So you have taken the bull by the horn and started your Shopify dropshipping store, and you’ve obviously even imported a number of good products—a first step in reaching your goals. Your store now brims with potential, structured to reflect your ambitions, via its pages and product content.
Before you go popping the celebratory bottle of wine, another issue confronts you. Your online store has one purpose and one purpose only—to drive sales! If that does not happen, sooner than later, you might as well close-up and call it a day. So the billion dollar question is: how do you attract customers (‘paying’ for emphasis sake) to your online store, to make that first purchase?
It all boils down to the marketing strategies/tools that you employ in this regard. Remember that you’re in a competitive space, with hundreds of thousands of online stores vying for the attention of that potential buyer/customer. With the right marketing technics, you can rest assured that your product will attract the kind of traffic that will boost sales and grow your business bottom line. Ready to know more? Then explore the following ways of marketing right and effectively:
Think of Guest Blogging
An effective way to put your online store in the public glare entails sending guest posts to websites and blogs in your niche. As a strategy, your article can highlight the strengths/positives of the product in question, while recommending that readers make purchases of the product. You might wonder how this seemingly indirect method helps drive sales on your online store.
The rationale is simple. Without coming across as patronizing, a good review could see your review sent out to the followers of these blogs on a repeated basis. Such spread (call it advertising if you wish) ultimately leads to increased traffic.
For a dropshipping business, this is a long-term strategy, but it does pay off in the long run.
Reach out to Bloggers and Influencers
“Hey, what is the difference between this point and the preceding one?” you ask aloud. Well, the difference may lie in the fact these bloggers have large and dedicated following, so you should think of it as giving massive publicity to your Shopify store. You should also make good use of social media influencers. Instagram and YouTube are the most popular among Shopify store owners these days, but it wouldn’t hurt to try Facebook and Twitter. Get influencers who would either feature your product for a fee or those who want a free product, after which they share it with their community.
Give Niche marketing a shot
While it is good to look at online retail giants like Amazon and Walmart for inspiration, remember that these businesses started small. So you could employ the strategy of niche marketing for your online store. Focus on creating a brand around a niche product. Niche marketing also helps you achieve expert status in one area before expanding into the next.
Whip up emotions in existing and potential customers
Before you think this approach breaks every moral code in the book, think of this approach in this manner: motivating the customer to take action! And this also means that you are not breaking any law. Elicit an emotional response from your customers by utilizing scarcity and urgency tactics in your store such as countdown timers, highlighting limited quantities and noting flash sales. You can also point to how your product solves a specific problem and how buyers should take advantage of this offer, with action words like ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Today’
The overall aim of this strategy is to create an emotional connection to your product/service. So it would mean having a target market and using the right content/tools for your online store.
Say Yes to personalization
Studies reveal that personalization has the potential of boosting the sales of online platforms by a considerable margin. Starting your online store provides a good opportunity for creating a list (that should keep growing) of customers with their data and information. You could welcome them to your store with a personal note, addressed to them. Again, based on other information such as their height or weight or some hobby they engage in, you could recommend one or more of your products, showing how this purchase will suit their taste.
Develop Compelling Content for your online store
‘Content is King’, so goes the popular and contemporary online marketplace axiom. And indeed it is as people are moved by what they see, hear and can connect with. So you if want your online store to drive sales, take out time to create purposeful/relevant content, that gets you off the ground. Carry out intensive research to see what content other online platforms, similar to yours, employ. The findings will give you an idea of how to create and personalize your brand/message. With compelling content, your online store stands a better chance of attracting customers, with the potential of making a purchase.
Make YouTube videos
The statistics for the online video watching/sharing platform is mind-blowing: YouTube has more than a billion active members, with several hundred million accessing the site on a monthly basis. YouTube is available in close to 80 languages and other smaller dialects. Therefore creating a video about your online store, the products you sell and your brand could link you to your target customers. The videos could center on providing tutorials on using your product. Creating regular content that provides value to your customers will improve your brand presence and increase your store’s chances of getting the first sale.
Stay active everywhere
In the early days of starting your online store, you will have to embrace all avenues open to you for marketing and advertising. These channels exist, even for free, so cost shouldn’t be a hindrance. Utilize the reach and spread of sites like Facebook, Instagram, Google Plus, and YouTube among others. In other words, make regular postings, send out videos, respond to inquiries, and repeat the process.
The final word
Now that you have a series of steps in helping you get your first sale, it is imperative you adopt a positive mindset, bordering on determination and self-belief. You also need to know that no two business succeed at the same pace, so if after a month of running your dropshipping business, you still have no sale, just continue to push, implement every one of these strategies one after the other, and your first sale wouldn’t be far off.
Conclusion
Now that you have these guide, you must get off your seat and walk the talk. Draw a schedule for daily postings on your Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages. These contents don’t necessarily have to be yours, make use of Reddit to source free user generated contents, and write that blog post. Begin to take action NOW!
