How to grow your small business in 2022
If you want to learn how to grow your business in 2022, then you’ve come to the right place. In this blog post, we will talk about the current state of e-commerce and internet marketing, and how you can use these two channels to take your business to the next level.
We will be outlining the basics of each topic, as well as providing useful tips to help you get started. So whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been in business for a while, read on for everything you need to know about e commerce and online marketing.
Small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. In fact, according to the SB Administration, small businesses account for more than half of all private sector jobs in the United States.
In 2022, you need to start planning now. So read on and get started!
What Is Ecommerce Marketing?
There is no single answer to this question as ecommerce marketing can encompass a wide range of activities and strategies. However, in general, internet marketing refers to any activities that promote or support the sale of products or services online.
Some of the key areas of ecommerce marketing include:
- (SEO) – the process of improving the visibility and ranking of a website in search engine results pages (SERPs).
- Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising – the use of paid advertising to drive traffic to a website, typically by bidding on keywords.
- Email marketing – the use of email communications to promote products or services.
- Social media marketing – the use of platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote products or services.
Ecommerce Advertising
There are a lot of different ways to advertise your electronic commerce business. Which one you choose depends on your goals, budget, and the products you’re selling.
1. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow you to target ads at specific demographics, interests, and even by location. You can also use advertising to create custom audiences of people who have visited your website or engaged with your brand.
2. Google AdWords allows you to place ads on Google search results pages and millions of other websites across the internet. AdWords lets you target ads by keyword, so you can place ads in front of people who are already interested in what you have to sell in your online store.
3. Display advertising: Display advertising is a form of online advertising that places banner ads on websites across the internet. Display advertising can be targeted by demographic information like age, gender, and interests, or by the type of website where the ad will appear.
4. Retargeting: Retargeting is a form of online advertising that targets people who have already visited your website. Retargeting allows you to place ads in front of these people as they browse the internet, reminding them about your product and hopefully enticing them to come back and make a purchase.
Types of Ecommerce Marketing
There are a number of different ecommerce marketing strategies that you can use to drive traffic and sales to your store. In this article, we’ll take a look at the most common ones.
Paid Advertising
One of the most common ecommerce marketing strategies is paid advertising. This involves using platforms such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads to promote your products to a targeted audience. Paid advertising can be extremely effective in driving traffic and sales, but it’s important to make sure you’re targeting the right audience and that your ads are well-optimized.
SEO
Another popular ecommerce marketing strategy is SEO. SEO is the process of optimizing your website and content for search engine rankings. When done correctly, SEO can help you rank higher in search results, which can drive more traffic and sales to your online store. However, it’s important to note that SEO is a long-term strategy and it may take time to see results.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is another great way to drive traffic and sales to your store. When done correctly, email marketing can help you build relationships with your customers and encourage them to purchase from your store again in the future. There are a number of different ways you can use email marketing to boost your sales, such as sending out product updates, promotional offers, or even just helpful content.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is another popular ecommerce marketing strategy. When done correctly, social media marketing can help you connect with more customers and drive traffic and sales to your store. You can use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest to share content about your products and engage with your customers.
Ecommerce Marketing Tips
ecommerce requires a different strategy than other businesses. There are some core concepts that are universal, but the execution will vary depending on your products and target market. Here are a few tips to get you started.
Know your target market
If you don’t know who you’re selling to, it will be difficult to reach them with your messages. Do some research and figure out who is most likely to buy your products. Once you know this, you can start targeting your advertising and content towards these people.
Create a strong brand identity
Your brand is what sets you apart from the competition. It’s what people remember about you, and it’s what makes them want to come back and buy from you again. Make sure your branding is consistent across all channels.
Produce high-quality content
Quality content is one of the best ways to attract attention to your ecommerce business. People are more likely to share and link to content that is well-written and informative. Produce content that is interesting and helpful, and you’ll see a big boost in traffic and conversions.
