Shopify Marketing Strategy: 10 Foolproof Tactics To Promote Your Shopify Store

Building a Shopify store is only the first step to kickstarting your online business. Having a successful one would require a detailed approach to Shopify Marketing Strategy.  Imagine that you’re in a very crowded fair and you’ve just finished displaying your products next to other sellers. All the other stands around you attract many visitors yet yours are barely catching anyone’s attention. You’ve spent your time, money and efforts to be here and you don’t want to waste this opportunity. This is where you ask yourself, what did everyone else do differently? How do they do it? We’re here to help. 

In this Shopify 101 series, we drill down into details of utilizing Shopify to build your store at ease. We’ve already introduced you to what tactics you should use to get more traffic, now you’re ready for Chapter 3: Shopify Marketing Strategy: 10 Foolproof Tactics To Skyrocket Your Sales

I. Why is Shopify Marketing Strategy important for your business?

A clear and well-established Shopify Marketing Strategy will help your Shopify online store gain visibility by presenting your offer through the internet and social media in an attractive way. You will be able to identify who your target audience is to learn their problems and needs so your product or service can benefit and help them.

It also helps you differentiate from your competitors by pinpointing the uniqueness of your product or service.

Having a good Shopify marketing strategy will let you know what success looks like for your store and help you measure and keep track of them, as well as recognize your strengths and weaknesses.

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II. Things To Consider When Choosing The Right Shopify Marketing Strategy

01. Set Your Goals

Your goals should be clearly defined and specific in the beginning as it will guide you through the rest of the way. For example, how many leads do you need in order to achieve this much sales? How many sales to reach the revenue you set out for the store? You can use the SMART goals framework to give structure and clarity to them.

Smart Goals

02. Identify Your Buyer Persona

A buyer persona is a fictional and ideal customer profile that might be interested in a product or a brand. They help you to identify and qualify who you should focus your marketing efforts on and align your business with them in the future. This is critical for any initiative you want to make, from content creation to product design to after-sale services.

Buyer Persona

03. Keep An Eye On The Competitors

When it comes to online stores, anyone can be your competitor and you won’t have just one but many competitors that are fighting in the online market, which is why you should monitor them closely. This can go from their most used or high-rated keyword to their most shared or loved content. If they have any new activities on social media or new creative content, you should be the first to know. By keeping up with the competitors, you will be able to make sure your content englobes and is stronger than theirs and that you aren’t behind in your industry. 

Now that we have covered the basics, let’s find out what Shopify Marketing Strategy you can make use of for your online store:

III. 10 Proven Tactics To Get Traffic To Your Shopify Store

01. SEO-driven Content

Of all the marketing strategies you can have for your Shopify stores, SEO is the most fundamental as it involves organic search and according to Backlinko, around 75% of visitors click on organic search results and ignore the paid results.

Instead of spending the majority of your budget on paid ads, you can invest your efforts in getting those free traffic. It will cost much less and it’s sustainable in the long run.

Source: SEMrush.com

SEO-driven content is all about creating content that drives traffic from organic search by getting your web pages to rank high in the search engines. To maximize your chances, you should first ensure the technical aspects of your website (UI/UX, loading speed, etc.) before continuing to these steps:

• Optimize those keywords. Do your keyword research diligently and find out what your target audience’s search terms are. We know many businesses who only use a certain set of words while their customers search with completely different keywords, resulting in low traffic and potential customers lost. Long-tail keywords are a great option to target people with high purchase intent.
• Structure your paragraphs. This means clear headings, breaking content into smaller blocks. This helps the visitor to save time and effort on finding the information they need.
• Spread your content on social media with attractive descriptions and a call to action.
• Optimize with Shopify built-in functionalities like meta title, URL structure, alt text for images.

If you want to have a more in-depth explanation about Shopify SEO, read more in this article. 

02. Video Marketing

Wyzowl’s survey shows that 96% of businesses use video marketing with 87% of video marketers agreeing that using videos gives them a positive ROI. The contents of these videos are usually tutorials, introduction videos, sales videos, or ads in the form of videos, etc. Video marketing is a great way to prolong the on-site time of visitors, no matter how long or short it is.

Here’s a detailed process of how you can make one:

• Plan your video. What is its purpose? Your budget? Where is it going to be distributed? Etc.
• Write a script. If you want your videos to be professional, you would want to write down key points and organize them.
• Learn how to shoot with your camera. That means understanding every technical aspect such as frame rate, ISO, settings, compositions. This will save you time when you start editing them.
• Editing. You can use editing software such as iMovie for free or Adobe Premiere Pro
• Distribute it. There are plenty of famous video platforms like TikTok or Youtube. Even Facebook and Instagram have dedicated sections for short and long videos.

