7 Ways eCommerce Agencies Can Generate More Sales in 2019
Does your agency need to generate more sales this year? Get 7 great tips designed for agencies to generate more revenue in 2019.
Achieving that one-million-dollar revenue milestone is the dream that many agencies (whether digital or ad agency) would like to achieve.
Agencies are expected to improve their growth and generate more sales. To do this, you must improve your advertising and also open doors to reach loftier goals.
If this is something your agency has been struggling with, you need to start by investing in digital marketing services. To build up awareness and to anticipate market trends, your agency must focus on long-term goals and build a strong team with the skills to understand and develop a client’s story.
Let’s take a look at 7 ways your agency can kick start sales for 2019.
1. Invest Greatly in Your Marketing Efforts
According to experts, one of the best ways for a branding agency to generate more sales this year is to allocate more funds into their digital marketing efforts.
Most businesses devote either 26-50% or 51-75% of their overall marketing budget to digital marketing.
Nearly one-third of businesses (32%) that don’t use a digital marketing agency and/or a freelancer/consultant plan to outsource their digital marketing efforts in the next year.
Marketing is very crucial for every agency, and that is why we must invest every dollar in it whether it is using Facebook ads, sponsoring and attending the right events, or hiring SEO experts for effective eCommerce SEO audits.
Unfortunately, for many agencies marketing takes a back seat to other business items. For example;
“People will work on corporate identity, but not plan for the budget to implement it. Build the car, but not have enough money to put gas in the engine.” — Empire Creative Marketing
You can’t afford to let this happen.
2. Learn How to Anticipate Trends
In a fast-paced business like digital marketing, the main key to production is anticipating the future.
You need constant learning to spot opportunities and anticipate trends. There are different forms of learning, and this may include speaking to clients, attending seminars and reading blogs but the most important thing is to make use of your data to understand the changes you need to make.
This is a never-ending process, and you must make it a higher priority to generate more sales. For a deeper dive into anticipating trends, take a look a this article on Inc.
3. Improve Utilization Rate
Your most significant and valuable assets are people, and they are also your biggest financial investment.
Your utilization rate is the total amount of time spent on billable work.By optimizing the utilization rate, your employees will have a greater impact on the rate at which you generate profits. This is especially important when adding efficient and productive team members. In order to make assess your utilization rate, you’re going to need to make use of a time tracking tool to understand the project profitability and the efficiency of your team.
Here are a few Free Time Tracking Tools to get you started:
1. AccountSight
2. Due.com
3. Hubstaff
4. My Hours
4. Upgrade Your Customer Loyalty Program
A customer loyalty program is an organized marketing strategy that is designed by wholesalers to inspire customers to continue to shop at the company or use the services of the company associated with each program.
These programs cover most types of business with each of them having varying rewards-strategies and features.
The most common customer loyalty programs offer things like:
- Discounts and rebates.
- Rewards.
- Free merchandise.
- Coupons.
- Access to unreleased products.
The reason why a customer wants to enroll in a customer loyalty program is to save money of course, but more than that to feel like they are a valuable part of the brand itself. A loyalty program or a point system is a very effective way to do so.
Regardless of the type of business you run, you need to design a perfect loyalty program to fit your brand.
After all, the lifeblood of your business is your customers.
If you ignore them, your business will fail; this is why you will have to devise a strategy to keep them and let them come back for your business to flourish. To get started, take a look at some of these amazing customer loyalty apps.
5. Study Your Competition
One of the best ways to master your craft is by studying and understanding your competition.
This is because you are sharing common customers with these companies. When you notice that your competitors are getting more sales in the same market than you are, the chances are that they have already done the leg work in understanding your customer base.
To get started, get a list of your competitors and write down things you know that they are doing that you are not doing.
For professional advice, you can talk to the ex-workers of your competitors. In addition, you can ask your customers by letting them fill survey questionnaires and letting them write down how they think you can satisfy them more. Don’t forget to act on their advice. When you do this, there is a higher chance that you will generate more sales in 2019.
Surpassing your industry rivals requires much more than offering the highest quality products for the lowest price. Those wanting to become a leader must refine every aspect of their business, so they will gain the attention of many customers, clients and talented employees. Find out how you can compete with your industry rivals and even better, how to beat the competition in sales.
6. Create a Unique ‘Pillar’ Product
An exceptional way to stay ahead of your competitors and improve sales this year is by taking the guesswork out of your business growth model and coming up with a unique “pillar” product.
When talking about a pillar product, I’m referring to a product that is unique on its own; it is also a product that was developed after studying and observing what’s in the market already and by adding extra value to it. The best way to get newer product ideas is by checking what your customers are saying the about related existing product in the market.
Why is it necessary to make use of a ‘pillar’ product in speeding up your business expansion?
Well, consumers are always in love with unique products once you can give them a product that will create an unforgettable experience in them.
7. You Need a Marketing Funnel
Understanding your marketing funnel is essential to running a successful business.
The marketing funnel is a model that displays the stages that a potential customer moves from the initial time they hear or touch your brand to the stage at which they are doing business with you and later to what happens between both of you afterwards (expressed in terms of advocacy and loyalty).
Understanding all of the possible ways your customers find you is called journey mapping, a process that helps you understand the route each customer takes to get from concept to purchase. The confusing part is that there are so many different paths and so many different outcomes. For many companies, big data and analytics are helping make sense of it all.
Still, most paid marketing campaigns fail.
The trick is to stop looking at your marketing as a funnel or even a map and consider what happens after the sale.
It is easier to attract a past customer than it is to lure in a new one. Your previous shopper already knows about your products and the way you do business; you just have to help that person see value in your offerings and give them a reason to be loyal.
The marketing funnel will help you keep track of your customers so that you can contact them later. Once you have access to your customers, you will generate more sales especially when you have a new product.
For an agency that is serious about getting more sales in 2019, your agency must consider building a sales funnel.
There are several other ways in which your agency can generate more sales in 2019 apart from those above. However, the most important thing to remember is to invest in your agency and focus on your customer.
Ready to create a loyal customer base for your agency? Check out this infographic by BrainBoxol to learn how.
