Suppose you have decided what you want to sell – you have chosen a niche, found a supplier and made a site for the online store. If you do not engage in promotion – not to attract potential customers, the benefits of the site will not bring.
Channels for Online Promotion
We can divide all the channels into two groups – search and targeting. They differ in models of work with the audience.
Search promotion channels – those in which people are looking for information. For example, a person goes to Yandex and enters the query “play slots”. In the output, the user will see paid ads – they are in the top positions, and organic results – links to specific platforms that have the most users. In our case, it will be Hellspin Casino and other trustworthy sites.
Contextual advertising are ads that are shown to the user in response to his request. You can set up in the advertising cabinet – for Google, it’s Google Ads. You need to collect queries for which people are looking for a particular product, write the text of the ad, determine the payment model and top up the budget.
Usually the advertiser pays for the click on the ad – when the user clicks on the ad, the budget is deducted. The cost per click is calculated based on niche, competitors, and quality of ads.
Search engine optimization is all about attracting organic traffic. You don’t have to pay for every click on your site in the search engine. Usually comes down to the collection of a semantic core – queries on which the site can reach potential customers, and optimize the quality of the site.
Ranking algorithms determine which site to show a user in response to his query. There is no clear sequence of what you need to do to get to the first position. There are recommendations from the search engines themselves, how to improve the site.
There are sites where you can choose to whom to show ads. You need to specify the parameters of the audience who will be interested in the offer. The simplest example is advertising on social networks – Facebook and Instagram.
For example, you sell sports equipment. Most likely, it is useful for young people who like to travel, have an active lifestyle and attend gyms. You can gather subscribers from different communities for athletes, choose relevant interests and ages. Get a list of users you can show your ad to.
Targeted ads need to be set up in the advertising cabinet. There are many settings that will allow you to create a relevant audience to show – you will attract the audience interested in the product and get more responses.
There are two payment models – per display ad when you want to reach as many potential customers as possible, and per click – when you want to attract the maximum audience, such as the store website.
Social networks also have clever algorithms. They recommend content that users might like – based on reactions, likes, subscriptions and behaviors. If you’re growing your community, posting interesting content, page posts will get into user recommendations. Some will subscribe – you don’t have to pay for this.
Direct communication channels can include email newsletters, messenger and social media, push notifications. The user agrees that you will send him something and begins to receive notifications.
To make this sales development channel work, you need to make an effort and gain an audience that will receive the newsletter. For example, in the beginning you are recruiting an email address base. If it has 3 contacts, the result of such a mailing will not be.
The easiest way to do it: develop useful content that potential customers would just be interested in receiving and reading and give it away in return for a subscription. The person subscribes, gets this content, and then you can send him specific promotional offers.
Step 1: Analyze Your Nearest Competitor
A standard technique that search engine marketing experts use is “Understand what your competition is doing and do the same thing, but better.”
You need to understand what your competitors are doing. That said, if you have a small local store – not a very large assortment, and you don’t send orders all over the country, you shouldn’t compare yourself to the big brands. You have different budgets for promotion and different opportunities.
Step 2: Formulate a Unique Selling Proposition
A unique selling proposition is what sets you apart from the competition. It’s why the customer will choose your product. In the previous step, we figured out how to analyze your competitors. You must have paid attention to how they position themselves and noticed general trends.
Step 3. Draw an Unique Selling Proposition
You already have data about your competitors, formulated your USP. Now you need to systematize your audience knowledge.
There are several methods to analyze your potential customers. One of them is the persona method. You personify your customer – describe the most prominent representative:
- What values in life – work, family, fame?
- What needs are there?
- How does he choose his product?
- What is he afraid of? What does he or she want?
- What content on the Internet does he/she look for? What sites does he go to? What messengers does he use?
You can divide your audience into segments. For example, if you sell kitchen utensils, you can separate the segments of professional chefs who cook something to order, and housewives who just want convenient cups and spoons.
When you describe all the segments, you will already have an understanding of how your audience behaves.
Step 4: Identify the Channels That Get the Most Results the Fastest
You’ve figured out the behavior of your audience. Then you understand the channels through which you can communicate with them and how to reach them with your trading offer.
Advertising tools give fast results. You don’t have to wait long for the first responses – you set up your ads, target ads to your ideal client and wait for results.
Search engine optimization gives a delayed effect. Usually only after 2-3 months of continuous improvement of the site, you can see an increase in traffic from search engines. But all SEO experts say that the earlier you start working on the site, the easier it will be later.
So think not only about the immediate result but also for the future. For example, if you see that a competitor is actively developing social networks – it is quite possible that you also need to pay a lot of attention to them.
Step 5: Start Working With Your Chosen Channel
It doesn’t take much effort to try any channel. For example, advertising offices in search engines are arranged simply – there are step-by-step prompts that show you how to run the simplest ad.
The same goes for social media.
You can work with each channel on your own and see what works best for your situation right now.
But you will need specific skills to multiply the results. An entrepreneur may not be able to run the perfect ad right away. You can turn to someone who specializes in this.
If you think you need a specialist, you can turn to agencies. They specialize in Internet marketing and will tell you which channel is right for your current needs. You can choose an agency through ratings. Different teams participate in them and there is an independent jury – it evaluates the agencies’ cases, looks at the quality of work with the client, and forms the rating.