Take a look at Red Bull’s video marketing strategy. They don’t just create videos promoting their drinks but rather set up separate channels for different activities like winter sports, skateboarding, gaming, etc, with content tailored to their viewer’s interests. They know their target audience is diverse and they make it so that every channel stands out.

How to get started?
There are plenty of video marketing apps on Shopify that offer a wide range of features such as Tolstoy Video Marketing Widget and Vimeo Create.

 

03. Email marketing

Email marketing lets you send personalized messages to your existing and potential customers. It’s one of the most cost-effective ways to keep them engaged in between purchases. 

To get started, you need to define your email list with a newsletter sign-up form on your website, segment your audience, decide on your content, and set your schedule. We suggest paying attention to how frequently you send your emails as it can be considered spam if you’re bombarding them with too many daily updates. Keep track of your unsubscribe rate and plan accordingly to your business industry. You should also try automation with your emails, such as a welcome email, a follow-up after purchase or even similar product recommendations.

Here are some indicators to look at:

• Open rates and click-through rates
• Website traffic
• Unsubscribe rate

This is a great example of a successful and creative email marketing message. The brand Wool and the Gang uses a text message gif with the hashtag Joy of Missing Out – the state of being at home and enjoying some relaxing time which is relevant to knitting. They also include a knitting tutorial video and a link to see their crochet kits collection. By speaking the same language as their buyers, they were able to capture the reader’s attention and create excitement for their products.

Source: Wool and the gang’s newsletter

How to get started?

You can use the integrated feature on Shopify called Shopify Email, or third-party apps such as Klaviyo for this Shopify Marketing Strategy.

04. Automation

Marketing automation is the use of automatic software for your marketing strategies. Most of the time it’s hard to tell if it really works since you are not sending the right message to the right person and they will probably consider it annoying. Nevertheless, it’s extremely important for your lead generation. By automating every step of the way, your marketing team can focus on nurturing those leads. We will be covering two important elements of automation for Shopify Marketing Strategy which is cart recovery campaign and SMS marketing.

According to TechJury, SMS has a 98% open rate compared to email marketing. That’s because people are always on their phones to stay connected. But you shouldn’t blindly send out text messages without any clear strategy. Ask yourself this, what information do you want your recipients to receive? How would they benefit from it? Make sure your message is mobile-optimized and combine SMS marketing with other tools like social media. SMS Bump is a great and complete tool that can be integrated with a wide range of other applications like MailChimp.

In terms of cart abandonment, Baymard Institute said an average of 69.57% of online shopping carts aren’t followed through. That means for every 10 customers, 7 will leave without buying. That’s a significant loss for online stores if they don’t try to recapture those sales. Luckily, there are an abundance of Shopify Apps you can choose from to automate this process. They are usually reminders in the form of push notifications, email reminders and sending messages on social media.

You can set the message timing options for a few hours after purchase and add a discount code or exclusive deals to those emails. Shopify has an automation option for cart recovery but if you want more features, you can try PushOwl or Marsello Abandoned Cart Recovery.

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05. Advertising

Paid ads are a quicker way to see results in your investments. They can generate a large amount of clicks in front of the right people for your business. Social platforms such as Facebook offer extensive features on targeting and detailed audience profiling, but since it’s the largest platform out there, you might encounter more competition. You can always opt for smaller socials with a more niche kind of users, such as Pinterest (for creatives) and Reddit (for the memes and weird stories).

With Facebook ads, you can create multiple formats such as a single image, carousel, video for targeted audience. Your ads account is set automatically when you create a business page. You should install Facebook Pixel for conversion reporting and algorithmic ad optimization. Shopify allows you to link your Facebook Pixel account with your Shopify store to enable Facebook checkout. 

Instagram has a shopping tag at the bottom that showcases stores users are already following or might be interested in. Their ads will appear naturally in your feeds or stories with links to your Instagram shop or your website.

Paid search is another option you can consider. You can invest a flexible budget in a specific page or keywords. 

Source: Google

There are Google Shopping Ads with a product carousel of different products from different sellers plus the Ads tag.

Source: WordStream.com

06. Social Media Marketing

If you’re a small Shopify business then social media is the number 1 place for you to get started in your Marketing Strategies. There are common and big platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and lesser-known ones like Quora and Pinterest, but each has the potential to tap into. You can either use paid ads or organic to spread brand awareness and create engagement with your brand. This is the best place to build a relationship with your customers.

