Online Store Marketing: Ultimate Guide to Marketing an Online Store

Online stores are an important part of the internet. The number of stores is increasing, and more and more customers are choosing to shop online rather than visit a physical store or retailer. However, this has led to an increase in competition. There are many stores in the same industry. To succeed with your online store, marketing for your e-commerce is extremely important. In our ultimate guide to marketing your online store, you will learn everything you need to know for successful marketing of your store.

Key Points at a Glance

There are a large number of online stores on the internet. Many sell the same products or serve the same industry. This leads to immense competition between different store operators. So, how do you make your e-commerce business successful and convince customers to buy from you? The answer is simple: Marketing! With successful marketing campaigns, you can make people aware of your products and your store and encourage them to make a purchase. Only in this way can you succeed in the industry. In this guide, we will show you everything you need to know about online store marketing.

What is Online Store Marketing?

The goal of online store marketing is to make your e-commerce business and its products or services known to people. For existing companies, an additional online store helps to increase the company’s reach or expand its market.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a newcomer, a purely e-commerce business, or an existing company running the store additionally: the competition is the same and it is fierce. Why should people shop at your store and not one of the many other stores? What sets your store apart from the competition? What are you doing better? Do you have special offers or a unique service? All these are questions that online store marketing must address.

The goal of marketing your online store should be to introduce the store and its products or services to people. But that’s not enough. You also need to excite people and win them as customers, for example, by offering special deals or services that your competition doesn’t have. Marketing campaigns are the key to success!

Why is Online Store Marketing Important?

Online store marketing is important for the success of your online store. This is most clearly demonstrated by conducting a self-test. Just think back to the last time you searched for something. Alternatively, search for an item in your store. Pretend you are a customer. Remember how many different offers there are, how many search results. Most of them are online stores like yours.

If your store appears at the top of the list in the search results, then you’ve done marketing right. The goal should be to appear high in search results because those links are the ones that get clicked the most. Moreover, you also need to be present on social networks, on special websites and portals related to your topic, etc. Marketing is important so that you stand out from the crowd and can assert yourself against the competition. If that’s not the case, you have no chance of being found by people. You’ll get lost in the crowd. Therefore, you should never make the mistake of neglecting marketing or giving it low priority. This applies to both new stores and seasoned veterans in e-commerce!

When is Online Store Marketing Needed?

The simple answer is: “Always!” It’s the only answer there can be. If you run an e-commerce business, you cannot avoid marketing. The best proof of this are online marketplaces like eBay or Amazon. They are global leaders, and everyone knows them. Millions of customers go directly to these marketplaces when searching for a product or service, bypassing Google and others. It would be logical to assume that these companies don’t need to spend money on marketing. Everyone knows them, and the customers come on their own. Wrong! Even eBay and Amazon spend millions of dollars every year on marketing. Despite their success and their position as market leaders. The reason is clear: Marketing is necessary and unavoidable. For you and your store just like for eBay, Amazon, and others.

How Does Online Store Marketing Work?

Marketing an online store works in a very similar way to marketing your website. Here, too, there is a combination of several options and possibilities that you can use for a successful campaign. Some examples of online store marketing include:

As you can see, these options are not extraordinary. The same measures also form the basis of many traditional marketing campaigns for websites, blogs, etc. However, as the operator of an online store, you also have another important option: You can create offers and give discounts. This is an option that blogs and websites often don’t have. Combining these marketing methods with the right platforms, measures, and websites can lead to a successful marketing campaign that makes your e-commerce business successful and sets it apart from the competition.

Both Google and other companies provide a wide range of software and tools to help with this important and complex task of marketing online stores.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Store Marketing

In this section, our experts will take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of online store marketing together with you. Despite the obvious benefits, there are also some disadvantages that you should be aware of before deciding to engage in online marketing.

The Advantages

The advantages of online store marketing are numerous and obvious. The most important advantages are:

All of these advantages make a marketing campaign very important and valuable. In fact, marketing is one of the most important things you must do as a website operator, business owner, or e-commerce proprietor.

The Disadvantages

Despite all the advantages, there are also some disadvantages that you should be aware of. Only then can you prevent problems and plan for the consequences of these disadvantages. The main disadvantages of online store marketing are:

Despite these disadvantages, the efforts are worth it and pay off after a short time. In any case, the above-mentioned point applies: As the owner of an e-commerce business, you cannot avoid marketing your online store!

Application Areas of Online Store Marketing

Online store marketing is usually carried out mostly online. Besides your own website, SEO and social media have proven especially effective. Google My Business, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are just some examples of social media platforms where online store marketing is useful. Additionally, other components like your own newsletter and email marketing or actions like blog posts, guest articles, etc., which lead to dynamic links, can help you attract new customers for your e-commerce business.

For online marketing or marketing your store, there are many tools available. Google AdWords and Google Analytics are just two examples. Additionally, most store systems come with a variety of their own marketing tools and options. Also, the WordPress CMS offers a variety of plugins for marketing, SEO, etc. Therefore, you can also use a large selection of tools for online store marketing. Furthermore, many marketing and advertising agencies specialize in e-commerce. For example, Shopboostr, an e-commerce agency from Munich and Berlin, can handle the complicated task of marketing your online store and offer advice on many other aspects.

Examples of Online Store Marketing Campaigns

In the following, you will find some examples of how an online store marketing campaign could look and which components it includes.

