The Most Comprehensive Digital Marketing Guide for Brand Owners!

Goal-setting

When you're making a plan, consider it useless without a goal.

Because you're just going to waste so much time, energy, and resources.

So if you're now asking yourself, "Why do I need to set goals?"

Well, these are my answers to your question:

• To give you a clear direction of what you want to achieve.
• Let your smaller tasks align with your objectives.
• And to make sure that you're not going too far from reality.

Imagine after all the money you've spent... and you don't even have criteria if you've achieved something good for your brand... Yikes!

So, what's the goal of your plan?

Here are some goals you can set while planning your ecommerce digital marketing strategy:

• Drive website traffic
• Get new leads
• Grow social media followers
• Strengthen online presence
• Increase brand awareness

But with goal-setting, you also need to establish your measurement of success.

So let me tell you how you can set your goals properly through the SMART method.

Setting Your SMART Goals

You're probably used to seeing this advice here and there, but let us help you understand why it's essential for e-commerce digital marketing.

So, what does "SMART" mean?

Specific

Specific goals stop you from being too broad about the things you want to achieve. As a result, it helps you have a clearer sense of direction towards your goals.

Example: "I want my ecommerce store to increase sales in the U.S"

Measurable

Another is measurable because it makes your specific goals even more specific. This is one way to help you really measure success because it's number-based.

An example of a measurable goal is "I want to increase my sales by 50%."

Attainable

When you're setting a goal, ask yourself if it's attainable. I mean, don't set impossible goals because you'll just end up disappointed. The purpose of the SMART method is for you to plan smart.

So this is NOT an attainable goal "I want to gain 1,000,000 followers in 1 hour!"

Relevant

By relevant goals, I'm talking about goals that are actually beneficial to the growth of your brand.

What's a relevant goal? It can be "I want to increase my Instagram reach" because that helps your business.

And the last one is...

Time-bound

How long will it take you to achieve your goals? Put a deadline.

An example of a time-bound goal: I want to increase my website traffic by 3% within one week."

Now that you have an idea of what SMART goals are and how to measure success...

It's time to learn what are the top metrics you should track as a brand owner.

But before anything else, why should you track these? And how will it benefit you?

1. To make sure that you are generating profit and revenue
2. To improve your strategies if you're not getting the best results
3. To check if you're hitting your target profit and revenue

So, what are these important metrics?

4 Important Metrics You Should Track

Ever heard of others saying, "If you can identify it, you can improve it?"

Because this is the purpose of tracking your metrics.

You need to identify what's working and not. And that's how you can plan ahead and enhance your ecommerce digital marketing strategy on your next goal-setting.

But what are the specific metrics you need to track?

I won't keep you waiting!

1. Number of Customers

If you're a brand owner, I understand that one of your goals is to increase your conversion rate.

And if you're making sales, it means you are doing something right.

Tracking your number of customers helps you know if your current strategies are working or not.

Here are some questions you can answer while analyzing the number of your customers:

1. Is the number of my customers decreasing or increasing?
2. What is the reason for the decrease? Where am I lacking?
3. What am I doing right for my customers to increase?

So if you see an increase in your number of customers, be quick to identify what's working! It's time to enhance your ecommerce digital marketing strategy.

Another important metric is...

2. Average Order Value (AOV)

Don't get too overwhelmed with these terms, okay?

So an Average Order Value (AOV) is the average amount your customers are spending to buy from your ecommerce store.

But how to compute your average order value?

For example, you are selling 3 types of high-quality, painted leather bags for women. The cheapest one is $250, the mid-range is $350, and the most expensive one is $450.

You just have to divide your revenue and the number of customers.

Let's say your total revenue for December is $15,000. While your total number of customers is 50.

So your average order value for December is $300. This means that your customers prefer the cheapest option to the mid-range option.

Your Average Order Value helps you determine the purchasing patterns of your customers. This will also guide you in your overall marketing and pricing strategy.

Next is...

3. Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

Cost Per Acquisition is used for measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) for every marketing campaign.

And simply put, Cost Per Acquisition is one of the most important financial metrics because it measures the financial outcome of your campaigns.

For example, you were able to convert 2 customers from a Google ad. One of them purchased a $2 item and the other for $4. Your Cost Per Acquisition would be $3.

But let's say you're advertising on Facebook. Suppose that the Cost Per Acquisition is $1. Do you think it's cheaper?

Probably yes, but here's the catch...

For your Facebook campaign to work, you need copywriters, creative designers, media buyers, video editors, etc. On the other hand, you can manage Google ads on your own.

So, which do you think results in a lower Cost Per Acquisition after considering the "fixed costs?"

But no worries, I will help you decide later during the execution step. Let's see if hiring is cost-effective or not...

Another metric you need to watch out for is...

