Best Advertising Methods for Your Online Store

You've done it. You've set up your online store and launched it to the world.

Now you just have to drive traffic to it.

Unfortunately, you can't just open for business and expect shoppers to flood to your online store. You're going to need to let the world know who you are, what you offer, and why people should buy from you.

So how do you get started? What are the best advertising methods to get people to your online store? Whether you're looking to land your first sale or trying to refresh your marketing strategy, utilise these tips to get your business in front of more eyes.

The Best Advertising Methods That are Free

If you don't have a marketing budget, you can still drive traffic to your online store. These are some of the best advertising methods you can implement that won't cost you a single cent.

Email Marketing

You can do a lot with the email addresses your website collects. It could be to provide exclusive offers. You can also offer referral discounts when customers share your website with friends or family members.

The key to an email marketing strategy is keeping the lines of communication open. Provide content your customers are interested in so they open the message and keep you front of mind when they're ready to make their next purchase.

SEO

SEO or Search Engine Optimisation incorporates many factors of your website. However, your product titles, descriptions, images, and content are the key components you want to focus on.

These elements should match how your customer searches for your products or services. The goal is for your online store to appear as high as possible in the results. The way shoppers look for these items may change over time, so you'll need to keep your finger on the pulse and optimise as you go.

Content Marketing

Creating content for your online store offers many benefits in addition to driving traffic. It can help establish you as an authority and answer buyers' questions on your products or services.

You can utilise content marketing to create stories on how to use your items. It also complements SEO and helps rank your online store by using various keywords.

Branded Packaging

Small touches of branded details on your packaging can help to boost your advertising campaign and increases the chances of your customers to buy from you again. Imagine your parcel ends up in the hands of an influencer and appears in an unboxing video, your brand will be on full display reaching a larger audience. Learn more here: how important is Packaging Design.

This is not a free advertising method, you can make a little investment and use branded boxes (that follow parcel delivery guides to safely send your box) or use a sticker with your logo. You can also read this article to get more ideas about how you can pack your box.

The Best Paid Advertising Methods

While utilising free advertising methods can provide you with organic traffic, it's worth using paid options too. When done right, it can get your online store in front of more people and target your ideal customer.

Social Media

Paid social media advertising allows you to create highly targeted campaigns that get your online store in front of your ideal customer. The cost and effort to promote your products or services are low, and you're able to send people directly to your website.

Tracking the success of social media campaigns is also easy. You can see how many people have seen your ad and taken action. The best places to start are Facebook and Instagram if you're new to this type of advertising.

Google Ads

Using Google Ads as an advertising method is a little more advanced compared to social media. It operates similar to an auction in that you'll bid on keywords and get placed in the results in accordance with the spending of competitors.

You want to bid on popular search terms to get your online store in front of many people as possible. However, this will require some research and an understanding of how your customer looks for the products or services you sell.

Sponsored Videos

It was recently reported that TikTok is accessed more than Google. This doesn't just include the search engine. It also means Google Maps and even Gmail. So if you're not using video to advertise your products or services, you should start now.

You can also repurpose TikTok videos and advertise on Instagram Reels and YouTube. Video advertising allows you to showcase your product or service in action, which an article or social media post can't do. You can even use your mobile phone to create the content and share it easily via apps.

Why Advertising Matters

Whether you decide to use free or paid marketing techniques, it's imperative that you incorporate some of the best advertising methods above to drive traffic to your online store. Without some form of marketing, you'll struggle to get your products or services in front of your ideal customers and find it challenging to make the sales you need to stay up and running.