Use targeted advertising
Google AdWords and other forms of targeted advertising can be extremely effective for an ecommerce website. By targeting people who are already interested in what you have to offer, you can save money on advertising while still reaching a large audience.
Offer free shipping
One of the best ways to encourage people to buy from your online store is to offer free shipping. This will encourage people who are on the fence about buying from you to take the plunge and make a purchase.
Build an email list
An email list is one of the best ways to keep in touch with customers and prospects. It allows you to reach out directly to people with information about new products, special offers, or just general news about your business. Use an opt-in form on your website or blog to start collecting email addresses today
What is Internet/Digital Marketing?
Internet marketing is the process of promoting a business or brand through online channels. This can include social media, influencer marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and more.
There are many different types of online marketing, and each has its own goals and strategies. Some common objectives include increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to an e commerce platform, website or landing page, and generating leads or sales.
Most people are so caught up with the internet that they forget or just don’t know that there are several channels.
Trade shows:
Exhibiting at trade shows in your industry can give you the opportunity to reach new customers and build relationships with potential partners or distributors.
Referral programs:
Establishing a referral program that rewards customers for referring others to your business can result in more sales and more word-of-mouth.
Traditional Advertising:
Advertising is a great way to reach a large number of people quickly and generate awareness for your business or product. Ads can be placed in newspapers, magazines, television or radio.
Direct Response:
People open the mailbox everyday and now that not many companies send “Junk” mail, they actually enjoy opening things that come in the mail. Direct Response via the Postal Service is a great way to connect with your prospects, send sales letters or even post cards, if you are B2B you can send lumpy mail to sales prospects.
Why is digital marketing important?
The world has gone digital, and it’s more important than ever for businesses to have a strong online presence. Not only is digital marketing the most efficient way to reach your target audience, it also allows you to track your results and measure your success.
There are many different aspects of digital marketing , and it can be difficult to know where to start. That’s where a marketing professional comes in. They will help you develop a comprehensive online marketing strategy that will reach your target audience and achieve your business goals.
In a nutshell, digital marketing is important because it allows businesses to reach a wider audience more efficiently and at a lower cost than traditional marketing methods.
Advantages of digital marketing include:
- Increased reach: With the right strategy, small businesses can reach a global audience quickly and easily with digital channels.
- Greater engagement: techniques allow solopreneurs to achieve a high degree of engagement with their target audiences, fostering a better connection with them.
- More engaging content: Digital media has made information more engaging, thus providing users with an enjoyable experience that draws them in.
- Lower costs: Digital marketing is often more cost-effective than traditional marketing techniques.
Types of Internet Marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
If you’re a business owner, then you know that having a website is important. But what many business owners don’t know is that having a website isn’t enough. In order to be successful, your website must be search engine optimized (SEO).
SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website or web page on search engines. The higher your website appears in the search engine results pages (SERPs), the more likely a potential customer is to visit your online store.
So, how can you improve your website’s SEO? Here are a few tips:
1. Research keywords and use them in your content.
When people are searching for information online, they typically use keywords or phrases to find what they’re looking for. That’s why it’s important to include relevant keywords in your website’s content. You can do this by including them in the titles of your articles, as well as in the body of the text.
2. Use images and videos.
Images and videos can also help improve your SEO. When you include images and videos on your website, make sure to include relevant keywords in the file names and descriptions. This will help the search engines index your content correctly.
3. Optimize your website for mobile devices.
More and more people are using mobile devices to access the internet, so it’s important to make sure your website is optimized for mobile devices. You can do this by using responsive design or creating a separate mobile version of your website.
4. Publish fresh content on a regular basis.
Google loves fresh content, so publishing new articles on a regular basis will help improve your SEO. You can either publish new articles yourself, or hire a writer to do it for you.
Content Marketing
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is a strategic approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
Why is it important?
It’s one of the most effective ways to promote your business online. It helps you attract more visitors, convert more leads, and make more sales. It also helps brand awareness and credibility, and it increases the odds that people will remember your company when they’re ready to buy.