4. Lifetime Value (LTV)

Lifetime Value (LTV) is also a financial metric you need to keep an eye on...

This helps you know who are your possible life-long customers.

But how do you compute this?

Don't worry, I'll help you understand this more!

To compute this, you need to multiply the average value of the sale, the number of transactions, and the retention time period.

For example, Customer 1 buys $100 healthy groceries at your ecommerce store 8 times every 2 years. The Lifetime Value of Customer 1 is $1600.

To improve your LTV, you can check where most traffic is coming from. That way, you know which marketing channel is working best for your business.

But remember, your LTV can still change from time to time. Especially if you don't have a large number of customers.

And to make sure you are achieving your goals...

You need a baseline to compare your number of customers, Average Order Value, Lifetime Value, and Cost Per Acquisition.

To do this, you can compare it with your data in the previous month. And as I said, your goals should be specific. So you can also use your target profit and revenue to set a baseline.

Now that you know what metrics to track and how to track them, you can go ahead and use them to set your goals.

Here is a checklist of what you need to do before you move on!

• Set your SMART goals
• Know how to compute the 4 metrics
• Track the 4 important metrics you can track
• Use these 4 metrics to set smarter goals

Next, why don't you try to...

Get To Know Your Audience

Why do you think it's important to know your audience?

Although there are hundreds of reasons, these three stand out:

• To understand their current needs.
• To learn the language they speak so you can set your brand's tone of voice.
• To create content that they might like and enjoy.

Because even if you have a great ecommerce digital marketing plan, it will go to waste if you don't know your target audience.

Always remember what American author and entrepreneur Seth Godin said, "If you're talking to everyone, you're talking to no one."

Now you're probably thinking...

But how do you research your audience? Let's start with...

Buyer Persona

You can describe your target customers in a detailed manner with a buyer persona.

It will help you have a clear understanding of your target customers and their behavior.

To put it simply, a buyer persona is an efficient way to narrow down your target audience based on their characteristics. Like age, gender, lifestyle, income, hobbies, personal interests, and routine.

Let's put it this way...

Imagine you sell a 3-step skincare regimen on your e-commerce store. And you claim that these three products can give the same results as the 8-step skincare routine. So the skincare products you sell are for busy people looking for a convenient regimen.

Lemme show you an example of a buyer persona:

As you can see, I included her professional and personal life, challenges, problems, and interests.

For her challenges, she's working hard on a daily basis, so she can't take care of her skin. And her problem is, she's looking for an easy skincare routine that also fits her budget.

So because you're selling a more accessible alternative to great skin, I created a buyer persona that suits your business.

To put it simply, your buyer persona is "fictional," but their challenges are based on the problem you solve.

So, you need to create a marketing plan that will make people like "Molly" buy from you.

It will be easier for you to create an ecommerce digital marketing plan because you know who to sell to.

Does it sound like it needs a lot of time and effort? Probably.

But think about the conversion you can make because you understand your audience at a deeper level.

Let's get into the next one...

Collect Data

Collecting data will be helpful in strengthening your eCommerce digital marketing strategy.

Don't know how? No worries, because there's a proper way to collect their data and grow your business.

Here are some ways on how to collect data and get their insights...

Survey

Through conducting a survey, you'd know what your customers want.

And if you ask them the right questions, you'll get the right answers.

Here are some questions you can ask your customers:

1. Are you ordering from our app or website?
2. Are you happy with our service?
3. How was your last transaction?
4. Where did you hear about us?
5. Would you recommend us?

But err, do you also feel lazy answering survey forms by other brands sometimes?

Well... I do, too!

So put yourself in the shoes of your consumers.

Do you want them to stop answering your form mid-way?

If not, try these tips, and don't be complicated!

1. Start with basic questions. Ask their name, age, gender, location, and the like. This will help you in target segmentation as well.
2. Ask simple but direct questions. Not all of your customers would spend a few minutes answering your survey form generously. You need to be straightforward to get the answers you need.
3. Use rating scales. This is an easy way to answer a survey form. It's because they don't have to type multiple sentences. This will save them time, and they might even get to the bottom of your survey form.

Another way to collect data is through...

Interviews

There's nothing better than connecting with your customers at a deeper level. And one way to do that is through customer interviews.

If you want to understand your customers further, I have some tips for you:

Customer Interview Tips:

1. Determine what's the purpose of your interview.
   • Is it for a new product release?
   • Or are you trying to change your website design, and you need your customer's opinion?
   • This will help you streamline your questions and prioritize what matters.
2. Don't invite random customers. 
   • Focus on your customers who have been giving you support and purchasing more than others. They have much more to say because they have grown an affinity for your brand.
3. Be open-minded about the answers they give. 
   • You need to remember that be it a good or bad review, it will help you improve your business in the future.