To establish a social media plan for your marketing strategies, you should:

• Set your goals (Is it brand awareness, community building, providing customer service or others?)
• Identify your target audience to choose the right platform
• Determine your KPIs
• Create contents (Inspirations, events, behind the scene, education, etc)

You can promote your products on social media by setting up a Facebook store or tagging your products on Instagram. You won’t rely solely on your main website for sales as visitors can explore your product catalog on social media. Facebook Shop is available in the Facebook Overview tab, and don’t forget to connect your Facebook Commerce Manager account.

Pinterest, for example, is a great platform for users to discover new products. They are full of idea-seeking users who search for infographics or inspirational photos.

07. Referral Marketing

A referral program is a Shopify marketing strategy that encourages existing customers to introduce your brand to their friends and family in exchange for a small amount of incentive. Not only does this strategy tap on the effective word-of-mouth tactic but it also helps your business to pinpoint your best existing customers. These customers already know about your brand’s reputation and product so they will know who are the best fitting leads to refer you to.

Fun fact, 60% of marketers said referral programs increase the number of leads and 78% of B2B marketers said the lead’s quality is good or excellent according to Social Media Today.

Here are some tips on creating a good referral program:

• Use catchy headline that includes the benefit of referring and joining
• Simplify the referral process with one or two clicks
• Have a premade referral message template
• Track your results

The famous skincare and makeup brand Glossier offers 10$ for the referrer and a 10% discount for their friends (Referee). The result? 70% of their online sales and traffic come from peer-to-peer referrals. This huge success was because of two reasons, first was Glossier’s extensive and resourceful community with their “Into the Gloss” blog and secondly it was the fact that when it comes to skincare and face products, consumers are most likely to trust their close circle for product recommendation.

 Source: Glossier’s referral program signup form

How to get started?

Shopify store owners can take advantage of existing Shopify Apps such as Referral Candy or they can have custom built ones, whichever they find suitable for their store.

08. User-Generated Content

User-generated content (or UGC) refers to content created by people who have interacted or buy from a brand instead of the brand itself. Adding reviews on your product page and homepage can build trust for your brand.

Here are some ways to get the most user-generated content:

• Create a hashtag for your brand. You can share them anywhere you want, in your thank you emails or on your social media bio. For example, the fashion brand Bershka created their #bershkastyle with the best posts getting featured in their stories

Source: Instagram.com 

• Actively ask for UGC in your post-sale emails
• Embed them on your website and repost them on social media

09. Promotion

Giving seasonal sales, flash sales and giveaways are the most straightforward strategy in the book. Almost no one says no to free things and good deals. Some examples of giveaway ideas you can choose from are special occasion giveaways (holiday or contest) or product giveaways.

Online giveaways can help your Shopify business in many ways:

• Increase in social media followers
• Gain more traffic for your website
• Extend your email subscription list
• Earn valuable data from your customers
• Increase brand awareness

Define the timeframe and participation rules. The rules are usually simple and up to the creativity of the brand, but the basics are asking the person to follow the brand and tag their friends for example, or repost and share something on their social media. You should always follow up after a giveaway to let the participants know who is the winner instead of letting them wait around.

The prize should be something that every follower you have is interested in, such as bestseller products. You can combine this Shopify marketing strategy with an influencer to spread the words even further and take the giveaway to the next level.

There are Shopify tools you can use to simplify the process such as Promosimple, ViralSweep or Gleam for this Shopify Marketing Strategy.

10. Influencer Marketing

With an annual growth rate of 32%, influencer marketing is used by almost every brand in the world. Influencers who are seen as experts and who have built their reputations over the years, are seen as trustworthy by their followers and subscribers. Imagine a product being introduced by someone you trust; you’ll definitely want to try that brand out. To start off, a brand needs to define clearly its ideal influencer. This influencer should share your brand’s values, make quality contents, and have a significant following that is similar to your target audience.

Measuring the ROI is important to know how much value the influencer is bringing to your brand.

Post engagement and cost per engagement (CPE) let you know if the campaign is a good investment. Click-through rate will show how many people follow the link to your website.

Dollar Shave’s influencer marketing campaign has been a great success just by choosing the right influencers.

 (Source: Instagram.com) 

Wrapping Up

No matter what your online store sells, a well-planned Shopify marketing strategy is always the key to gaining visibility and traffic for your business. There is always room for improvement, so you should test those strategies before deciding what to go with in the long run. When you’ve become an expert at it, making plans and decisions will be much easier and faster.