The barrier to entry has become so low that practically anyone can start an e-commerce business with a little seed money and a few hours to set up their online storefront. Being open for business is one thing, but it takes patience, knowledge, and an effective online marketing strategy to attract and retain paying customers.

Not sure what type of marketing strategy to adopt? Then, follow our step-by-step guide and pick the winning choice with confidence.

Define Your Marketing Goals

Identifying and locking in concrete goals is the first step toward turning a marketing strategy from an amorphous desire into a fruit-bearing reality. The approach to, structure, and outcome of your campaign largely depends on the purpose you set for it from the outset.

Maybe you’re expanding into overseas markets. Or you’re trying to grow organic, word-of-mouth marketing by targeting existing customers and rewarding their loyalty. Either way, outline a set of marketing goals you hope to accomplish and define the quantifiable KPIs that will inform your decisions during and after the campaign.

Know Your Audience Inside & Out

Determining a campaign’s purpose is a start. Still, its true outreach potential crystallizes only once you know who to target. This step is crucial since it will help identify the marketing channels to focus on and what kind of content to produce. Most importantly, zeroing in on a specific audience segment maximizes the chance of a positive response while getting to do much, even with meager resources.

Conscientiously research your audience through a combination of previous campaign results, publicly available data, and direct initiatives like surveys. Define as much as you can about them, from their demographics to their interests and aspirations. Most importantly, uncover your audience’s most frustrating pain points and how what you’re offering addresses them.

See What Your Rivals Are Up To

One good thing about e-commerce is that your marketing efforts don’t have to start from scratch. The digital space is so vast that there are bound to be established competitors, even in small niches. What they’re doing marketing-wise – as well as what they’re not doing – can serve as a guidepost on the path to refining your marketing strategy.

Spend some time scoping out this competition. Note how their store is set up, what aspects of the business their marketing materials emphasize, and how and where they interact with customers. Outright copying of others will hurt your credibility. Yet, taking a page or two from their playbook and putting a unique spin on activities that work for your rivals will increase your strategies’ success rate.

Consider Optimal Marketing Channels

You’re spoiled for choice regarding marketing channels, but diligently going through the first three steps should help narrow your options down to a few promising avenues to pursue first. If you’re still unsure, here’s a quick breakdown of what each channel excels at.

Email marketing – unless you just launched your business and lack an extensive mailing list or sell low-value tchotchkes, you can’t go wrong with email marketing, no matter your goals. Email has it all, from drumming up interest through getting ditherers to follow through with purchases to fostering loyalty through perks.

Social media marketing – great for selling directly to customers, especially for niche products you can advertise to interested groups through community-driven posts and appealing video content.

Content marketing – perfect for products consumers carefully research before buying. Whether you’re selling the latest tech gadgets or sustainable sunglasses, creating in-depth blog posts and tutorials about your products will surely go over well.

SEO – indispensable for businesses catering to local or general audiences. It takes a while to yield results but pays for itself through long-term growth.

PPC ads – work especially well when you need a short-term engagement boost, e.g., for new product launches or seasonal and holiday promotions.

Influencer marketing – ideal for leveraging compatible influencers’ established communities for rapid growth. Especially effective when selling physical products in the lifestyle, fashion, and beauty niches.

Secure Your Marketing Tools

No matter the channels you’ll focus on, it’s imperative to secure all content creation and marketing tools from digital threats. After all, any compromise of the extensive customer data you collect and marketing materials not yet fit for the public can seriously harm the trust you cultivate.

As an online marketer, you should be aware of the dangers of phishing emails and types of social engineering. Secure all accounts with strong, unique passwords and keep all programs and devices updated. Moreover, you should ensure safe access to digital marketing tools regardless of your geographic location, the type of device you use, and its operating system.

Using a VPN is the most straightforward way of doing so. An active VPN for iOS or Windows shields your device. It also secures the connection with an encrypted tunnel, preventing any communications or data you exchange while using it from being intercepted or stolen.

For marketers, using a VPN on mobile devices is especially beneficial. Mobile devices are often used for managing social media, running ads, and checking analytics while on the go. The best VPNs for iPhone or Android secure these activities on public Wi-Fi, ensure sensitive marketing data is protected, and provide the flexibility to test campaigns as if you were in any target market worldwide.

Assess Results and Make Changes as Needed

Marketing campaigns create a lot of data you can use to assess your strategy’s effectiveness and make on-the-fly adjustments. Track its general ROI and other KPIs to see what’s working and take note of underperforming activities to streamline future marketing endeavors.