Remember, the purpose of this is to gain feedback so you can have long-term customers. Don't sell your products during interviews!

But wait... we still have more!

Amazon reviews

Amazon sells everything... but there's one valuable thing you can get for free...

So valuable that you can use them to enhance your ecommerce digital marketing plan!

And that is...

Amazon reviews!

Let me clarify this. You don't have to sell on Amazon to read the reviews. You can browse similar products like yours and look at the comments of their buyers.

Now, you might be wondering why do you need to do this...

And I have a simple answer.

It is to know what customers in the industry need.

Let me explain this further and give you an example.

You can see that the reviews are separated into two categories: positive and critical reviews.

Based on these two types of reviews, you can put them together to analyze what will work for your ecommerce store.

Think Amazon reviews aren't helpful yet? Just wait...

Did you know that there are only 5-10% of customers who write customer reviews? Yes, you read that right!

These are:

1. Customers loved the products so much.
2. Customers who hated the products.
3. Customers who are loyal to the brand.
4. Customers who believe it's just fair to share their reviews because they also used them before purchase.

You see, if you take advantage of these reviews, you can see what exactly they liked about the products. You can also see where the brand is lacking. And from there, you can fill the gap.

To sum it all up, Amazon Reviews can help you in improving your products and marketing efforts.

Amazing, right?

Who would've thought that checking reviews could be part of online marketing strategies for businesses?

Here's another one...

Online forums

If you think the opinions of internet users with the username Potato_Lover01 don't make sense... wait until you join online discussions.

Forums are a safe space for others online.

You can see them posting about their personal problems and random thoughts online... I hope that other users from that specific forum help them.

And one of the things they are also posting is product-related questions. They discuss certain products, and you can see honest reviews.

Let's take one, for example.

This is from one of the largest online forums, Reddit.

In their subreddit "Alexa," customers talk about everything related to the product. As you can see, one user asked if there's a recipe reader feature.

So suppose that you are building or selling a similar product, you might want to include a recipe reader on your features!

This is such a great and easy way to get real insights, right?

Customer Awareness

So one thing you need to research on your audience is their awareness level of the market.

But what are the levels of customer awareness?

• Unaware. These are the prospects that are not yet aware that they have a problem yet.
• Problem Aware. These prospects are aware that they have a problem, but they are not yet aware there's a solution for that.
• Solution Aware. These prospects are aware that there's a solution to their problem, but they still haven't heard about your brand.
• Product Aware. They're already aware of your brand, but they're not sure if you're the one they need.
• Most Aware. These customers already love and support your brand.

So, do you already know the level of your audience's customer awareness?

If yes, let's get into the next one!

Since you already know where you can get customer data, reviews, etc... how would you process them?

Don't worry, I got you covered!

How To Organize Your Customer Data?

Once you're done with gathering data from your customers...

It's very important to categorize and process customer insights to help you improve your marketing strategies!

Do you want those survey forms and feedback from your beloved customers to go to waste?

Hmm... I wouldn't want that for you!

So to enhance your ecommerce digital marketing strategy, you need to organize your customer data.

1. Organize them with subcategories

After collecting customer feedback, you need to organize and break them into subcategories or 'buckets.'

That way, it will be easier for you to summarize and analyze the results.

Are you feeling confused? Keep on reading!

So you can categorize your customer feedback by breaking them into these subcategories. Here are some:

1. Basic information. Having a separate bucket for the customers' basic information speeds up your target segmentation process. You can divide them based on their location, age, preferences, etc.
2. Product feedback. If you're selling multiple products, you might want to categorize customer data based on the products they gave their feedback to.
3. Satisfaction rate. Why do you need to include this in your buckets? Because it's important to identify who are your most satisfied and unsatisfied customers. That way, it will be easier for you to address their concerns.

Another way is to...

2. Use charts

If you want to have an overview of the results of your surveys and interviews, one way to do it is to create charts.

It will help you visualize the overall results if you want to spot the patterns easily.

Would you rather look at charts or manually analyze the data through your Excel? I prefer charts.

I'll give you an example.

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As you can see in this example, most of the customer respondents are students.

That was so easy to identify, right?

So through this data, you'd know that you need to focus on how to retain your customers who are students. And you also need to improve the customer experience of others.

But wait... there's more!

3. Input them in one place

You didn't see this coming, right?

Of course, you need to input your customer data in one place!

Your customers trusted you and willingly input their information. They also provided you with feedback to enhance your ecommerce digital marketing strategy.

The last thing you can do to thank them is to make sure that their data are safe with you.

But aside from keeping their data safe, you need to input their feedback in one place, so it's easier for you to sort it out.

How?

Ideally, you can invest in customer feedback analysis tools if you have the budget. Who doesn't want to make their lives easier?

