Launching and growing an ecommerce business is no simple task, and there’s already a very large template for how to accomplish this. While almost everyone would recommend the standard launch strategies of email marketing, paid search ads, and display marketing – there are a whole host of other strategies that will give you the extra edge in launching an ecommerce business. Consider working with alternative solutions like Search Engine Optimization, Print Marketing, and Word of Mouth. In incorporating these into an ecommerce launch, you’ll be surprised just how much of an edge you have over the competition.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the strategy of optimizing your website, both on and off site, to improve your rankings in the search engines. There are many smaller strategies of SEO to help do this, such as detailed onsite analysis of your own webpage, and off site analysis of the amount of links you have coming to your site. There’s plenty of research you can do on exactly how to best succeed at these, but first you want to understand why this strategy is worth your time and effort. In a short answer, SEO is nothing less than essential for your website – to make sure you have healthy natural search traffic. If you still need good reason to add it to your ecommerce launch strategy, simply consider that if you do the work yourself – it’s completely free! Unlike paid search, display, or affiliate marketing; there is no cost at all to SEO efforts – when done personally.
Print Marketing
The beauty of print marketing for an ecommerce business is how much it can legitimize your brand to the outside world. It can be hard to gain trust with product orders, credit card information, etc. when someone’s never heard of you – and you only exist online. Since you probably aren’t thinking about opening a large amount of “brick and mortar” storefronts any time soon, print is an excellent way to show that you are something that’s actually real, and not some “internet scam”. Direct mail services to a rented mailing list is a great way to launch into this process, sight unseen – even if you’ve never met the prospective customers. If you want to take things a step further in legitimizing your business, remember to print business cards and include them with the other marketing materials – this is an excellent way to personalize the sales prices, while legitimizing your business.
Word of Mouth Marketing
Word of Mouth Marketing or “WOM” for short, is an attempt to pull customers closer to your brand by incorporating things that people will naturally want to share with each other – instead of forcing opinions on people in an attempt to create sales. For example, if you include a bag of M&M’s in every product order you ship – with no extra charge, and no strings attached – you’re likely to get known as the company that includes candy with their orders. These kinds of small gestures that are not only a bonus, but create fun in people’s lives – these things create the difference between forgettable companies, and one’s that people want to work with time and again – because they enjoy it. They’ll tell their friends to as well – and that’s WOM at its finest. Incorporate WOM into an ecommerce launch, and it will benefit your SEO too – as you’ll begin to see links naturally evolving your way as the WOM spread about your business.