Amazon

Amazon uses a colorful mix of advertisements for its marketing. Customers can find banners on the website for special offers that might interest them. There are also various special promotions, such as discounts for bundles or for buying related products. Free trials for Amazon Prime, etc. round out the offer. However, the most famous is probably the Amazon Affiliate Program. Here, you can link to products on Amazon from your store or website. When customers click the link and make a purchase, you receive a small commission. Amazon also uses email marketing in the form of newsletters. Despite its size and fame, Amazon invests millions of dollars in its marketing campaigns.

Facebook

Facebook is undoubtedly the largest and most well-known social network in the world. Everyone has heard of the platform, and a large part of the world’s population of all ages is registered on the website. Still, Facebook does marketing. While Facebook doesn’t use email newsletters, except for notifications, it appears subtly on many websites with a banner. The ability to like comments from other websites or share them on the social network is another form of marketing. Facebook is another example of successful marketing campaigns and further proof that even large and well-known websites, which seemingly don’t rely on marketing, invest large sums in advertising campaigns.

The Different Types of Online Store Marketing

Online store marketing mostly takes place online. The same methods used for marketing a website are applied here. These include SEO, social media marketing, email marketing, and link building. There is, however, another option for e-commerce marketing: special offers, discounts, and coupon codes. All these measures can be combined into a complete marketing campaign, leading to successful marketing of your online store on the internet. If it is a company that operates not only online but also has physical stores, the marketing for the online store can also be combined with the company’s traditional marketing efforts.

Alternatives to Online Store Marketing

The answer is short: There are no alternatives to online store marketing. As mentioned earlier, you are dealing with a highly competitive market and a large number of competitors. Therefore, you cannot avoid marketing your online store. Evidence of this is that even market leaders like Facebook, eBay, or Amazon regularly invest millions of dollars in advertising.

For your online store, you don’t need to raise such large sums. Still, the point remains: You cannot do without a professional, modern, and appealing marketing campaign if you want to take your e-commerce seriously and succeed with your business. Don’t save on the wrong end. Even if financial resources are tight, it might make more sense to save in other areas and not on marketing. Remember: Marketing generates new customers, and new customers mean more revenue. A marketing campaign can quickly pay for itself or even generate profit after expenses!

The Key Characteristics of Online Store Marketing

Of course, it doesn’t make sense to just invest money, start a campaign, and begin any type of advertisement. There are several characteristics and criteria that your campaign should meet to have a chance of success. The most important characteristics for successful online store marketing are:

Your campaign must be target audience-oriented. Otherwise, success will be lacking, and you will waste money. To make this work, you must be clear about your target audience in advance. A 20-year-old has different interests than a 50-year-old customer, and an ad campaign in France for a product in German language is probably also not very promising and meaningful.

Additionally, you must combine all the important options in online store marketing, just like in traditional online marketing. Optimize your store for search engines and mobile devices. Advertise on social networks and invite customers to sign up for your email newsletter. Reward customers or visitors who sign up with a discount code or even monthly codes. This increases the willingness to be added to the newsletter list. One argument might be that as a startup, you lose important revenue with a discount. However, you must consider this: A visitor who pays €30 instead of €50 becomes a customer, and €30 is still a profit and better than no sale and no €30!

Important Questions About Online Store Marketing

Below, our experts have summarized some of the most frequently asked questions regarding online store marketing. You will also find corresponding answers from our expert team for each question. We hope this answers most of your questions. Should anything still be unclear, you are welcome to get in touch with our Shopboostr team.

What costs should I expect for online store marketing?

This varies. Costs depend on the choice of tools, the size of your target audience, the duration of the campaign, and other factors. However, you should generally expect expenses in the four- to five-figure range. Larger companies, however, spend several million dollars on marketing. If in doubt, you should contact an e-commerce advertising agency like Shopboostr for advice.

How long does it take for a marketing campaign to pay off?

This question cannot be answered with a simple answer. It depends on the size of the investment, the reach of the campaign, etc. In general, however, you should plan a marketing campaign for a longer period – usually several months. Exceptions should only be made for special occasions like special promotions, Christmas or Easter offers, etc. If the campaign involves the publication of material, such as an email newsletter, YouTube videos, etc., then the publication should be done regularly, for example, weekly or monthly.

Can the profits from a marketing campaign cover the costs?

The goal of a marketing campaign is to acquire new customers. This, in turn, leads to an increase in revenue and thus a rise in profit. Ideally, the new leads and customers generated by the marketing campaign can cover its costs. However, this is not guaranteed and is actually irrelevant. You cannot avoid running a marketing campaign for your store. Whether or not the campaign covers its own costs or even makes a profit is secondary!

I’m already marketing my website. Can I skip marketing my online store?

No. Even if you already operate a website or a company with physical stores and have a marketing campaign running for that, you should not skip marketing your online store. The campaign doesn’t need to be as extensive, and you don’t have to create a completely new campaign. You should generally be able to easily integrate the marketing for your online store into the existing campaigns.

Conclusion

Quotes

• Competition in e-commerce is immense and numerous!
• Only through marketing your online store can you become visible in the market.
• Online store marketing helps you stand out from the competition and differentiate yourself.
• Online marketing for your store is unavoidable. There is no way around it.
• Even large and well-known companies like Facebook, Amazon, or eBay spend millions of dollars on marketing.
• If you already run a website or physical stores, you can integrate your online store marketing into the existing campaigns.
• The same methods used for traditional online marketing apply to online store marketing: SEO, email marketing, social media marketing, and link building.