But if you're not yet ready to invest... I have a surprise for you!

(Sample template)

You can use simple customer feedback analysis templates, to begin with.

So here I included the name of the respondents, gender, age, location, occupation, and the feedback. I also included the main categories for each feedback.

This makes it easier for you to identify the common problems your customers experience on your website.

Another example is...

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In this specific sample template, you can see that there's also a 'Channel' bucket included, which indicates from where did they get the feedback.

So you need to personalize your template based on your survey forms or how you collected the data (e.g., Amazon reviews, public reviews, online forums, etc.).

This step is full of knowledge, right?

You already know how to research customer awareness, collect data, create a buyer persona, and how to input the data you gathered! Now it's easy to get to know your audience.

Here's the checklist to make sure you're doing it properly:

• Know who your audience is
• Create a buyer persona
• Conduct surveys and customer interviews
• Read Amazon reviews
• Join online forums
• Learn your customer's awareness phase
• Organize your data using templates

After researching your audience, it's time to put your detective hats on...

Competitor Research

Already feeling a bit overwhelmed with all these terms? I get it!

That's why I'm here to help you understand this easily.

Let's start with why analyzing your competition is essential for your business.

1. You can identify what your competitors are doing right.
2. You can stay up-to-date on their current marketing strategies.
3. You can stay ahead of your competitors.

Amazing, right?

I'm sure you're already curious about how to conduct this study. 

OK, let's begin.

Identify Competitors

To conduct a competitor analysis, you need to identify who your competitors are first!

But remember, not everyone is against you! 

There are different types of competitors, and not all of them need your attention.

So, who are these competitors?

• Direct Competitors

Direct competitors mean you solve the same problems and offer the same solutions.

For example, McDonald's direct competitors are Burger King and Wendy's. They're direct competitors because they're selling the same products. Another example is Nike and Adidas.

So direct competitors sell the same products, solve the same problem, and target the same demographic.

Another type is...

• Indirect Competitors

You have the same solution but different products or services. Sometimes, even other target markets.

Let's have an example.

McDonald's indirect competitor is Taco Bell. They are solving the same problem, but they're not selling the same products.

McDonald's primarily sells burgers and fries. While Taco Bell sells burritos, tacos, quesadilla, etc.

The next one is...

• Potential Competitors

Your potential competitors are selling the same products or services online and targeting the same customers. But they are not yet catering their goods to your location.

For example, McDonald's potential competitor is another fast-food chain that's not in the U.S.

It means that potential competitors are ecommerce owners who sell the same products that can't cater to your country or target market.

Don't sweat these details, though!

?Bonus tip: Focus on your direct competitors

But before that, let me give you some ideas on where to get information about your competitors.

Using the data you gathered from your customer research is helpful. This will help you find out where your customers are looking for solutions to their problems.

And here are some places you can look for your competitors:

1. Amazon. If your competitors are on Amazon, you can check out their store to see the reviews, products, etc.
2. Google search results. This will help you see what your customers are searching for when looking for a solution to their problem.
3. FB page and Facebook Ad library. Just go to Ads Library and type in the name of your competitors. You can filter the results and choose a specific location. Then you can already see the active ads they're running.

I still have more tips on checking your competitors, so you have to stay with me!

But my next tip to improve your ecommerce digital marketing strategy is to know what they're currently doing...

Process Your Findings

After all the hours you spent analyzing your competitors, it's now time to put them in one place!

It's an important way to process your findings efficiently.

Sounds like a lot of stress? You're lucky because I've found some competitor analysis templates you can download for free!

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This template includes an overview of your competitors' social media accounts, target market, tagline, keywords, blogs, etc.

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On the other hand, this focuses on the messaging of your competitors. You can see the description, tagline, audience, meta descriptions, and more.

So in this step, you learned how to find your competitors, the levels of market sophistication, what and where to find what competitors are up to, and how to process your findings.

Let me share with you another checklist:

• Find your direct competitors
• Identify the level of sophistication
• Check out their content strategy
• Check out their claims on Amazon, websites, social media, and other platforms
• Process your findings

After using these templates and checklists, let's move forward to the next step.

Analyze Your Competitors

There are various ways to analyze and check what your competitors are doing:

1. Market Sophistication

If I ask you what your customers know about your products and the nature of business, can you answer me?

If not, then let me get this straight...

Your target customers are constantly changing their behaviors. They learn more about different brands and industries every time new information is presented to them.

And if you don't know the market's level of sophistication, you are letting your competitors win.

Oops, that doesn't sound nice to me!

But what is market sophistication?

It's from Eugene Schwartz's "Breakthrough Advertising." And the market sophistication measures the maturity of your market. This can be based on all the products, ads, and content they've encountered before yours.

