as KPIs, or key performance indicators. Before marketing your Shopify business, it’s crucial to have a clear picture of the metrics and goals that are essential to running your business successfully. Understanding and being able to track your KPIs will help you get a much better idea of whether your business is getting it right, or if changes need to be made.
Determine the Main Marketing Channels You’ll Use
The early stages of putting together your Shopify marketing strategy is also the best time to consider which marketing channels you will mainly be focusing on when it comes to reaching out to your audience. The ideal marketing channels to use will vary depending on the business and industry, which is why making sure that you have analyzed and gotten to know your competitors is crucial. Learning more about which channels your competitors are using for marketing, and which are the most successful for them, can make it easier for you to figure out the best place to start.
Consider your target audience, too, and the marketing channels that they are likely to see or use the most. Do your target audience use Facebook a lot, or are they younger, and spend more time on Instagram or TikTok? Are your target audience more likely to read marketing emails and blog posts, or watch YouTube videos?
Implementing the Best Tools and Tactics
Once you have built a strong foundation for your Shopify marketing strategy, it’s time to start putting together the actual structure. This involves the strategies, tactics, and tools that you will use to keep it all running smoothly and move your business towards those KPIs previously discussed. Once again, competitor analysis can be a useful step here, as it gives you the chance to see what kind of tools and tactics other players in your space are using successfully. While you shouldn’t simply copy what your competitors are doing, it’s a good idea to take inspiration from what they are getting right and put together a unique approach that works for your business based on that. It’s also worth looking into companies in other industries for inspiration, too. Find companies that aren’t competitors, but have a similar target audience to yours, and find out more about what they are getting right.
Shopify is one of the most popular ways to start your own online store. But with eCommerce competition so high, putting together a marketing strategy that works is essential for success.