How does content marketing work?
Content marketing works by providing valuable content that attracts visitors and converts them into leads. When you provide useful content, people are more likely to trust you and do business with you. That’s why it’s important to create content that’s relevant to your target market and that addresses their needs and concerns.
Social Media Marketing
The aim is to create a two-way communication between a company and its customers or clients. Customers and clients can communicate with the company and each other, learn about new products or services, provide feedback, and more.
The most important thing is to identify which social media platform your customers or clients are using and to focus your efforts on those platforms.
The next step is to create content that will be interesting and engaging for them. Content can take many different forms, such as blog posts, videos, images, infographics, and more.
You should also be listening to what they have to say. Monitoring channels for feedback and comments allows you to respond quickly and effectively to any issues that may arise.
The Channels You Can Use Include:
- FaceBook (Meta)
- SnapChat
- Tik Tok
- LinkedIn (B2B)
It’s important to keep your ear to the ground and keep up with current trends. There are a lot of viral competitions, dances and challenges. A lot of marketers ride the wave of popularity of these viral challenges by joining in and posting relevant content.
Pay Per Click (PPC)
What is PPC?
PPC stands for pay per click , which is an advertising model used on the internet. Businesses will bid on certain keywords and then their ad will be shown when someone searches for those terms. When someone clicks on the ad, the business pays a set amount (the amount they bid multiplied by the number of clicks).
Why use PPC?
PPC is a great way to get your business in front of potential customers quickly. You can target specific keywords and control how much you spend each day. PPC also allows you to track how many people clicked on your ad and then visited your ecommerce store. This information can help you determine if your ads are effective and which keywords are worth targeting.
How does PPC work?
PPC campaigns consist of two main elements: the ads and the keywords. The ads are the text or images that you see on webpages, and the keywords are the words or phrases that you choose to target. When someone searches for one of your keywords, your ad will appear in the search results.
Other channels the use the PPC ad model include:
- Facebook Paid Ads: With FaceBook Ads, Solopreneurs can post images or videos with copy and Facebook will place that ad in the Newsfeed of users that you have targeted. There are three types of Facebook Ads: Sponsored Stories, Posts, and Links. Sponsored Stories are ads that appear as part of the News Feed, while Posts and Links are ads that appear in the right column on Facebook.
- Twitter Ads: Twitter Ads works by you targeting people who have engaged with your brand on Twitter before, or who fit a certain demographic criteria. For example, you could target people in the US who are over the age of 18 and have an income of over $75,000.
Once you’ve created a campaign, you then choose which tweets you want to promote. These can be existing tweets, or you can create new ones specifically for your campaign.Twitter Ads will then place those tweets into the timelines of the people you’ve targeted.
You’ll then be able to see how many impressions each tweet received, as well as how many clicks and engagements it generated. This information can help you to determine which tweets are the most successful, and which ones need to be tweaked or replaced.
Tik Tok Ads: If you’re not familiar with Tik Tok ads, also known as “formula ads” on the app, they’re a way for brands to create 15-second videos that promote their product or service.
There are three types of formula ads: awareness, engagement, and conversion. Each type has a different goal, and each video must include a call to action (CTA).
Awareness formula ads are designed to introduce people to your product or service. These videos should be short and flashy, and they should include a CTA to watch a longer video or visit your website.
Engagement formula ads are designed to get people to interact with your brand. These videos should be funny or interesting, and they should include a CTA to follow you on Instagram, watch a longer video, or visit your website.
Conversion formula ads are designed to get people to purchase your product or service. These videos should be persuasive and include a CTA to buy your product or visit your website.
To create a Tik Tok ad, you’ll first need to create a 15-second video. This video can be anything from a product demo to a customer testimonial. Once you have your video, you’ll need to create a caption and add one of the three types of formulas listed above. You’ll also need to add a CTA, which can be anything from “watch the full video” to “buy now”
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is performance-based in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customerbrought by the affiliate’s own efforts. The theory behind it is that businesses earn commissions on sales that are generated by customers who are referred to the business by affiliates. It is a modern variation of the practice of paying finder’s fees for introducing new clients to businesses.
