Best Ways to Market Your Online Products

Back in the day, marketing your online products was as simple as growing a big following on social media or selling in demand products. Throw in excellent customer service and prompt delivery, and you will ace the eCommerce industry.

Today, you need more than just a large platform and outstanding service to market your product. The reason for this is simple: it has become easier and cheaper to sell products online which led to a lot more competition.

Some platforms like Gumroad, eBay, and Amazon allow you to start selling within minutes without paying a dime. Dedicated eCommerce hosting services like WooCommerce and Shopify also enable people to set up online stores cheaply.

The low barrier to entry has invited both hobbyists and full-time online sellers. Everyone is selling everything from online guides to physical products and even farts!

Plus, many online sellers now put in considerable effort to enhance the buyer’s experience and provide excellent pre-sale and after-sales services.

So if you wish to stand out, you need an edge over the competition and a marketing strategy to help you exploit that edge.

Although some products experience low demand over time, there are many great products to choose from with consistent flow of orders. You can use tricks and tips to reach your target audience and develop long-term profitable customer relationships.

We listed out the best ones that can effectively market your product. We also added recommendations that can make your work easier and faster.

1. Social Media Marketing

There is no online marketing without social media for a good reason. Virtually everyone who shops online has a social media account.

The most popular is Facebook, but there are other great platforms to target, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Ticktock, YouTube, and Pinterest. We recommend focusing on a platform that is popular within your target audience at an early stage.

For instance, if you sell professional tools and services, then LinkedIn is where you want to be. If you are focused on middle-aged mothers, Facebook might be your best bet.

We love social media because it can provide excellent results without costing you a dime. Even the paid options are inexpensive and can deliver exceptional ROI.

We recommend you focus on building trust and relevance when using social media. Social media platforms are full of ads and promotions, and users have learned to ignore them.

Most users will happily interact with ads and promotions for brands they know and trust. So, build your audience base first and reap the rewards later.

Recommended tool: Social Pilot is excellent for managing and executing social media campaigns.

2. Make Some Sales

Online marketing (aka digital marketing) is not always free. If you want quick, phenomenal results, you should consider investing in a full-blown marketing campaign.

But before you go all in, you should wait to at least start getting a few sales in. These initial sales will provide valuable feedback on your product, packaging, and effectiveness. You can use these reviews to polish your offering and use it for your marketing campaigns.

Getting your first customer can be challenging. We recommend pitching your products to family, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, and other local community members. You can offer a discount for a review on your online platform.

Suppose you work at getting yourself sales for a long time with no visible result. In that case, you need to evaluate your product, packaging, pricing, and marketing strategy. This evaluation will unlock insights into how to better sell your product.

Note that this approach does not apply to all kinds of products. Getting a few sales would be easy if you sell everyday items like fashion wear.

If you are selling specialized enterprise software, you may want to go ahead with your marketing campaign even if you haven’t made a single sale.

Recommended tool: Collect.chat is an automated chatbot that can help you engage your customers, know what they want, and increase your conversions.

3. Offer Free Product Samples

The free sample approach is excellent for getting new customers. Virtually all marketing strategies include some version of it. The most popular versions are:

• Money-back guarantees
• Free returns
• Free trial periods
• Free samples
• Discounted products

These offer new customers opportunities to try your products without any financial implications. What you choose depends on the nature of your products and your target audience.

For instance, if you sell a fitness program, you can offer a money-back guarantee if your clients don’t achieve the goal by a specific time.

People selling beauty care products often offer free samples for potential customers to test. The customer will naturally order more units if the free samples give them their desired results.

Recommended tool: Active Campaign offers an email marketing tool that allows you to reach out to your customers who did not make a purchase and automatically send them different offers.

4. Launch an Affiliate Program

An affiliate program is cheap yet effective for getting the word out about your products and making sales. The idea behind it is simple. Someone (affiliate marketer) gets you a customer, and in truth, you give them a share of the purchase price as a referral fee.

The affiliate marketer is the one doing the running around and convincing. All you need to do is provide enough product descriptions and some promotional materials.

There are other ways to use affiliate programs aside from making sales. You can use them to generate leads, become popular on social media, or get subscribers on your email list.

As a small business, you probably don’t have the technical structure to support affiliate marketers. In that case, you can sign up on affiliate websites. The website helps track your affiliates’ activities and automatically pays them when they meet stipulated goals.

Recommended tool: ClickBank is a great program to help you organize and manage your affiliate marketing campaign.

5. Use Content Marketing

All forms of marketing have their root in content marketing. However, we are talking about long-length content such as blogs, whitepapers, eBooks, podcasts, and videos.

Content marketing is a great way to leverage SEO and lead potential customers to your products.

All you need to do is provide valuable insight on specific issues within your industry. Ideally, you want to focus on your target audience’s problems and how your products can address these issues.

Another benefit of content marketing is that it establishes you as an authority in your industry. This benefit makes it easier for customers to overcome their initial hesitation and try your products.

The best part about content marketing is that you can apply it to all the stages of a buyer’s journey. You can produce articles that help readers to identify their problems and recommend solutions.

You can also create guides on how to apply different solutions, including the one you are offering. Lastly, you can address possible questions while using or after using your products.

These will help you attract potential customers and engage your existing customers.

Recommended tool: Buzzsumo is a cloud-based tool that helps you find the right keywords and content for your industry.

6. Create an Email List

An email list gives you the freedom to communicate with your audience at all times. You can use your emails to promote your products, engage with your customers and share insights within your industry.

However, you must build and grow your email the right way. Buying email addresses is a no-no for any serious brand. Instead, offer people an incentive to subscribe to your mail list.

You can offer a video, eBook, free product sample, or special discounts. You can also promise special deals and exciting content.

Be sure to let your subscribers know the kind of emails you’ll be sending and be faithful to what you tell your subscribers.

Recommended tool: Convertful is an excellent tool that you can use in multiple ways to engage with your customers and help capture their emails.

Wrapping it up

It can be hard to recommend a specific marketing approach without knowing your eCommerce business. The tips in this article will work for almost all kinds of companies.

We recommend you test them. Don’t be afraid to make tweaks and experiments. In the meantime, you should not abandon basic principles like excellent customer service, an easy-to-use interface, and seamless payment and delivery. All of these will ensure that any new customer will become a long-term customer.