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Adventures in marketingyour online businessBUILD YOUR CUSTOMER BA SE, YOUR BR ANDAND YOUR SALES WITH THESE STR ATEGIES.

2It’s time foran adventureYour online business is up and running –and growing. You’ve taken steps toensure that your site is trustworthy,and that it provides a seamless shoppingexperience. But your work is far from over.Now it’s time to focus on marketing your business, so you can attract evenmore new customers while keeping your current ones engaged and satisfied.E-commerce marketing may seem daunting at first, but building a loyalcustomer base – and your brand – can be fun. And, it may not be astime-consuming or as difficult as you think. This guide will help you getstarted on this new adventure, with helpful tips on how to:Raise your profile eet customers’ high expectationsMfor email et serious about usingGsocial mediaReward your best customersExpand your presence e proactive about planning forBkey shopping seasons

3Your cheat sheetUse personalised content forone-to-one marketingSend customers personalised emails, re-targetthem based on how they engage with youremails, and create a customised experience onyour site using dynamic content. When you’reready, consider search engine marketing(SEM) to attract new business.Get more strategic withemail marketingEmail remains a top marketing tool. Makesure your messages look professional –and not at all like spam.Use social media todrive salesUse sites such as Facebook, Twitter,Pinterest and Instagram to interact withcustomers. Be prepared to keep theconversation fresh.Ramp up early for sellingaround major holidaysAttract business before, during and aftermajor holidays by focusing on search engineoptimisation (SEO), making your site easy tonavigate, and monitoring search trends.Sell locally – and inpopular online marketplacesUse free online tools and services, and startselling in popular marketplaces, to attractbusiness from your area and beyond.Develop loyalty andrewards programmesShow your customers that they’revalued, and earn their repeat business.

USE PERSONALISED CONTENTFOR ONE-TO-ONE MARKETING

5Make interactionsmeaningful andmemorableUSE THESE 3 STR ATEG IES TO HELPYO U STAND O UT:1Personalised content is a powerful toolfor rising above the marketing ‘noise’ thatpervades customers’ online experience.USE SEM(EVENTUALLY)TO R AI SE YO URPROFILE ONLINE“SEM is literally like raising your hand on a streetcorner,” says Clay Schulenburg, vice presidentof search marketing at full‑service marketingagency Kiosk.Another way to standout from the crowdis through searchengine marketing(SEM). With paid onlineadvertising, you canraise the visibility of youre-commerce businesson search engineresults pages, makingcustomers more likely toencounter your brand asthey search for specificproducts or services.He recommends that merchants have a clearunderstanding of who their target customers are – andwhere they are likely to find them – before delving intoSEM. “SEM does not create demand. It helps you toharvest existing demand,” he explains.Mark Nelson, executive vice president of informationsciences and technology at Kiosk, suggests thatbusinesses hire an expert resource to help themexplore SEM when they’re confident their businessmodel is working and they’re ready to scale. “There area lot of intricacies with SEM,” he says. “Most businessesneed help not only to develop a well-thought-out plan,but also to execute it.”Personalised emailYou want all your customers to feel likeVIPs. But they may not if you send onlygeneric emails, or sell overtly in everymessage. Inform or entertain customersby sending links to related blogs,newsletters, online videos and more. Anddon’t forget the simple things, like sendingcustomers birthday emails that presentspecial offers.Personalised re-targeting23Re-targeting is cookie-based technologythat allows you to ‘follow’ customersonline based on how they’ve interactedwith your website or with emails.1 Thelevel of engagement – for example,whether a customer forwarded an emailor clicked on a link, or left an item in ashopping basket – will help you determinewhether and how to re-target.Website personalisationToday, there are many plugins and platformsavailable, such as Magento Connect, to makecustom tailoring of site content – based oncustomers’ preferences and interactions– easier and more affordable for smallbusinesses.

GET MORE STRATEGICWITH EMAIL MARKETING

7Use professional –looking, to-the-pointemails to increaseopen ratesWith so many ways to connect with customersthrough digital channels, you might thinkemail isn’t the vital marketing tool it used tobe. Not so, as Marketing Sherpa reports, “72%of consumers say that email is their favouredmethod of communication with companiesthey do business with.”* So it makes goodsense to get it right. Follow these tips for emailsuccess from Infusionsoft, a leading marketingautomation and CRM platform.123Make sure your email displayswell on all screen sizesGone are the days of reading emails only on desktopcomputers. Now there are hundreds of screen sizesfrom watches to tablets to account for. Use responsivetemplates that adapt to all screen sizes, and highlightdirect messaging and the call to action in your emails,no matter the audience’s device.Create an email calendarIt’s not just about getting people on your email list–you have to keep them too. And getting too manyemails is a leading reason why people unsubscribe fromlists. Organising your email strategy into a calendarhelps you visualise how many emails you’re sending andmake needed adjustments.Use segmentation to deliverpersonalised emailsSending the same email to your entire list is a sureway to create email fatigue–and unsubscribes. Writedirectly to your various audiences. Segment yourdatabase so you can provide personalised messagingto new contacts, leads, opportunities, and customers.Your open rates will rise– and so will your conversionbutton that says “Shop Now–as images are morecompelling than words. In the body copy, though, textlinks are preferred.