So why do you need to know the sophistication level of your market?

1. If you understand your market sophistication, you can get ahead of your competitors!
2. You know how to talk to them based on their level of sophistication.
3. You can analyze why certain strategies work and not.

Now, let me teach you the 5 levels of market sophistication!

• Level 1: No Competition

"Is anybody here??"

There's nobody here.

Why? Because you are the first one to enter the market. You have no competition yet.

For example, if you claim, "This pill can make you lose weight," no one will question you.

And because of that, you are automatically the #1 in the market! So at this stage, your job is to talk about your products and their benefits. You need to introduce your brand to the market.

Yay or Nay? Of course, yay!

But wait... it doesn't stay like that forever!

• Level 2: Competitors are starting to rise!

Okay, so maybe the competition isn't as tough yet... but there are already several competitors entering the market!

There are a handful of other brands claiming to solve the problems as yours, so at this stage, you need to amplify your voice.

An example of this is "This pill can make you lose MORE weight faster."

Remember, your target market has been hearing the same thing over and over again. It's time to level up your game!

• Level 3: The Unique Mechanism

First time hearing about the Unique Mechanism?

Let me ask you this...

What sets you apart from your competitors?

Do you have an answer for that? Because knowing what makes you unique from your competitors makes you stand out.

With all these brands claiming to solve the same problems, you need a competitive edge.

For example, "This pill with L-carnitine can boost your metabolism and lose weight."

The next level is...

• Level 4: The Competitors have Unique Mechanisms too

This is where the battle begins...

Now, every brand in the market has its unique mechanisms, and it's time you make your brand voice louder!

At this point, the target customers are just tired of hearing the same thing...

"You will get rich in 40 days!"

"You will lose weight in 2 hours!"

What else?

What are you going to do now? At this stage, you need to find your most successful unique selling point, and you're going to talk about it repeatedly!

So to make your brand louder, this is an example. "This pill with the Amazonian Jungle fruit extract that produces all-natural l-carnitine can boost your metabolism and lose 10kgs in 7 days without any side-effects."

And the last level is...

• Level 5: Market Recognition

This is it. Your prospects are now aware of your brand as well as your competitors. They're also most likely tired of hearing the same claims.

And here's the catch...

They don't believe in any of those claims anymore.

So what are you going to do at this point?

You can focus on the emotional touchpoints of your prospects.

For example, "The secret pill Victoria's Secret Models use to stay sexy while eating cake."

Your competitors might not stop talking about their products. That is why you need to use a strategy that will make them feel something.

Market sophistication is not the only thing you need to look for in your competitors, though!

Here's another one...

3. Content Strategy

To determine the market sophistication and customer awareness, you can take advantage of the current content they're using.

This is not limited to social media. You can use their sales page, landing page, websites, or even their traditional advertisements.

This is one way to see what's working on their strategies and not. And then you use it for your brand's improvement.

Another is...

4. Competitor Claims

What problems are they claiming to solve?

If you want to get ahead of your competitors, you need a strong brand positioning as well.

This is also a way to find out how your target market connects with your competitors. And what you can do to make them feel the same about your brand.

I know you want to further study your competitor claims, so I'll show you where you can find their current marketing efforts!

• Check Out Their Websites

Since you want to improve your ecommerce digital marketing strategy, the website is one of the first things you will have to explore.

You're probably wondering... why do you need to analyze their websites? Here are a few reasons why:

• To see their current product campaigns
• To find any opportunities you can take
• To explore their marketing efforts

But wait!

Competitor analysis doesn't mean that you can copy what they're doing! It just means that you have an idea of improving your website based on what you see.

Like what Alibaba's Co-Founder Jack Ma said, "You should learn from your competitor, but never copy. Copy and you die."

So, what's next?

• Use Analyzing Tools

These analyzing tools don't exist for no reason!

You need to take advantage of them.

If you want to go all-out on analyzing your competitors, this is a must.

But why do you need to use these tools?

1. To track your competitors' growth in real-time
2. To identify possible gaps and fill them in
3. To avoid making the same mistakes as them

Do these reasons convince you to invest in paid tools? If not, I have one more solution for you!

• Evaluate Their Presence on Social Media

Just like in analyzing your competitor's website, checking out their social media channels is a must too!

Here are the questions you need to answer when checking their profiles:

• How do they present their products?
• How do they write their captions?
• What are the types of content they push out?
• How often do they post?
• How much engagement are they receiving per post?
• Which content category gets the most number of engagements?

Again, the purpose of competitor analysis is to incorporate some of their strategies into your marketing efforts, not to copy their content.

After analyzing your competitors, it's time to...

Planning Your Buyer's Journey

I will ask you something... and please be honest with your answer.

