You’re an e-retail or e-wholesale business or you have the ability to sell your products/services online in addition to your storefront – Great! But what is your online marketing strategy this year? You have one, right?
The 2010 holiday season is upon us now, and you should have planned your online marketing strategy 2 months ago, but maybe you’re just getting started. That’s okay too, you still have time to get your bows ordered, wrapping paper stocked and online coupon codes set.
We have some of the best online marketing advice for your retail or wholesale business online, so you can really make an impact with your online sales and avoid those empty shopping carts too!
1. Paid Advertising aka Pay Per Click (PPC): Google Adwords, Microsoft Adcenter (Bing), LinkedIn and Facebook Advertising are all excellent choices for really promoting each and every one of your products this year online. More people are online and logging into their Facebook accounts everyday, so this really makes sense if you sell products to consumers and small business owners. Whether you use Facebook or a search engine for your PPC, you need to have an ad written for every product and include a “Call to Action” on every ad. Start with a small budget and increase it as necessary.
2. Create Weekly or Daily Specials: Target a specific audience, and send an email blast or eNewsletter only to those within that audience for a targeted online marketing strategy. You should be able to track how many respond to your “specials” through your Google analytics or email statistics. You can also create a special coupon code to better track who buys and when. Always include an expiration date on your specials, so you create an urgency to “buy now.”
3. Coupons: This is really what drives people to buy – saving money. You have a Facebook fan page, a Twitter account and a LinkedIn profile and your business on Foursquare, so create a coupon code for each one of these online social media platforms, to entice each of your networks to save on a specific product or shipping from your online store. If Groupon can do it, everyday, you can too!
4. Free Shipping: Overstock.com has really made a name for itself by offering super low shipping fees, you can offer free shipping to entice your online customers to buy from your business. Not only does free shipping save time and fuel, but it also saves money on sales taxes and going out into the cold weather.
5. Offer Free Gifts: Another freebie that online consumers really enjoy and will gladly provide positive reviews to their friends is a free gift. Make it something unique or have a different free gift according to how much they spend. You have the option of providing details of this free gift at the online checkout or have it as a surprise once they make their purchase.
6. Offer Special Discounts to Avoid Abandoned Shopping Carts: A large percentage of your buyers will abandon a shopping cart, which means they either can’t afford the additional shipping or have another problem. Before they completely abandon the check out page, include a pop up window that includes a special discount or free shipping to encourage buyers to return to the check out page. Write creative and conversational content, like you’re actually talking to one person.
7. Include Gift Cards with Purchase: Similar to free gifts, but after customers complete their purchase and you have their email address, send a personal auto reply with a “Thank You for purchasing from your ABC business” and include a gift card or certificate, so they will return again.
8. Include a Search Button on Web site: Probably one of the most important part of any online marketing strategy is to include a “search” function on your Web site. If a customer can’t find what they are looking for from your site’s menu or category buttons, then they will want to do a search for it. Google offers an affordable Custom Search option.
Search Circus has the experience and knowledge to assist you with increasing holiday sales and Web site traffic, we’re help you anytime!
