It is difficult to succeed in dropshipping without marketing. It is a competitive business where the audience is key.
If potential customers don’t know you exist, how can you expect to make any sales?
The good news is, dropship marketing comes in many forms. You do not need a giant budget to succeed in creating a buzz around your eCommerce store and to start making money.
In fact, there are some marketing techniques that cost nothing at all (except for your time).
That’s exactly what we will look into today.
This list of 5 actionable marketing tips that you can do to start making sales are absolutely free.
So if you are ready, let’s jump to it…
Table of Contents
Create a blog for your eCommerce store
A blog is an excellent way to start promoting your eCommerce store, and more importantly, your brand.
Writing a blog is a way to differentiate yourself from the competition. The style of writing should be representative of your target demographic and the type of niche you are in.
(A survival eCommerce site will strike a different tone compared to a knitting blog for example.)
A blog is also a good way of getting across some “personality” surrounding your brand.
How-to guides and reviews make great content for a blog, and you can even link to the sales pages of your product listings within the articles. Listicles of favorite products are also popular.
A blog is also a chance to be more personal with your customers. Share your own experiences so that you can start to build trust.
You should also be informative, showing that you are knowledgeable in your niche and have expertise is another way to grow trust so that your readers are more inclined to make purchases.
You should aim to write between 2 and 5 articles a month your readers will keep coming back.
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Hang out on Social Media
If you are creating great content, make sure to post your articles on social media.
Facebook and Reddit are good places for content. If you use excellent free design apps such as Canva to add graphics and images to your blog, these too can be posted on Pinterest and Instagram.
There are a ton of great resources online describing how best to use these platforms. The important thing to realize is that you can do so successfully, absolutely free.
Furthermore, your social media presence should not be a one-way street.
In other words, do not just post and hope. You need to engage.
Find where your customers are hanging out on social media (relevant subreddits and Facebook groups etc) and start answering questions and joining in with the discussion.
Do not start leaving links to your eCommerce store straight away. Be helpful and engaging and where it seems appropriate you can post a link to a how-to guide you may have written on your blog.
Essentially, your presence on these various social platforms will eventually bring traffic to your online store.
Video Marketing on YouTube
YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine. It is an excellent marketing platform for your business.
And these days, anyone armed with a modern smartphone can make quality videos for posting on YouTube.
If you do not mind being in front of the camera, you can create product review videos or guides on how to use a product.
Product unboxing videos are very popular too.
On these videos, you can leave links to your store and your blog.
If you do not fancy yourself as a bit of a presenter, it is possible to create helpful video guides using free-to-use video software such as Lumen5.
With royalty-free clips, automatic voiceovers, and tons of available graphics, creating video content without showing your face has never been easier.
Aim to create a Youtube channel and start increasing the scope and reach of your eCommerce store through the many millions of people that head to YouTube every day.
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Learn the basics of SEO
Spending time to ensure that you have quality SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is definitely worth the effort.
If your store, blog, and social media presence are all optimized to leverage free organic search engine traffic, you will increase your traffic and therefore sales.
However, getting your site to rank takes time and in a competitive niche, it can be difficult.
Knowledge in this area will reveal opportunities. Learn about keyword research. Find out what your potential customers are searching for and the types of questions they are asking, and aim to answer these queries in the content you create.
Udemy offers some excellent SEO and digital marketing courses for as little as $10. You will also find quality low-cost SEO gigs on Fiverr.com.
Either way, once you have some SEO skills, it is possible to optimize your content in a way that will put you and your products in view of this free Google traffic.
Look after your current customers
Do not underestimate the powerful marketing that comes from satisfied customers.
If someone has had a great experience buying from your store, they are likely to come back and buy again, as well as tell their friends.
Furthermore, through the sales process, you will have taken their email address. This can be used to keep them informed of new products, upcoming deals, and even initiatives on customer loyalty offers.
Clearly, the path to a satisfied customer requires quality throughout every facet of your business.
From providing a smooth and fast webstore (with chat options to answer any queries immediately) to high-quality products and shipping, and any other support the customer may require.
Get all of this right and the power of word of mouth and repeat customers will be yours.
