Anyone still getting used to business in the digital age has wondered how to market a product and attract customers to your online store. The good news is, you’ve already done the work, and have a product that you know will sell. At this point, it’s just a matter of getting it in front of the right audience – and we’ve compiled a list of the most effective techniques for doing just that.
Top 13 Ways to Market a Product Online:
- Referral Marketing
- Showing Authority
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Building Community
- Using Customer Posts
- Email Marketing
- Personalizing the Customer Experience
- Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
- Blogging
- Using Other Platforms
- Knowing Your Competition
- Strong Copy
- Strong Visuals
Don’t be intimidated by the more technical points. All of these strategies are beginner-friendly, and we’ve given each an Ease of Setup score out of 5, so you’ll know exactly what you’re getting into!
1. Referral Marketing
Ease of setup: 3/5
Referral marketing is when people tell others about your business. This is the most effective method of marketing, as people trust recommendations from trusted sources. You’d rather take a friend over a Google result. In fact, referral leads convert 30% more effectively than leads from other marketing channels.
Referral marketing has become even more powerful with the advent of the internet. One share on Facebook, or repost on Instagram, can reach a large number of people at once. You can’t control the best form of referral marketing, which is unprompted customer sharing. However, you can encourage customers to share your products with their friends by offering them special discounts or offers.
2. Showing Authority
Ease of setup: 5/5
When people do research on a product, it is important to know if they are buying from a reputable source. A professional website can help establish your business and, by extension, your products as high-quality. There are many options for building a website. You don’t need to have any coding or technical knowledge to build a site. Platforms such as Shopify and BigCommerce make it easy to create ecommerce sites where you can sell products.
3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Ease of setup: 3/5
The next step after you’ve created your online store is to ensure that potential customers can find it. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process that gets your site to rank better on popular search engines such as Google. You can optimize your website in many ways, including by choosing short, relevant URLs and ensuring that your pages are titled with relevant search terms.
4. Building Community
Ease of setup: 5/5
This strategy is also successful because people love to hear what others have to say. It’s one thing to rave about your product, but it is another (and more lucrative) to have customers do it for you. According to one study, customers are 19% more likely to spend after joining an online community.
5. Using Customer Posts
Ease of setup: 5/5
You can let the publicity that results from people talking about your products online speak for you. You can show real people enjoying your products by posting quotes and photos, also known as User Generated Content.
6. Email Marketing
Ease of setup: 4/5
Email marketing is an effective way to reach a large number of customers at once. Platforms such as MailChimp allow customers to subscribe to automated marketing messages from you and your company.
7. Personalizing the Customer Experience
Ease of setup: 5/5
There are many small ways, in addition to personalized email marketing, to show that you value each buyer individually. You can let customers create profiles on your website or offer specific discounts based upon their buying history.
8. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Ease of setup: 4/5
SEM is a paid alternative to SEO. You pay to have an ad appear at the top of the search results for specific keywords. SEM is second only to SEO when it comes to effectiveness and requires less technical knowledge.
9. Blogging
Ease of setup: 4/5
It is easy to add a blog feature to your website using most website builders or ecommerce platforms. A blog that is able to drive sales will have useful, well-written posts.
10. Using Other Platforms
Ease of setup: 4/5
You should know your customers so well that you can know what social media sites they use. Once you have your promotional materials ready, all that’s left is to know where to place them.
11. Knowing Your Competition
Ease of setup: 3/5
It’s a good idea to always know what your competitors do well. By identifying the unmet needs of your competitors, you can determine which customer base you should target.
12. Strong Copy
Ease of setup: 3/5
Your writing will be instantly more relatable with the research base, but you can go one step further and invest in your copy.
13. Strong Visuals
Ease of setup: 4/5
You can’t undervalue the importance of great images. This is particularly true for product images on ecommerce websites, as people want to know exactly what they are ordering before they commit.
| Strategy | Ease of Setup/5 | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Referral Marketing | 3 | Use word-of-mouth to increase awareness about your product. |
| Showing Authority | 5 | Establishing yourself as a quality product provider. |
| SEO | 3 | Equipping your product pages for Google search results. |
| Building Community | 5 | Providing a digital space for your customers to interact. |
| Using Customer Posts | 5 | Let your customers’ testimonials speak for you. |
| Email Marketing | 4 | Frequent communication with customers via email (often automated). |
