For ambitious ecommerce merchants competing in a crowded online marketplace, implementing an effective digital marketing strategy is no longer optional – it's absolutely essential for business survival and profitability.
Fortunately, the expansive digital marketing agencies toolkit provides ecommerce sites diverse solutions for increased visibility, higher conversions and greater customer retention over both the short and long-term.
This article explores powerful digital marketing techniques that 21st century multi-channel ecommerce brands must continually invest in and refine to achieve sustainable growth amid rising consumer expectations for omnichannel excellence.
Pillar 1: Search Engine Optimization
Though around since the early search engine days, SEO remains the foremost online digital marketing pillar due to its unrivaled ability to drive targeted organic traffic from Google and Bing to ecommerce stores.
Through technical site optimization, content creation and authority building, SEO allows online brands to appear prominently in search results for valuable commercial keywords and phrases, directing motivated shoppers straight from query to purchase.
With Google currently accounting for over 90% of search and near half of global website visits, search engine optimization is non-negotiable. Top spot on page 1 for terms like “fitness shoes” or “luxury watches” provides monumental visibility.
Yet many neglect search fundamentals like site speed, tags and indexing. Perfecting SEO is thus enormous untapped potential.
Pillar 2: Pay-Per-Click Advertising
For ecommerce aiming to scale revenues rapidly, pay-per-click ads through Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising compliment organic efforts by buying instant exposure for commercial search terms through sponsored placements above and alongside regular results.
Savvy PPC advertisers precisely target high-intent keywords aligned with products/services and craft compelling copy with dynamic captions and extensions guiding clicks to tailored landing pages designed specifically to convert visitors.
Sophisticated automation further optimizes bids and budgets based on goals like return on ad spend or cost per acquisition to ensure positive ROI. This push approach turbocharges growth.
Pillar 3: Retargeting and Remarketing
Display and banner advertising harness cookies to track site visitor behavior then strategically re-engage potential customers across external sites through creatives aligned to viewed products or content.
For example, users abandoning an online shoe purchase can be tempted to return via dynamic ads showcasing those exact sneakers across myriad sites they visit afterwards thanks to smart pixel tracking and intelligent personalization.
Programmatic reach coupled with irresistible messaging compels re-consideration, driving up cart completion rates and order values from what otherwise might have remained dropped leads.
Pillar 4: Social Media Marketing
Although inherently different from direct sales funnels, social platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok are goldmines of free brand exposure and customer engagement for ecommerce companies smart enough to cultivate a loyal audience that translates to conversion.
Through a blend of valuable educational and promotional content, social community building, influencer partnerships, organic and paid reach to lookalike audiences, savvy ecommerce brands transform fans into shoppers via clicks from enticing social updates straight to catalog.
In many ways the modern evolution of word-of-mouth combined with addictive entertainment, social inherently breeds loyalty, if leveraged correctly.
Pillar 5: Content Marketing
Website blogging, videos, webinars, visual guides, and other multimedia educational content tangentially related to core products helps ecommerce brands attract and inform potential customers further up the sales funnel who may convert once adequately nurtured and retargeted.
Valuable learning experiences cultivate credibility and search visibility which pays dividends long-term through increased domain authority. For example, outdoor supplies merchants could create engaging YouTube series on hiking tips between promoting gear. This earns trust and search rankings simultaneously.
Pillar 6: Email Marketing
Once a customer voluntarily shares contact information with an ecommerce store by creating an account or making a purchase, email presents a perpetual direct line for promotions, cart reminders and personalized recommendations based on order history and browsing behavior.
Savvy merchants continually engage subscribers with value-first content and special discounts to incentivize repeat purchases, managing subscriber segmentation and lifecycle flows to nurture loyalty through automation.
For established stores, lifetime customer value via email generally exceeds acquisition costs by over 300%, proving it an eternal lucrative channel.
Pillar 7: Conversion Rate Optimization
Sophisticated ecommerce brands go beyond driving raw traffic or acquiring emails to meticulously optimizing on-site elements including compelling copy, eye-catching visuals, intuitive navigation, frictionless checkout, stickiness and speed to maximize prospects converted into sales.
By obsessively CRO testing page layout adjustments, form field enhancements, trust symbols, exit intent offers and countless other site components through analytics and visitor observation, online merchants leave no dollar wasted. Top CRO agencies specialize purely in percentage gains from improved design and purposeful persuasion.
Conclusion
Rather than random acts of digital promotion, smart ecommerce brands cohesively orchestrate these proven digital marketing pillars into a comprehensive omni-channel growth strategy personalized precisely to core shopper personas.
Once objectives are defined through metrics like sales volume, average order value and ratio of new vs returning clients, tactical executions across search, social, email, content and technical realms unite to map customer journeys from initial discovery to retention and advocacy.
With limitless flexibility compared to traditional retail, digitally native merchants who continually test, optimize and evolve their online presence through strategic digital marketing substantially amplify visibility while keeping customer experience supreme.
