7 strategies to promote your e-commerce content without being salesy

If you want to promote e-Commerce content effectively you need to establish a relationship with your customers, listen to them, ask them real questions.

 

Consumer habits have changed, especially when it comes to e-commerce and it is essential for your business to stay up to date with the new trends. A sales pitch is not a ‘pitch’ anymore – you don’t throw information at a customer like a baseball player pitching a baseball at a batter.

Today, you need to establish a relationship with your customers, listen to them, ask them real questions and offer them solutions to challenges they are experiencing in their lives.

The customer has become all important and creating genuine, meaningful relationships with them can make the difference between success and failure. If they believe you understand them and know what they want, they will be open to what you have to offer.

If they believe your products fit their personal style, they will want to see more of them. If you hit them with an unwelcome, aggressive sales pitch, you can do irreparable harm to the relationship. Any offer has to be highly personalized and tailored to individual needs.

A BIG part of reaching your customers on a personal level is being relatable. Over the past several years this is something we’ve been able to see some big brands do quite successfully.

A great example of this is Taco Bell on Twitter engaging with consumers on any and all topics.

What sets Taco Bell apart from how brands have operated on social historically is a willingness to interact on topics beyond just customer service (the norm for many other brands on the platform). Taco Bell tweets at you like your best friend would. 

Similarly, Chevy totally changed the standard approach to issuing a press release, when they blasted out a PR published entirely in emoji.

What’s the takeaway? Both of these approaches made these BIG Brands relatable to their audience making them both fun and approachable.

With this in mind, it’s important for businesses to start thinking less as companies and more as friends of their customers. It may take some analysis and research to establish what your audience wants, but it will be more than worth the effort. It will give you what you need to create loyal customers and keep them coming back for more. It will help your business to stand out amidst so many others offering similar products and services.

When a relationship exists between you and your customer, you don’t have to talk them into buying something or doing something. Starting a back-and-forth dialogue with them leads naturally to a point where you’re sharing with them and happen to mention products that may offer a solution to a problem or enhance their lifestyle in some way.

Marketers for big brands understand better than anyone that in order to appeal to customers, those customers have to be able to imagine themselves using your brand. It sounds simple, but the execution can be difficult.

Part of building stellar relationships between your and your customers is actually highlighting your customer. What?

Take a look at recent Gap Casting Calls  that allowed parents to submit photos of their children for a chance to have them included in Gap’s campaigns.

Dove has been one of the most recognized brands for representing ‘real people’ using models truly reflect real women in their Real Beauty campaign. That’s right, Dove features everyday women with a variety of body types, a move that has solidified it as a beloved brand, celebrating its customers of all shapes and sizes.

 

A variety of different strategies are used today, such as creating contests on social media or using inspirational videos. There’s nothing like showing someone what they’re going to get before they get it and how they will be able to use it once they have it.

It is not always easy to hit exactly the right balance, and it may take some experimentation. What can help you is to use tried and tested strategies that have worked for others. The awesome infographic below by College Paper gives you some useful strategies that really work to help you resonate with your audience, show them that you understand and keep them engaged.

7 strategies to promote your e-commerce content without being salesy

1. Add Bloggers and Influencers to Your Effort

As a brand selling direct-to-consumers through an eCommerce store, there are many reasons why you would want to add bloggers and influencers to your online marketing effort, but the most important are;

a) It helps to build brand awareness with your ideal customers.

b) You’ll gain credibility by aligning your brand with a blogger or influencer.

c) Influencers drive qualifed traffic to your website.

2. Create Fancy, Interesting Explainer Videos

Creating great explainer videos allows you to introduce your brand in an effective and cost efficient fashion. Even if the topic is complex, it’s able to break it down into digestible pieces. It makes sense that they’re so popular: they’re simple and convenient.

•  Studies suggest that explainer videos increase conversion rates by up to 20%.
• 80% of all internet traffic will come from video in 2019
• 85 percent of people are more likely to buy a product once they see an accompanying explainer video.

 

3. Social Media Contests Still Work Beautifully

At first glance contests may seem a little salesy, but on social media contests are a proven tool to increase engagement, add followers and build brand loyalty.

4. Experiment with User-Generated Content

In the US alone, 63% of adults talk or post about products and services online, while 81% read what other people have posted about those products, making earned content one of the most influential forms of content today.

Apple has a stand out UGC campaign built around it’s iphone camera.

This campaign makes them stand out against other technology brands that are using polished marketing messages to reach their fans (something consumers today are becoming more and more savvy to).

5. Take your posts to the next level

Every popular social media platform has advanced options such as “buy now” and “go to the website”. These simple CTA’s are a great replacement to the standard had sell approach.

 

6. Join the Conversation

Just like the Taco Bell example mentioned above, people tend to trust other people, not brands. By joining the conversation you can create a much more personal voice to communicate with your consumers.

7. Behind the Scenes Brand Content

Everybody wants a sneak peak, but more than that, people want to see the real people behind the corporate facade. Taking people behind the scenes of your brand’s content production provides a glimpse into the people, processes, and ideas that move it forward, consequently making your brand more relatable.

 

As you can see the key ingredient behind promoting your products without being salesy is being more relatable. Use this handy infographic as a guide to reach your customers on a more personal level.