Let's say you are aware that you have a problem and you're looking for a solution... then you see a product online that might solve it.

Will you buy it immediately?

If not, that's how your prospects feel about your products, too.

That's why it's important to plan out your buyer's journey. But wait...

What is a buyer's journey?

A buyer's journey is your customers' process before they make a purchase. Here's an example of a buyer's journey.

There are 8 ways before they purchase from you. To start, they need to be...

 

#1 Aware of your brand

Before anything else, you need to make sure they are aware of your brand.

How will they buy from you if they haven't even heard of you?

And to do this, you need to map out an effective marketing plan. Which I will help you with later.

The next is...

#2 Engaging with your brand

When prospects engage with your brand, it means that you are connecting with them at a deeper level.

And once a prospect interacts with you, make sure to do everything in your power to make the conversation meaningful.

So if you build a connection with potential customers, make them...

#3 Subscribe to your platforms

Not forcefully, though!

If you build a genuine connection with your prospects, there's a higher chance that they might follow your online platforms. It's because they want to see what's next for your brand!

Sounds exciting! After you get them to subscribe, turn them into...

#4 Turn them into customers

Once they reach this stage, they're probably willing to go on until they buy from you.

So to turn them into customers, you can start with low-cost products or offers. They're still on Step 4, so they might not be ready for big commitments.

The next step is...

#5 Make Them Excited

You see, new purchases make people happy.

Since they already purchased from your brand... why not give them a special experience?

It could be through personalized messages, high-quality products, or even wonderful packaging.

The goal is to make them feel any emotions as they receive your products.

#6 Make Them Repeat Customers

Did you know that retaining a customer is 5 times cheaper than acquiring a new one?

So once you've made them attached to your brand, this is where you make them a repeat or returning customer.

Why, you ask?

It's because they already trust you. They already had a good experience with your brand, and they want to buy from you... again. And again.

The next step is...

#7 Ask Them To Talk About You Online

When they're happy, they want to share it with the world.

And in the digital age, it's through using social media!

So ask them to spread the word for you if they enjoyed your brand!

#8 Let Them Advocate For You

Potential customers trust your current customers more than you.

And if they're thinking of buying from you, they'd ask the people who already bought from you. They will not rely on your ads alone.

So having your customers be your brand advocates is really important to your customer's journey.

That's because they're helping more prospects get into step 1, and then step 2, and so on...

Now that you have an idea of your buyer's journey...

What do you need to do to get customers in the first place? Hmm... it's time to...

Map Out the Marketing Plan

Do you want all your research to go to waste?

I think not!

But without mapping out your marketing plan, all your hard work will vanish in thin air.

So how important is a marketing plan? Here are a few reasons:

• It keeps you focused on your marketing goals
• It gives you and your team transparency
• It helps you reach your target audience efficiently

I'll show you a way to map out your marketing plan based on your buyer's journey.

Before your customers buy from you, they've already defined what they need.

This means that they already know how to solve their problem. And they're just looking for the answers.

So what can you do as a brand? Simplify your marketing message.

Instead of talking about your products' multiple features, talk about how to solve their specific problem.

What's the next part?

Your customers are locating and gathering information on how they can solve their problems.

At this point, you need to align your marketing message based on your and your competitors' customer awareness and level of sophistication.

This is also an important time to make sure that you have all the information they might need when they search for it.

And the next is...

Your potential customers are preparing to get the "jobs" done or solve their problems.

They're ready to buy, but they might encounter a small roadblock, and they need to prepare for it! So what can you do as a brand?

Let's assume that you are selling water bottles online. And based on your market and competitor research, customers hate it when it can only maintain the temperature for 5 hours.

You might need to think of a solution before they get into this stage.

And it's your job to communicate how you're solving a common problem online.

But how? Don't worry. Here's the solution...

Figure Out The Best Marketing Channels for You

Just imagine this...

You were so excited to talk about your new product to young people who are the future of technology... then you walked into a room full of people in their 70s...

Apparently, there has been a mistake on your part. And now you're forced to talk about your new product to people who aren't even your target market...

Obviously, you made no sales because they don't need your product. They don't want it.

The bottom line? You just wasted your time and resources.

That's what will happen if you don't choose the right marketing channels.

Because your audience is not everywhere. You need to find where they are on the Internet.

Let's say that your customers are now willing to buy from you. But they still need to verify if they really want to buy from you.

How are they going to do this?

They're most probably going to use social media. Or search engines.

So it's now your job to make sure that you can give out all the information they need to confirm they're ready to buy from you... and you need to come up with the right message.

Once they have already bought from you, you need to monitor their behavior even after purchasing.

Because there might be a need for refunds, returns, etc. The thing is, even if you solved their problem, they still have their own pains and gains regarding your products.

