Positioning Your Online Store For Maximum Exposure
With traditional retail in freefall due to the impressive rise of eCommerce, entrepreneurs have the chance to master online tools and utilize them to great effect. The big advantage of the eCommerce industry is that it offers everyone an equal chance to succeed; whether a startup or a thriving business. In this post, we explore how you can successfully position your online store, in the highly competitive eCommerce industry, for maximum product exposure.
” Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market. The result of positioning is the successful creation of a customer-focused value proposition, a cogent reason why the target market should buy the product.” ~ Philip Kotler, Marketing specialist.
Succesful positioning will add value to your online shop and put you on a clear path towards beating your competition and gaining maximum profits. True to Kotler’s assertion, standing out in the mind of your target audience with your product quality, great service or low prices will define how you sail the eCommerce industry. It is very important to have your target audience understand your brand and your products as you understand their needs.
But what if you do everything, or almost everything right and still have a very low conversion rate? Surprisingly, most entrepreneurs are likely to focus their attention on improving the website and redesigning the online shop. The problem could be how you are positioned in the online or digital environment.
Here is how you can successfully position your shop in the eCommerce industry for maximum conversion.
Do thorough product-audience research
If you want to have a successful online experience for your shop, you should first of all acknowledge that whatever is selling today might not sell forever. If it is a clothes shop, some seasons will require unique clothing. You should ensure that you invent and reinvent relative to the changing seasons. Conducting thorough research on audience characteristics and what they may need at a particular season is key.
Strong Brand Story
Your brand story and the kind of perception your target audience has of you is what will create or destroy relationships; always aim for the better. Always aim to speak the language of your target audience. This should be true through all your products and services. Your packaging and the colours used should be uniform for all products.
Social Media
Making use of social media is inevitable if you are to have any real chance of making great progress with your online shop. Social media has risen to almost define our entire lifestyles, in many ways. People are always flocking to social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LikedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest for information and entertainment. Indeed, those who have not heard of you or are hearing about you for the first time will go to social media and search to see whether you exist and the kind of information you share there. It is some form of ‘verification.’ Being active on social media is, therefore, not only a great way to showcase your products and easily reach out to the mass audience but also a way to encourage engagement and subsequent conversions to your site. Ask questions on social media and get feedback about your products and services instantly. Also, make it possible to view or browse products on social media. This will make it easier for clients.
Positive customer experience
A positive customer experience is a must-have for your online shop. This is a sure way of creating ambassadors for your online store without having to spend on marketing. Whenever customers make inquiries or attempt purchases, always ensure they are fully satisfied at checkout. Higher satisfaction rates are always relative to lead generation. Use customer experience to build your client base and colonize new markets even without your physical effort.
Here’s what else you can do for your online store.
Make use of multiple marketing strategies
Stay ahead of your competition by ensuring you stick inside the minds of your target audience. You can achieve this may being equally aggressive with all the marketing strategies and platforms available. These may include;
- Email marketing
- Social media marketing
- Blogging
- Video marketing
- Advertising
- Affiliate marketing
Always make sure you are making good use of feasible marketing strategies, relative to their effectiveness on your target audience.
Establish a personality
Your brand’s personality should be a genuine reflection of the existing culture within the target audience. Changes are acceptable but they should be very subtle. A wholesale overhaul may have adverse effects on your shop as well as perceptibility. Always make sure your target audience can freely interact with you without feeling out of place. If you are to be different, do not be way too different.
Terms of use, policies, and principles
The ‘Terms of Use’ or ‘Principles’ have come to be very critical in the eCommerce industry. Always outline your code of conduct and how you are supposed to relate to your audience and what is expected of them at certain times. In times of misunderstandings, the Terms of Use page can always be the starting point.
Identify the variables your customers would seek in a product and work to meet their needs. Also, be on the look-out for ways in which you can be unique to your competition and audience for your online store. Tell the world about your products and services and make sure they always think of you or about you.
