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In This Episode

Powering over 1.7 million businesses across more than 175 countries, Shopify is an eCommerce platform that makes it super easy for any retail business to build an eCommerce store.

But after setting up your site, what’s next? Unfortunately, you can’t take a “build it and they will come” approach to eCommerce. If you look at how huge brands like Gymshark, Fashion Nova, and BestSelf Co. found success using the Shopify platform, it’s obvious that they all share one thing in common:

An effective digital marketing strategy.

At Thinkplus, we’ve helped hundreds of eCommerce businesses on Shopify and other online retail platforms build a killer digital marketing strategy that generates leads and sales.

Today, it’s your turn. Our Head Ninja Tim goes through the basic characteristics and pillars of a Shopify digital marketing strategy.

Four Attributes of a Digital Marketing Strategy

A great digital marketing strategy has four key attributes.

Four Attributes of a Digital Marketing Strategy

A great digital marketing strategy has four key attributes.

1. Scalability: Your digital marketing strategy must be supported by a realistic budget. It’s no use setting your sights on instant global reach if you don’t have the budget for it. That said, don’t be afraid to start small. What’s important is that your strategy scales with your budget and business’s growth.
2. Customised for Your Products and Audience: A strategy that works for Brand A won’t necessarily work for Brand B. You’ll need to do your due diligence and experiment to see what approach works best for your product and target audience.
3. De-risked: Marketing will always have an element of risk to it. But you should still do everything you can to keep that risk low. For instance, you can diversify your marketing channels to ensure you’re not over-reliant on one marketing campaign.
4. Targets New and Existing Customers: A great digital marketing strategy focuses on getting new customers — and selling more to existing customers. Many eCommerce brands make the mistake of focusing too much on getting new customers and underestimating the value of their existing ones.

So, now that you know the core characteristics of a digital marketing strategy, it’s time to apply plug them into your Shopify campaigns. Not sure where to start? This is where the pillars of your Shopify marketing strategy come in.

3 Pillars of Your Shopify Digital Marketing Strategy

The best Shopify digital marketing strategies involve three distinct marketing pillars.

1. Conversion

Conversion is about how well your eCommerce site turns a visitor into a customer. All of the website traffic in the world would be useless if you’re not turning any of that traffic into paying customers.

So, the first thing you need to include in your digital marketing strategy is a plan for conversion optimisation. Much of this involves how your store looks and feels.

For example, Endy, which uses Shopify for its online store, features brand colours, great product photography and a compelling benefits bar on its homepage. 

Image via Endy

2. Organic Traffic Channels

Organic traffic channels focus on driving unpaid traffic through a visibility algorithm. For example, on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, you can schedule your posts to go live when people are most active to maximise your content’s organic reach.

You can also get other people to post about your brand — a tactic known as influencer marketing. The idea is to get people with a large following of potential customers to shout about your product, convincing their audience to become your customers.

Flat Tummy Co is one such eCommerce brand on Shopify that works with influencers to promote their products on Instagram. 

Image via Flat Tummy Co on Instagram

3. Paid Traffic Channels

Paid traffic refers to any traffic source where you’re paying for every view or visit to your Shopify store. Paid traffic campaigns typically occur on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads or Instagram for Business.

For example, Gymshark displays both text ads and Shopping Ads on Google for keywords like “gym workout gear,” driving potential customers to their Shopify store. 

Check Out the Episode to Learn More

Learn how to bring all these elements together by watching or listening to the episode above.

Timestamps

00:00 — Introduction
02:50 — Attributes of a Shopify Digital Marketing Strategy
09:37 — 3 Pillars of a Shopify Digital Marketing Strategy
10:01 — Conversion
13:05 — Paid Traffic Channels
14:39 — Social Ads
17:52 — Search-based Ads
20:38 — Organic Traffic Channels
20:58 — Influencer Marketing
24:24 — Organic Search
32:01 — Reengagement
35:21 — Bringing Everything Together

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