Native Advertising
Native advertising is a form of advertising that matches the style and tone of the platform on which it appears. For example, a Sponsored Tweet on Twitter or a promoted post on Facebook.
Native advertising is a great way to improve click-through rates, as it blends in with the rest of the content on the platform. This makes it less intrusive and more likely to be seen by users.
Automation
Automation is the use of software to automate tasks such as email , social media, and content
It can help you save time and money while improving results. Automation tools can help you with tasks such as email marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing.
Email Marketing
Email marketing can be an extremely effective way to reach out to potential and current customers. It can also be a great way to increase loyalty. However, it’s important to remember that email is only effective if it’s done well.
Some Campaign Ideas Include:
- Weekly newsletters that go out to people that read your blog
- Follow-up emails sequences after subscribers grab a freebie on your site.
- Welcome emails campaigns
Internet Marketing Examples
American Express (AMEX)
It’s easy to talk about community, but very hard to actually build it. American Express does a great job of providing a community space for people to discuss a variety of topics. They leverage the value of a community by making it available to anyone, and then using that community to create more content and relationships with people within their business.
American Express is a global financial services company which offers credit cards, payment and other financial products and services through a worldwide network of over 2 million retail stores and ATMs. They have a popular website where they invite guest authors from a variety of industries to share their knowledge and wisdom.
Dollar Shave Club
DSC, founded by former hedge fund manager Michael Dubin, is a startup that has taken the razor market by storm. DSC’s famous launch video has been viewed over 24 million times. Its success is due to the fact that it has broken the mold of boring razors by making them trendy and fun, and most importantly, affordable. It’s a huge deal.
You can’t make it without getting some press, but just because you do, doesn’t mean you need to stick to the same old same old. What is it about you that makes your products and services stand out from others? There are lots of ways to break out and get noticed, but they require a bit of creativity.
The Wirecutter
The Wirecutter has set the standard since its launch just five years ago. Labeling itself as a simple “list of the best gadgets-like cameras and TVs-for people who don’t want to take a lot of time figuring out what to get,” the site generated $150 million in e-commerce transactions in 2015.
They write reviews for products they love, embed a link to buy it from someone like Amazon, and take a cut of each sale.
Consumer reviews are a great way to get feedback on products and services, but the only problem is they’re not always easy to find. Many of these reviews are not written by the people who purchased the product, and therefore may not be as reliable as they should be.
It works because the real numbers are just what they seem to be – actual facts – and you’ve got no reason to question the existence of them. When you do, you’ll find that numbers don’t fall apart the way they appear to; that their numbers never get lost or changed in any way, and that they’re always there when you need them to be there.
Airbnb has created a new industry and changed how people find accommodations around the world. The company was founded on the idea that anyone can host for free, and its users have since posted hundreds of millions of vacation listings in more than 190 countries.
Their strategy is aimed at getting both travelers and hosts for the platform. It relies primarily on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and popular city guides.
Airbnb is an online marketplace for short term lodging that helps people rent rooms, apartments, or villas in private homes, or even entire homes, for a night or longer. When it comes to super stars, Airbnb shines the brightest.
During a 2015 campaign, the company received 13.3 million interactions, and increased followers by 341 percent.
Wrap It Up!
So, there you have it. These are the essential tips that I think will help your business grow in 2022. Of course, this is only a basic overview, and there’s a lot more to learn about each of these topics. But if you can focus on implementing these tips, you’ll be well on your way to success.
The internet has leveled the playing field for small businesses, making it possible to compete with the big guys.
But remember, success doesn’t happen overnight. It takes hard work, dedication, and patience to make your business thrive. So be prepared to work hard and put in the effort, and you’ll see the rewards in due time.
I hope this article gave you some ideas, If you need more help, I recommend signing up for my online course on e-commerce and internet marketing.
