4 Minute Read

When you’re selling anything in a physical store, you’re competing against similar businesses on the same street. Maybe in the same zip code. If you’re super-ambitious: the same city.  Hiring an eCommerce marketing agency could be your ticket to take you above your competitors. Here’s how.

If you’re an eCommerce business owner, you’re literally competing against the world. It only takes customers a few clicks to see what businesses are selling what products, compare their offerings, and have the products they want shipped directly to them without even leaving their home. 

If you can’t get the right products in front of the right people at the right time, you won’t survive this fierce competition. And that’s where your eCommerce marketing efforts will make all the difference.

And of course, whether your eCommerce marketing efforts pay off or not depends on who is doing them. DIY marketing is more likely to become a black hole that sucks your marketing spend and gets you nothing back in return. And even if you get anything back from it, it likely won’t be the ROI you’re hoping for. 

That’s why you should work with an experienced eCommerce marketing agency that knows what it’s doing. Here’s where an eCommerce marketing agency’s efforts would be most impactful:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) For eCommerce

SEO is not like any other digital marketing service. It’s one that’s shrouded in mystery and full of rumors. There is always a new “secret” for getting your website to rank number one on Google. 

Whether it’s a keyword density of whatever %, posting new content every day, or any other great tip from the ‘90s, it’s not relevant today. Google’s algorithm considers things like content relevance, how fast your pages load, the overall user experience, and the time people spend on a page when ranking it.

Ranking well on Google requires a team of real SEO experts who can elevate your website to where you want it to be. Ranking websites requires experience, time, and resources. Google is constantly transforming, and a skilled SEO team is always one step ahead when it comes to algorithm fluctuations.  If you’re not working with a dedicated SEO team that is monitoring your eCommerce store’s keywords and overall ranking against your competition – it’s difficult to catch discrepancies before they turn into serious ranking problems.

While you can take some cooking classes, build a brick oven, and make that delicious pizza at home, ordering it is always the more efficient choice. You’re guaranteed to get a pizza that tastes great, fast, without burning down the house. Even if you successfully make that pizza at home, the ROI won’t make sense considering the initial cost. And the same goes for a team dedicated to your SEO. It’s one of those situations where avoiding failure doesn’t always mean success. 

Messaging and Branding for eCommerce Companies

When people see your products and services online—or anywhere, you want them to get the right impression. What’s the right impression? It’s the one that makes visitors fall in love with your brand and turn them into loyal customers. That’s what messaging and branding are all about. 

Work with an eCommerce marketing agency that has a strong brand messaging portfolio. They will help you better position your business and make the most out of your marketing spend. 

If you’re driving traffic and promoting any kind of online presence that sends the wrong message, you’re paying for negative publicity. The best-case scenario would be promoting the right products to the wrong customers. And that’s like selling steaks to vegans, BMX bikes to grandmas… you get it. 

That’s why getting professional help with your messaging and branding should be your first step: to ensure that your other marketing efforts will pay off, brand awareness is increased, and customer satisfaction is always at its peak. 

eCommerce Marketing: Understanding Your Buyer’s Journey

Buying a product or a service isn’t a one-step action. It’s a journey that starts with the customer realizing they have a problem, then seeing your product as the solution to their problem. The end is either a happy customer who recommends your products to every living soul they know or an angry customer looking for a refund. 

Either way, selling your product is all about the buyer’s journey. Understanding and improving the different touchpoints in this journey is how you can sell more products and build killer relationships with your customers. And that’s another reason to hire an eCommerce marketing agency. 

Unless your business is a lemonade stand, there are many customer touchpoints that you can improve. An eCommerce marketing agency knows how to track the right metrics to help you understand your buyer’s journey.

Paid Ads in eCommerce

If traditional advertising is an alligator, paid online ads are a T-Rex. When you do it properly, the T-Rex is your best friend. When you don’t, you’re dinner. More of a snack. 

Getting the right message in front of the right people at the right time? That’s a tempting offering for anyone, from pizza shop owners to presidential candidates. You have a profile for your ideal customers, different “free” social networks where they willingly share their data, and a way to reach them with whatever message you have. Magic! 

Despite all this awesomeness, paid ads are not as easy as they seem. It takes a ton of experience and industry knowledge to make this “magic” happen. Keep in mind that setting up a paid campaign that targets the wrong customers is just throwing away money. Even if you get more clicks, the same won’t happen to your conversions, which is what truly matters.  

This is the value that an eCommerce marketing agency brings to the table: helping you harness the full power of paid ads and maximize your ROI. 

Social Media for eCommerce Brands: The eCommerce Marketing Agency’s Forte

Every successful business and teen influencer has social media accounts nowadays. In addition to the sometimes-funny memes, social media allows you to open a two-way communications channel with your customers. 

You can tell your business story, achieve top-of-mind awareness, learn more about your customers and competitors, and build a tribe of local customers on social media. That is, of course, if you hire professionals to do it. 

When that’s not the case, you’ll probably end up with one of those business pages that are simply not compelling and rarely get noticed by the right people. If your target audience is Gen Z hipsters, you’ll get random comments from seventy-year-olds that say “like.” Not the kind of attention or engagement you’re after. 

TL;DR

Hiring eCommerce marketing agencies is how eCommerce businesses succeed without having to reinvent the wheel. You’ll get professional marketing services from people who work in the trenches every day, know what they’re doing, and most importantly, have done what you are looking to achieve many times before. 

And since all good agencies offer a full-service that covers all your marketing needs, you won’t have to juggle work between multiple freelancers. Instead, you get to work with an experienced team that can handle your different marketing needs.