Knowing how to market your business effectively is critical in making it successful. All the more for dropshipping companies, given how competitive the entire industry is.
Don’t fret, though. This ultimate guide covers the different types of digital marketing strategies, the step-by-step process of creating and launching a marketing campaign, and tips for marketing your business.
Browse through this guide if you want to run a fail-proof marketing campaign for your dropshipping store.
Let’s get right to it.
Types of Digital and Dropshipping Marketing Strategies
The internet has made it possible for brands to reach customers in all parts of the globe. Moreover, the variety of platforms available on the internet has also significantly diversified how customers get to see businesses on their screens.
But with plenty of options, marketers often get confused on which methods are more appropriate for their brands.
In this p, we’ll discuss each method and its respective pros and cons.
As its name suggests, social media marketing uses social media platforms for marketing a business’s products and services. Websites and applications like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are popular platforms for this marketing method.
Social media marketing is also popular among businesses because of its reach, convenience, and flexibility—with almost 4 billion users worldwide.
Marketers can take advantage of graphic design and content to deliver their message and tone. Although there are terms and conditions to follow, there is still much legroom for brands to get as creative as they like.
Social media platforms also provide sufficient information and options that brands can use to target potential customers.
But with convenience comes the challenge of creating the right content and visuals. As a result, brands have to carefully plan out their social media marketing campaigns from start to finish.
As previously mentioned, it’s used by brands of all shapes and niches, making it a challenge to stand out. However, with proper planning, success will come naturally.
Email Marketing
Email marketing simply uses emails to send advertisements to the emails of potential and current customers.
People say that email marketing is outdated, given that it’s one of the oldest forms of online marketing.
But statistics say otherwise.
According to Statista, more than 4 billion people use their emails every day, and this number is expected to increase to 4.6 billion by 2025.
Over the last 12 months, 77% of marketers have experienced a boost in email engagement. Brands that conduct QA, spam, and A/B testing on their email program have enjoyed an ROI as high as 28%.
Successful email campaigns give marketers the flexibility to personalize their emails and sufficient control to forge relationships with their customers. This method is also easy to scale without garnering too many expenses.
But for email marketing campaigns to work, you have to remember that your email is one of the many they see in their inbox. So it’s also essential to have a competent email service provider and email list to ensure you reach your target audience.
Search Engine Marketing
If you’ve seen ads on search results, those are prime examples of Search Engine Marketing.
These are paid ads on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) such as Google and YouTube. Marketers bid on keywords on Google and Bing to get the chance for their ads to appear when certain words are being searched.
These ads are paid-per-click ads and come in various formats, such as product listings and text-based ads.
Search Engine Marketing is suitable for marketers who want to target customers ready to purchase once they look up a product.
It’s also an efficient way to spend money since advertisers only pay for impressions that result in website visits. On top of that, the more the page gets visited, the more the website’s ranking improves.
Content Marketing
As defined by The Content Marketing Institute, content marketing is “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience.”
This also means that businesses have to create and publish high-quality content consistently.
Don’t worry though, content referred to here doesn’t just mean articles and blogs. It could also be in the form of case studies, charts, surveys, product reviews, webinars, podcasts, white papers, vlogs, etc.
Veteran users of content marketing have seen an increase in sales, decreased costs, and broadened loyal customer base. However, publishing relevant and valuable content has its perks.
However, content marketers still struggle with their content marketing. Research, formatting, and even optimization are just three things that make content marketing a bit challenging.
On the bright side, these can all be mastered through research and experimentation. So find what works for your business and implement applicable best practices for best results.
Video Marketing
Video marketing is simply using videos to market products and services to target audiences.
Over the past few years, this marketing method has become more relevant and popular than ever. According to Biteable, 60% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, and 94% plan to continue because of its success.
This is because consumers watch videos on various social media platforms like TikTok and Facebook.
It has also become more accessible. For example, people can now record high-quality videos on their phones and create ads on different platforms.
The only requirement is creativity.
Not everyone can create short, impactful ads that would retain a prospect’s attention. But it’s not going to be a problem if you know the right people to tap.
How to Market Your Dropshipping Store?
With all the types of marketing methods discussed above, it’s time to dive into how you can effectively market your dropshipping store.
This step-by-step guide will help you create and follow a plan throughout your marketing journey. Although, you can always customize and adjust according to what’s suitable for your business.
Don’t get overwhelmed with the steps, as these are just guides for how you can market your dropshipping store effectively.
Set Your Budget and Goals
It’s common knowledge that digital marketing can get pricey. Online platforms have found ways to monetize their virtual space and reach, and brands can’t help but pay a hefty price.
On the one hand, it’s convenient. But, on the other hand, it does seem a bit risky, with all the money involved.
So, to establish safety nets, you need to set your budget and your goals. Doing proper research allows you to have a range in mind that will support your overall business objective.
Remember, spending a lot doesn’t necessarily equate to higher returns. So budget wisely and identify achievable and concrete goals for your business.
Conduct Market Research
Online competition is tough. Therefore, getting insight into your target customers will help make sure you reach them using the proper channels and methods.
One of the best ways to do that is to conduct market research. This is a critical step to any successful dropshipping business.
You collect information about their buying patterns, location, and mindset. As a result, you understand how your customers behave whenever they go shopping online.
Two of the critical pieces of information you need to obtain are market trends and market size. In addition, you can conduct surveys, interview customers, or get data from reliable statistics websites and industry and trade publications.
Identify Your Target Market
It’s common for dropshippers—new and old—to want to target the general public. So why limit your target customers to a smaller group right?