They're not 100% okay.

And you need to satisfy your customers immediately.

By now, you're probably wondering... how can you make sure you are using the right channels?

I got you covered on the next step!

Figure Out Which Marketing Channel Needs To Be Optimized

Based on your goals, market, and competitor research, you need to figure out which marketing channel needs some improvement.

Here are some things you need to consider:

• Can you deliver your message efficiently to your target market?
• Do your messages align with your customer's journey? Or you're too advanced?
• Can they easily reach you on a specific platform if they have concerns?

So what it's all about?

Customer-based improvement.

And to figure out which marketing channel needs to optimize, do these:

• Analyze the consumers

The process I mentioned above is for you to determine your buyer's behavior.

And let's say your loyal customers suddenly stopped interacting with your social media posts... what are you going to do?

Of course, step up your social media game!

Another option is...

• Check out analytics

For example, your goal is to retain your loyal customers. But when you check your analytics, your analytics is filled with first-time website visitors.

What does it mean? You might need to enhance your keyword strategy. Or invest more in paid ads.

Remember, planning your buyer's journey will keep you ahead of the game!

Being proactive is better than reactive!

Let's recap! In this step, I taught you the buyer's journey, how you can craft your messages based on your customer's journey, mapping, and figuring out the best channel for your audience.

Here's your checklist:

• Identify your buyer's journey
• Map out a marketing plan
• Figure out which marketing channel you can use
• Optimize channels that need improvement

Now, I won't keep you waiting. I'm sure you already want to read the next step!

But shhh... let me tell you a secret! If you keep on reading until the end of this guide, you'll learn more details about crafting your marketing plans! ?

Choose a Marketing Campaign

So you already know who are your audience, and you've already set your goals. 

Now, it's time to choose the best ecommerce digital marketing strategy!

Remember, you have to base your marketing campaign on your customer's journey.

And before we start... let's go back to basics.

What's the goal of your marketing campaign?

Because your marketing campaign should help you achieve your goal.

For example, you want to increase your brand awareness because most of your buyers are still not aware of your brand.

So, how are you going to achieve that goal?

Let's see what we have here...

Marketing Campaigns That Will Help You Achieve Your Goals

1. Search Engine Marketing

Is this the first time you're hearing this? I will explain further...

Search engine management is a paid search on Google. So you're paying Google to show your ads for specific keywords.

Here's an example:

I searched for "water bottle online," and as you can see, certain ads are shown for these keywords.

These are paid ads, and these brands paid the search engine to be shown on top of the results. 

Want this for your business, too?

Let's give you a few tips on how to start your Search Engine Marketing strategy!

1. Research your audience (always)
2. Research relevant keywords
3. Streamline your targeting options
4. Test your ads and experiment
5. Optimize your landing page

Another marketing strategy you can try is...

2. Search Engine Optimization

Don't confuse SEO vs. SEM.

To make it easier for you to understand, SEO is organic traffic, and SEM is paid.

Let's have one example.

I searched "scented candles," and Google showed me a blog about the benefits of using scented candles.

If you search for these specific keywords on Google, you will see that the first result of the keywords is not paid ads but organic. And it helps them establish authority in their niche.

Did you know that SEO has so many benefits? Here are some examples:

1. You can increase your e-commerce website's traffic
2. You can drive many customers through organic search
3. You can build trust and credibility, especially if you appear on the first page

And the best part? More ROI!

Here's another option...

3. Social Media Marketing

There is no doubt that social media marketing is one of the best digital strategies you can make. 

Here's why:

• 3.78 billion social media users are active daily worldwide.
• In 2020, social commerce generated about 474.8 billion USD worldwide.
• About 21% of the tablet visits to e-commerce websites in Q2 of 2021 were referred by social media.

These numbers don't lie.

Therefore, if your marketing efforts do not involve social media, you're doing it wrong.

You're lucky to be here because I will teach you some social media tips you can use:

1. Choose the Best the Platform

So let's go back to Step 1, which is researching your audience.

Because you need to think about who your audience is before choosing a platform.

Why? Each platform has a different use and demographics.

So you should keep in mind the landscape of each platform when choosing one.

If your target customers are businesses, then you can use LinkedIn to promote your services. And if you are selling products, you can post your content on Instagram and Facebook.

It depends on your business and objectives.

Just keep on reading because there's another tip...

2. Evaluate Your Resources

Yep, you read that right!

You can't just promote your products anywhere you like.

If you want to mainly use Instagram,, you must understand that you need to continuously produce photos and videos.

Instagram is photo-centric, so you need to make sure that you can create high-quality and attractive visuals.

And what if you want to use Tiktok in your ecommerce digital marketing strategy? Then it will take some time, resources, and effort to produce content.

