Are You Overthinking Your eCommerce Marketing Strategy?

joe@conversionengine.co
August 9, 2022
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It's 100% possible that you are.

We see it all the time when we speak with eCommerce store owners for the first time.

They aren't sure if they should run paid ads, dance on TikTok, do giveaways, or focus on their email marketing.

There are so many options, they don't know where to start and try to do a little of everything. Eventually, they don't make any progress, get frustrated, and want to give up.

So what's the solution?

The answer is that you need to know the playbook that eCommerce stores are using to grow in 2022. And then you need to execute that playbook.

It doesn't need to be complicated, and it doesn't need to be fancy.

In fact, doing less will get you more, as long as you are using proven eCommerce growth strategies that are working in 2022. You can do $1M-$2M per year in sales, like the example below, just by doing organic social, paid ads, and email + SMS marketing.

This brand did over $1M per year in sales while relying on 3 main marketing channels.

With that in mind, what are the top strategies that will actually unlock growth this year? Here's the list of strategies that are working right now in 2022.

THE ESSENTIALS

First up are THE ESSENTIALS.

These are the strategies you have to be using to grow your brand in 2022. Here's a quick rundown...

Paid Ads

Paid ads are first on the list because they are the fuel that keeps the fire going by enabling you to get your products in front of more and more people.

When it comes to paid ads, you should prioritize running ads in this order:

  • Facebook + Instagram: Facebook and Instagram ads are still the biggest moneymaker for brands. Yes, they've taken a hit since Apple made it's iOS changes, but Facebook and Instagram ads should still be at the top of your list.
  • Google Ads: Google ads are a great way to reach new customers who are searching for what you're selling and to retarget people who've been to your site. They also complement Facebook and Instagram ads well, providing a solid 1-2 punch. Just make sure you don't spend all of your budget targeting people who are searching for your brand. We did an audit recently where 80% of purchases were coming from brand terms which is not a formula for success.
  • TikTok Ads: It's possible that TikTok ads should come first or second, but for most brands, I would put TikTok ads third on the list. The main thing to keep in mind here is that you will need more "native" content and less "ad-looking" content to get TikTok ads to work.
  • Snapchat Ads: Snapchat ads are another paid channel to consider, but I would put them number four on the list. Once you feel like you've fairly maxed out options 1-3, you can look into Snapchat ads.

PRO TIP: When you're first getting started, you should try one paid ad channel, then add another one when you get that one figured out, then consider adding another one, etc. What you don't want to do is get stretched too thin. Keep in mind you can do $1M-$2M per year in sales with just Facebook and Instagram ads combined with email + SMS marketing.

Email + SMS Marketing

Next up is email + SMS marketing.

If you want to win in 2022, you have to be sending strong email + SMS marketing campaigns. This includes:

  • Automated Email + SMS Flows
  • Weekly Email + SMS Campaigns
  • Site Optimization to Grow Your Email List
  • Monthly Email + SMS Marketing Planning

We recently wrote a post titled "How to Use Email + SMS Marketing to Add an Extra 6-7 Figures to Your Shopify Store."

You can read that post to get a detailed look on the exact strategies you can use to make 30% of your revenue from email + SMS which will help you to:

  • Grow sales without spending more on ads
  • Increase lifetime value (LTV) from customers and subscribers
  • Boost ROAS and increase profit from ad campaigns
  • Maximize store profit every month

Organic Social

In addition to paid ads and email + SMS marketing, you also need to be doing organic social posting.

This includes things like posting photos to Instagram, creating content for TikTok, responding to comments and likes, etc.

A few things to keep in mind are:

  1. Don't Try to Do Everything: Instead, pick 1-2 organic social channels, and then get really good at running those channels.
  2. Make Sure to Do Reels and/or TikTok: 5 years ago, Facebook posts had a lot of organic reach; then Facebook changed their formula. 2 years ago, you could get a lot of reach with Instagram posts. Now, Instagram Reels and TikTok videos get the most reach, so you need to make sure you are working on and creating those as much as possible.

Organic social will take some time, but by spending time on social media, you will create a brand experience that people will be interested in and you will reach more new customers at the same time.

Pro Tip: If creating content is hard for you, consider DOCUMENTING and not just CREATING. What that means is that, instead of only posting photos from a photoshoot, you can take photos of new products coming in, shoot a video to tell people about a new design you're working on, etc. Documenting your experience and your brand's story will give you more social media content and make it easier to create content.

Influencer Outreach

SEO

At the end of the day, make sure you aren't overcomplicating your marketing playbook. You 100% can win with 2-3 strategies executed at a high level.

If you need help figuring out what strategies will work for your brand AND need help executing those strategies at a high level, then send us a message. Our team is waiting to hear from you and has room to bring on 1-2 new brands right away that have to grow and are ready to take off.

Wrapping It Up

Here's the deal.

To grow your eCommerce brand, you don't need a super complicated funnel where you get people to watch video views, then you retarget them, then you send them a newsletter with a journal entry, then you retarget on 18 different platforms, then you get a sale.

You simply needs to do the following:

  1. Go hard on one social media channel.
  2. Run paid ads on 1-3 channels.
  3. Build out automated email + SMS flows.
  4. Send 1-2 new email + SMS campaigns per week.
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About the Author

Joseph Putnam

Scaling Fast-Growing eCommerce Brands with Profitable & Predictable Growth Strategies | Paid Media & Retention Expert | DM to Discuss Your Growth Potential

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