We love seeing users getting involved with their stores and creating ways to stand out. To that end, we warned you we love Practical ECommerce and we ran across another nifty article that gives some good ideas about how to market your store successfully. You can read their article here (and we recommend you do!) but we’ve dug out the meat and want to show you how it applies directly to you and your store!
Plan Ahead and Follow Through. This idea translates into everything you do with your Shopit store! Be ready for holidays or events that you can offer items related to and start your marketing and promotions early. One of the new features Shopit Pro plans to add to its repertoire is the ability to offer coupons and promotion codes to your customers which allow you to create exciting promotions and create more buzz for your store!
Manage Your Online Reputation. ”With the rise of social media, it’s more important than ever to know what’s being said about your company”. Make sure that you’re keeping up with your customers. Feedback is important and nothing is better than customers who wants to tell all their friends about the great experience they had with your store! Responding to customers quickly and informatively creates a positive image of yourself and your store ad giving people a reason to remember you. Not all publicity is good publicity - make sure you leave people with only good things to say!
Target Customers by Geography. ”Attracting local business is important for many small and mid-sized businesses”. See if you can find a way to get actual face time with customers. Whether it’s by promoting your hand made organic soaps through a local farmers market or sending information to a blogger who’s always finding the best local start ups. Networking is great, find people in the same field and increase your social reach with their help!
Make Sure Your Website is Working For You. ”Basic design elements, print that’s too fine, ease of use, site organization and security affect a user’s overall experience. Your website should be working for your company, not against it”. Make your store stand out! Backgrounds and clear product images catch the eye while detailed product descriptions and information about your store make the customer confident that they’re purchasing exactly what they want. Utilize the spaces we give you to write information about yourself, your goals as a merchant, and what you have to offer that’s extraordinary. Invite your visitors to send you messages with ideas of products they’d like to see and any thoughts they have while they’re browsing. Use social networks to draw users to your store. Utilize twitter to start a dialogue about your store, post on your friend’s walls on facebook and send messages to all your myspace friends. Create a brand, and sell yourself!
HAVE FUN!
Tags: build a store, buy, coupons, ecommerce, ecommerce tools, feedback, geographical targeting, marketing lessons, me commerce, peer to peer commerce, practical ecommerce, promotion codes, sell, Shopit, social commerce, Social Networking, social reach, store design, Twitter, Valuable Lessons From 08'