By Daniel Martin
The speed at which our modern world changes is almost incomprehensible. Someone from the 1800s or even the 1900s wouldn’t be able to deal with all these changes happening monthly, even weekly at times. It’d be far too overwhelming for them, yet we are charging ahead.Â
Digital marketing and e-commerce are two prime examples of industries that keep changing. What is relevant today might not matter tomorrow. However, if we look past the superficial changes, the techniques, and the tools, on a fundamental level, a singular fact remains: in order for a business to improve sales, it needs to grab people’s attention. Digital marketing does exactly that with digital marketing agencies at the forefront of it, and in this blog post, we’ll state how digital marketing strategies help an e-commerce business grow.
Why Digital Marketing is Necessary
Since there is no physical store people can walk into anymore, the medium has changed; it has digitized. Now, the medium is mobiles, tablets, and laptops/PCs. Your e-commerce store must be optimized for mobile users as well as PC users, but more on that a little later.
First, it’s important to realize just how many businesses are operating online so you have an idea of the sheer amount of competition there is. Over 65% of all businesses in Canada, as of 2024, have an online presence. In 2022, according to the Official Website of the International Trade Administration, 75% of the Canadian population (27 million people) were e-commerce users, and this number is predicted to grow to 77.6% by the end of 2025. A common belief among people thinking about entering e-commerce is that their product will speak for itself. This sentiment is noble and true to an extent, but it’s also naïve.
With those numbers in mind, the scale of competition becomes much clearer. Everyone is in a ruffle to get the customers’ attention. Even the best of products won’t reach or be discovered by the majority of folks unless they’re backed up by digital marketing strategies that have shown to be successful.
Impact of Digital Marketing Strategies for Long-Term Growth
Full disclosure, as we stated in the very beginning; times are forever changing. What works today may not work tomorrow. However, the strategies we’ll be mentioning here, thus far at least, have stood the test of time.
1) Connect With Your Audience Using Social Media
Companies, big and small, now have the opportunity to showcase their true character. Think about mom-and-pop shops. Despite sometimes lacking the best services, they often thrived. Why? Because they built relationships. These shops didn’t feel impersonal because they were able to successfully humanize themselves.
Having a social media presence gives any business a platform to build a rapport with its target audience. Now, how you build your presence can vary greatly and is up to personal preference. Beyond relationship building, social media platforms are also a fantastic way to inform customers about new product launches, discounts, contests, etc., and can help gather valuable feedback.
2) Create an Unforgettable Buyer Experience to Stand Out
Let’s go back to our mom-and-pop shop. Another factor that greatly contributed to their continued operations was the simple fact that, as a customer, it felt good shopping there. This feeling may arise from the aesthetics of the place or sentimentality, but the end result was a much better experience than any fancy showroom.
The e-commerce sphere is very competitive, and the competition keeps increasing. A way to stand out is by focusing on the experience visitors and customers have when they visit your website.
Make it fun, make it fast. Do not waste their time; the process should feel like a breeze. If possible, ask for their feedback and make changes accordingly. These are marketing 101, yet often ignored.
3) Use Ads to Promote and Grow Your BusinessÂ
Advertisements have always been an effective way to attract customers, they’re still relevant. Initially, a message was spread via word of mouth, then newspapers, followed by television, and now we have ads running on the internet.
Currently, businesses can choose to run ads on social media platforms, search engines, and even hire influencers to promote their products (influencer marketing). Each year, businesses spend more on digital ads to grow their e-commerce presence, reinforcing the claim that ads are still relevant. Large corporations with an already established customer base, too, still allocate a large chunk of their budget toward ads. In 2022, Amazon spent approximately $20.6 billion on advertising alone.
4) Perform SEO and Mobile Optimization For Increased Visibility
SEO, to newcomers in the e-commerce field, seems like the mysterious term that everyone uses, but about which you’re unsure. Let’s lift the veil. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it helps your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs, such as the results page on Google). There are a variety of SEOs out there namely, local SEO, international SEO, technical SEO, landing page SEO, and more.
Every website aims to show up at a higher rank because it increases visibility and thus brings in organic traffic. SEO involves using the right keywords, improving site structure, and increasing website speed—all things that search engines value. SEO is all about making search engines happy so they rank you ahead of others.
Mobile optimization, on the other hand, is a fairly new trend in the online world due to changes in consumer habits. Simply put, it is the process of making a website mobile-friendly so users have a smooth shopping experience. It is also part of a company’s overall SEO strategy.
Statistics show that 60% of all e-commerce sales worldwide come from mobile phones, reaching a staggering $2.2 trillion in sales in 2023. Mobile optimization is no longer optional unless you want to miss out on reaching more than half of the online population.
Put the two together, and you’ve got the perfect sandwich for visibility and user experience, two very important ingredients for converting visitors into customers and increasing sales.
5) Customer Loyalty Programs Increase Sales and Retention
A business always aims to increase its number of customers, but retention is equally important, if not arguably even more so. You see when we think of loyalty programmes, we’re often under the impression that all they do is keep a business steady.
First off, keeping your revenue stream steady is an absolutely crucial aspect of running a business. Secondly, loyal customers actually help increase revenue over time. If a brand incentivizes loyalty, returning customers tend to spend more and also engage in classic word-of-mouth marketing for the brand.
A loyalty program can include discounts, coupon codes, special offers, and even personalized messages, such as on the date they became a member or on their birthday. These bond-forming activities make a massive difference.
Conclusion
These strategies weren’t listed in any particular order; all of them are equally important and should be part of an e-commerce business’s overall digital marketing strategy. Some other strategies that we didn’t cover but are equally relevant are:
- Email marketing
- Upselling products and retargeting
- Content marketing
- Utilization of video and audio formats
All of the strategies mentioned in this blog, paired with the honorable mentions, must then be tested, multiple times, as much as possible. It is a mistake to think you’ve got the perfect strategy; that’s a myth. Keep testing and trying out new methods, as marketing, at the end of the day, is more art than math.Â
Author Bio
Daniel is the Editor-in-Chief at Trena Digital, a premier digital marketing agency in Surrey, dedicated to helping businesses thrive in today’s competitive online landscape. Passionate about digital growth and innovation, Daniel oversees content that empowers businesses to maximize their online potential.
Please share your experience or questions in the comments below, or join us in the Online Business Canada Facebook group.
Related Reading
Canadian Ecommerce Marketing Study: How Brands Made $143M
How to Start an Affiliate Program for a Canadian Business
For weekly inspiration, insights, tips, and resources, sign up for the Online Business Canada newsletter!
7 Recession Proof Online Businesses To Start From Home
Expert help to choose, start, and run a successful online business!
“Almost 200 pages of pure gold…”
GET IT ON AMAZON
Or Other Major Ebook Retailers
——————————————
© CanadiansInternet.com – Content on this website may not be used elsewhere without expressed permission. Thank you for respecting the effort that we have put into our original content.
Email marketing is making a comeback. If it ever did fall out of favour that is. It’s a very effective marketing channel for almost every niche. It’s one of the few ways to actually reach people too now that search is such an impossible mess.
I love how marketing is so integrated with ecommerce platforms these days. It makes it easy for just about anyone to DIY until they get too big to handle it theirselves.