Mel Gibbons
15 February, 2021
Creating a digital marketing strategy is tricky if you don’t know where to start, but it can be even more confusing if the strategy is for an E-Commerce website. When a big part of your revenue depends on the success of those decisions, it is crucial to understand that every step must be carefully considered and each channel you use should have a purpose.
In digital marketing, there are at least seven methods to connect with our audiences. We have pay-per-click advertising (PPC), email marketing, and search engine optimisation (SEO) as the big guys, and we also have supportive strategies such as social media marketing, Google Shopping Ads, video marketing, and native advertising.
Your goal with a digital marketing strategy is to know your target audience and understand how they can be reached through online channels to increase the performance of your company’s website. Without a defined and strategic plan, it’s almost impossible to track results, learn from mistakes, and ultimately grow your business.
Even before starting with the actual creation of the strategy, it is important to remember that it is based on the understanding of your target audience. We would recommend the following six steps to create an E-Commerce digital marketing strategy. We’ll use an example of a home renovation company, offering everything from repairing water damage to upgrading kitchens and bathrooms.
The best way to set goals is to follow the SMART analogy. Your goals must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Defining exactly what you want from your digital marketing efforts will help you understand the performance of your strategy and give you the data required to make the necessary changes.
As you can see, a weak goal is not specific enough and does not provide useful information in regard to how you want to measure the strategy’s success. In contrast, a great goal defines the conversion as a key performance indicator (KPI), a desired increase of 20%, and a timeframe being the next three months. It also includes a complementary goal of promotional offers.
In the past, a crucial part of a marketing strategy was defining a target audience with information like age, gender, occupation, location, and interests. Today, this step has gone to a new level with the “buyer persona”, a carefully created description of your ideal customer.
With this information in mind:
At this point, you already know who your target audience is and what makes them tick. The next step is to figure out how you will reach and connect with them, and the answer will be in your analytics. Where does your buyer persona hang out? Social media? Do they buy digital magazines?
These are different marketing channels where clients can find you, depending on their needs. Because you can’t use all digital marketing channels, knowing where your target audience might be looking will help narrow down the options.
Assuming you already have digital marketing platforms running, how well are they performing? Maybe you already have a website, social media accounts, Google AdWords, or paid advertising. Evaluate their past performance and how they can be used to achieve your goals.
For example, your website could be getting 100 visits a month, but you want to increase that number. Part of your strategy would be designing better landing pages or adding a blog. Feel free also to discard channels that are using resources and not bringing in any results if there is nothing you can do to improve them.
As part of the strategy, you will be creating content and developing other tasks that include direct interactions with your customers. Here is where automation and personalisation come to be an ally. For example, some email marketing tools can get data from a customer’s social media searches, Google, and past purchases to segment them according to their interests.
By doing this, you will ensure that the content shown to your audience is ideal for the people who see it. A more personalised experience will also make them feel more important to the brand and more likely to buy your product or hire your service.
It is not a secret to anyone that mobile phones are one of the most popular ways to access the Internet, over 52% of the world uses those devices, and that number is set to increase in the coming years. If you want your business to stay competitive, you have to design all your marketing efforts around mobile accessibility. Features like voice command optimisation will allow them to access the information on the go.
Make sure your website and email templates are responsive to every device and screen. It means having in mind characteristics such as page speed, design, legible font, and search engine optimisation to ensure that mobile phone users have a good experience.
Customer testimonials, reviews, and user-generated content are a great way to build trust and credibility. Showcase positive experiences to reassure potential customers about the quality and reliability of your products or services and the results could be boosted more than you could think. Social proof acts as a powerful persuasion tool, influencing purchasing decisions and fostering a sense of community around your brand.
A big part of this process involves responding to specific situations or behaviours. Regular tracking of key performance metrics and continuous analysis of the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts will make a difference. Stay updated on industry trends and consumer behavior to identify areas for improvement. Adapt your strategies accordingly, making data-driven decisions to optimise your campaigns and ensure long-term success in the dynamic landscape of e-commerce.
With these steps in mind, you should be able to define a basic digital marketing strategy for your e-commerce website. Take advantage of the resources you have and don’t forget that the effort on your strategy must be continuous and consistent if you want to see great results.
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