Introduction
A marketing undertaking that aims at driving sales through online platforms is referred to as E-commerce marketing. This can be achieved through various product offerings and a particular brand of an online store. Hence, data-driven environments coupled with a multichannel composed of traditional marketing principles are prudent in facilitating e-commerce digital marketing of an online brand (Huang & Benyoucef, 2013).
Definition of e-commerce marketing
Although e-commerce marketing has grown and vastly spread its wings over the recent years, it can be classified into two broad areas. First, this form of marketing optimizes user experience when it comes to the products being offered by an online firm. Second, it assists in driving website traffic (Xiao & Benbasat, 2011). It is vital to mention that both of these actions are crucial in boosting the expansion of an online business. If one of these components fails, it is highly likely that the other one will also encounter a lot of stumbling blocks. Any well-managed digital landscape can rapidly enhance the growth and development of seasoned marketers especially when common terms and principles are firmly put in place.
E-commerce terms and principles
Ecommerce marketing channels are also part and parcel of e-commerce marketing since they make up the framework for e-commerce marketing. In other words, the channels build the success of e-commerce marketing (Xiao & Benbasat, 2011).
Advertising platforms
To begin with, Pay-per-click Advertising (PPC) is a popular e-marketing channel that is broadly aimed to boost the traffic of serious buyers on a site. Users who are targeted by PPC often have the sole purpose of buying. This intention explains why PPC is more effective than most conventional advertising platforms. To obtain paid listings, enterprises usually bid for impressions. When a business desires to appear on the initial pages of a search item, the Pay Per Click is commonly used (Huang & Benyoucef, 2013).
Relationship marketing
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is also a common marketing channel used in e-commerce marketing. Although it is related to the use of PPC, it largely employs Google’s AdWords to measure how best a piece of advertisement can be identified in Google’s search results.
On the other hand, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) usually drives web traffic from users searching for items on the web naturally. Other e-commerce marketing channels include Display Advertising, Affiliate Marketing, and Email Marketing.
The most common e-commerce marketing terms include Google AdWords, Search Engine Results Page (SERP), Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), and Conversion Funnel. The aforementioned terms also define the nature of the operation of an e-commerce market in any buying and selling the domain.
As much as we may argue that online (or e-commerce) marketing is a recent development, its maturity is often arrived at warp rate compared to other industries. We have already witnessed the ever-changing needs, regulations, and algorithms of advertising platforms and search engines. Therefore, it is crucial to stay abreast of the key transformations taking place in e-commerce marketing.
As already hinted out, digital marketing strategies for online stores are broad, ranging from simple to complex platforms. In a competitive market, digital marketing strategies for an e-commerce play an increasingly important role in the success of a virtual store. Initially, e-commerce exclusively associated itself with technology, but now, we know that the main difference is just in online marketing applied to virtual stores.
Many entrepreneurs, for not knowing the mechanics of online business, believe that digital marketing strategies for e-commerce should be structured after completing the implementation phase of the e-commerce platform. The latter assumption is a gross mistake. Marketing should begin with the birth of store
In the current stage of technology, entrepreneurs have numerous tools for disseminating virtual stores, and therefore, planning becomes critical in enabling and articulating the available options. It is necessary to coordinate online marketing actions so that they can create a situation that results in the much-desired synergy in digital marketing, and be able to enhance the impact of each one individually.
The digital marketing strategies for well-structured e-commerce start right in the virtual store planning stage. This is the case, for example, of the SEO strategy for e-commerce. In the defining moment of departments and sections of a store, we need to have at least an idea of the keywords which must be found.
Conclusion
It is vital to carry out good research on the chosen keywords because they will be key to the name of each department. As in the case of building friendly URLs, we need to put them together to enhance the SEO of the page products and thereby achieve greater visibility in the search engine response pages.
Nonetheless, how do we determine digital marketing strategies for e-commerce? E-commerce works with a classic set of tools and strategies for marketing products (Zhang et al., 2011). Examples include relationship marketing (as in the case of social media), Search Engine Optimization, Display Marketing (Banners on blogs and portals via the AdWords display network, Facebook Ads and other isolated actions), Content Marketing such as a well-structured blog that works more than just a display tool in the search engines (Huang & Benyoucef, 2013). All of the above strategies come at a cost, and hence we must first take into account the budget available for digital marketing so that we can allocate it properly over time.
References
Huang, Z., & Benyoucef, M. (2013). From e-commerce to social commerce: A close look at design features. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 12(4), 246-259.
Xiao, B., & Benbasat, I. (2011). Product-related deception in e-commerce: a theoretical perspective. Mis Quarterly, 35(1), 169-196.
Zhang, Y., Fang, Y., Wei, K. K., Ramsey, E., McCole, P., & Chen, H. (2011). Repurchase intention in B2C e-commerce—A relationship quality perspective. Information & Management, 48(6), 192-200.