8“Customer segmentation is about reachingthe right people at the right time on the rightchannel–and intentionally showing care tonurture the existing relationship”.Anati Zubia, demand generation strategist, Infusionsoft1Use marketingautomation technologyUse information from your CustomerRelationship Management (CRM)system to segment your databaseinto marketable lists. Then buildspecific, automated email campaignsto nurture those leads. This allowsyou to send, test, and track your emailcampaigns to see what works andwhat doesn’t. Plus, it frees you up tofocus on other things.2Know local anti-spam lawDo your homework on anti-spamlaws in countries where you’re sendingemails. Always include your physicaladdress and a clear way for users tounsubscribe. Bending the rules isnever worth it and can really comeback to bite you–even to the point ofblacklisting, which will preventyour emails from landing in yourrecipients’ inboxes.3Work with a third party emailproviderThere’s no need for you to reinventthe wheel when email providers haveyears of experience developing bestpractices for email marketing. Moreimportantly, their email servers shouldbe whitelisted, so you don’t needto worry about being categorised asa spammer.

USE SOCIAL MEDIATO DRIVE SALES

10Engage withcustomers in onlinesocial channelsBuilding relationships with customers through social channelssuch as Facebook and Twitter can help you grow your brandand generate sales – especially through referrals. However, ifyou decide to use social platforms as part of your marketingstrategy, be prepared for significant hands-on effort.To gain followers, you may need to update your contentregularly. If a customer reaches out to you, best practice isto respond promptly – otherwise, you risk damaging yourbusiness’s reputation.

11It’s important to do your homework before jumpinginto the social sphere. These resources3 can help:For more tips, see thePayPal ebook Your Guideto Social SellingTwitterFacebookbusiness site lets you explore curated contentbased on specific business goals, from creatingor managing a Twitter presence to finding leadson Twitter.provides a Facebook Basics page with a step-bystep, general overview of how to use the socialnetworking site to help your business grow ormeet other specific business goals.InstagramPinteresta photo-sharing, video-sharing and socialnetworking service. Users can share videosand pictures across multiple social networkingplatforms. Like Twitter, Instagram supportshashtags, which you can use to attract attentionfrom your target audience.is like a big bulletin board where you can ‘pin’content and get people talking about whatyou’re sharing. The site offers business accountsand features ‘Promoted Pins’ that let you trackand build campaigns around user engagement.A PICTURE IS WORTH1,000 NEW CUSTOMERS(GIVE OR TAKE).Try using these 2 highlyvisual social platforms toboost awareness of yourbusiness and brand:

DEVELOP LOYALTY ANDREWARDS PROGRAMMES.

13Make interactions meaningfuland memorableRewards and loyalty programmes show your customers how much their business isvalued and can increase customer engagement, which can equate to higher spend.Sarah Owen, senior vice president of Heartland Payment System’s gift and loyaltydivision, explains the difference:Loyalty programmesRewards programmesExperiential rewards“A loyalty programme makes a personal connectionbetween the brand and the consumer, tailoring offersbased on the consumer’s profile,” says Owen. “Loyaltyprogrammes are starting to be described as ‘consumerengagement programmes’ since they’re focused onproviding personalised offers based on the customer’sexperience with the brand, thus increasing engagement.”“Rewards programmes don’t look at the customer;they look at the behaviour,” says Owen. “Manysuccessful rewards programmes leverage a tieredapproach, where customers are offered an easy-to-earnreward for participating in the programme, and thengreater rewards as their engagement deepens. An easyway to do this is to implement a points programme,where customers earn points for certain behaviour andredeem them for rewards.”Owen says, “It’s also important to understand thatexperiential rewards can cause greater engagement andloyalty, and can actually cost less money. A good way toimplement this is via a tiered programme (silver, gold,platinum members). As you get to higher tiers you canparticipate in different types of rewards, such as privateshopping opportunities, secret items or memberchallenges. Another way is to let customers use theirpoints to access those same types of rewards.”