But we’re here to tell you that it’s not such a great idea.
Not only are you potentially wasting money advertising to a larger audience, but you also risk not reaching customers who will actually purchase your product.
Once you’ve conducted your market research, it’s now much easier to identify your target audience.
You must understand your ideal customers’ thoughts, study their behavior and preferences online, and find the best channels and methods to reach them.
Develop Your Branding
Now that you know your customers’ behavior and preferences, you can start developing your brand.
Use the information you have to create a brand that will easily appeal to them while maintaining what you want for your business.
Make sure that all of your resources are aligned with your branding. As much as possible, make it as memorable as you can. Think about your name, logo,
But also remember that while you should have a branding, to begin with, it can also be a work-in-progress. So don’t be afraid to improve it once the behavior of your customers and market trends change.
Establish Your Unique Selling Proposition
Standing out online will not be an easy task.
There are thousands of dropshipping stores online that might be similar to yours, making it hard to capture the eyes of your prospects.
This makes it necessary for you to identify your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
Your USP is the main thing that differentiates you from all your competitors. It’s the factor or benefit you give your customers that they won’t necessarily get from other businesses.
It should directly answer the question, “what makes you different from others?”
USPs shouldn’t just be slogans you plaster on your website or free shipping and excellent customer service. They should be what your customers want from your brand and what you can also provide.
WooCommerce has an excellent example of a USP.
Its USP is all about allowing customers to create an online store that meets all their needs.
Choose Your Digital Marketing Method
Choosing how to advertise your products or services and reach your customers may require a lot of brainstorming.
It’s pretty easy to spend more than you initially planned, So, your marketing method should also be aligned with how much you’ve initially set for the entire campaign.
Use the data you obtained from your market research and identify what type of digital marketing strategy suits your business objective.
Take note of the best practices, but don’t confine yourself with the current trends.
Don’t be afraid to mix and match, especially if you’re still testing which type is most effective for your brand. However, just be mindful of your expenses and always refer to your budget.
Create Your Campaign Materials
After choosing your marketing strategy, create appropriate campaign materials.
Align the materials with your branding and make sure to follow the requirements of your chosen platforms—if there are any.
For the most part, this may be a costly step in the process of marketing your brand. So take it as an investment you have to make for the success of your business.
Create appealing materials, or better yet, hire the right people to fulfill this step if that’s more convenient for you. There are plenty of digital marketing agencies and services you can avail of.
Launch and Track Your Advertising Campaign
Now, all you need to do is launch your campaign.
Create and follow a schedule for the release of your materials. Although, this really depends on what kind of marketing strategy you chose.
Set the date, and make sure you can monitor its progress—whether it’s your own trackers or your chosen platform’s.
You should also use the data you obtain from your market research to know when is the best time to launch your campaign. Don’t just release materials for the sake of them.
Review Your Entire Plan
Having a successful marketing campaign doesn’t just end with the launching and release of your campaign materials. In fact, it begins there.
You should also set a schedule for reviewing the entire plan, so you can see what worked and what didn’t. Of course, you also get the chance to change or modify a few things along the way.
By reviewing your plan, you can improve future campaigns, which will yield better results. The more thorough you are with your review, the more improved your subsequent campaigns will be.
5 Tips for Marketing A Dropshipping Business
Coming up with a marketing campaign can be quite a task, especially for newbies.
A lot of work goes into these campaigns, which is why we’ve prepared a few tips that you can use to make it a bit easier.
Here are some tips you can use when planning for a marketing campaign:
Build A Worthy Website
Ensure your website is functional and appealing to your customers. Don’t just focus on your marketing campaign.
Your website is also a form of marketing, and if it doesn’t meet your customers’ needs, then the rest of your marketing campaign goes down the drain.
Invest in the best tools and make your website worthy of staying in. This also means using high-quality photos to make your products or services even more appealing.
Make sure your website’s overall message is aligned with all your marketing campaigns for uniformity.
Make Retargeting Techniques a Priority
Customers don’t always buy on their first visit. Sometimes, they’re just looking around and adding items to their cart without checking out.
So, make sure to retarget them. Retargeting is a strategy that focuses on visitors who made no action.
This can be done by displaying ads on different platforms regarding the products they’ve recently checked. With the constant reminder, 70% of customers usually convert.
Consider Adding Customer Inputs
One of the best ways to market your business is by adding customer inputs through customer reviews, testimonials, and ratings.
Some businesses even use promotional posts through TV personalities and artists.
The bottom line is the more authentic the testimonial, the more believable and reliable your brand is.
An example would be adding customer inputs to your website and product descriptions or use it through different platforms like Instagram and Tiktok.
As mentioned, users are inclined to watch videos across different social media platforms.
Right now, it’s expected to take up about 81% of all consumer web traffic.
Take advantage of this and use videos for advertising your brand. It may be costly, but it’s one of the best ways to capture their attention and have brand retention.
Join Online Communities
All the research you’ve done must have led you to the online communities your target market is part of.
Join those groups and see what the discussions are all about. You can also advertise through this channel. Just make sure to follow the rules.
However, don’t make the mistake of being too pushy and advertising too much. The ultimate goal is that you’re authentic in your campaigns to be more believable.
Key Takeaways
The process of creating successful marketing campaigns may be a bit challenging, but it’s definitely essential if you want to have a successful dropshipping business.
Effective marketing campaigns can easily translate to returns on investment, so make sure you take your time to create one.
You can contact us if you need help with your dropshipping business. We offer a variety of services to ensure you are successful in what you do.