Why? Because Tiktok is all about entertainment and videos. And you need to allot more time in planning and filming.

Want to stay on top of your social media game? Here's our last tip!

3. Optimize Your Profile

If you don't optimize your profile according to the nature of your business, then don't expect your customers to take further action.

What does it mean?

By optimizing your profile, you can create a strong and branded presence online.

And this includes:

• Linking your e-commerce store and other social media profiles
• Changing your cover and profile images
• Designing an on-brand Instagram feed
• Writing your bio and captions concisely
• Creating winning content posts

Winning.. content... Posts???

We're glad you're still here because you're in for some treat!

Because this is where everything we've taught you above comes into play. And this needs effort and creativity.

Since you have different types of audiences, there are also other categories when posting content.

Let's name some of them.

• Informational - Informational content informs your audience about news or your industry.

For example, you're selling water bottles online. You can post content informing your target audience about the benefits of drinking more water every day, especially during the pandemic.

• Educational - Educational content educates your audience about your product. This can be in the form of video or carousel posts showing how your products work.
• Promotional - You can promote your products or any ongoing campaigns you have, like a Payday sale or discount codes.
• Inspirational - For inspirational content, you can create motivational quotes or transformational posts. Any inspiring stories your audience might enjoy.
• Entertaining - this is about making your audience enjoy your content. So you can post memes and hop on conversations. You can also use trending videos, music, or news.

Already have an idea of what content type to post? 

Keep on reading because we're going to give you more tips:

1. Brainstorm Your Content

Remember, you're not going to post one category all the time.

So one thing to consider when brainstorming content is the current needs of your audience.

Why? 

Because some of your target customers are not on search engines or social media platforms to learn. Maybe they're online shopping. In contrast, others are not there to shop. But to learn, scroll for fun, or to kill some time.

That is why you have different categories to choose from.

The next step is...

2. Create a content calendar

Don't you want to focus on your business without worrying if you've already created a social media post or blog for the day?

It's a lot of work at first because you're thinking of a month's worth of content. But it can definitely save time as you move forward!

How to create a content calendar:

• Choose any platform or software. You can use Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, Canva, or any planning software like ClickUp and Trello.
• Include these on your calendar:
  • Date of posting
  • Image
  • Caption
  • Category
  • Channel (Blog, Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, Website, etc.)
• Start publishing and track engagements

Here's an example:

(Sample image source)

Easy, right?

In that case, our next tip is to...

3. Stay consistent

If you're not consistent in posting, you might lose followers!

But wait! I'm not telling you to post multiple times every day.

Because by consistent, it means you need to follow a schedule. And not just consistency in schedule, but the quality of your posts, too.

So be consistent and don't keep your potential customers waiting!

But before you get the ball rolling, you need to know...

How Do You Determine Which Digital Marketing Media Is Effective For You?

So, based on your market research, you can determine which marketing campaign you need to focus on.

Here are some factors you need to consider:

• Goals. Let's go back to our "goal-setting" step. What's your goal? If you want to rank #1 on Google, try Search Engine Optimization. If you want to build a community, try Social Media Marketing.
• Target Audience. Where are they on the internet? If your target market is not using social media as much as other demographics, you might want to focus on other marketing campaigns. Such as improving your SEO or using the most common social platform (Facebook).
• Competitors. Where are your competitors? If they're already selling to a specific platform, you might want to challenge their existing market.

But wait, aren't you wondering which is better between push and pull marketing?

Because we need to discuss it more!

Push and Pull Marketing

Let me put it simply first.

Push marketing is advertising to your target demographics based on their profile, behavior, interests, etc.

It means you want your brand to get known through pushing your products using content marketing, ads, and the likes.

On the other hand, pull marketing is making your target customers come to you naturally. It focuses on separating your brand from your competitors by producing the content they're looking for.

Now, let's dive deeper!

You see, push marketing has its own highs and lows. As well as pull marketing, let's have a look:

Now that you know their pros and cons, let me give you examples of push and pull marketing tactics.

Let me help you in choosing between these choices.

If you're planning to focus on pull marketing, you need to understand it's not entirely free.

You need time to create blog posts, reach out to other blogs for guest posts, create a newsletter, build your email list, etc. It takes more time.

Why? Because your customers are the ones coming to you. But if you have the time to do all these on your own, go for it.

While for your push marketing tactics, it might need less of your time. But if you're planning to create a loyal customer base, this might not be the perfect choice for you.

Hmmm... so do you go for push or pull marketing?

I would say that it is up to your business goals and where your customers are in their buyer's journey.

In this step, I've talked about the different marketing strategies you can use. So again, whatever you choose, it all depends on your goals and your customers.

I also gave you some tips on implementing those and gave you options between push and pull marketing.

Let's have another checklist:

• Choose a marketing campaign
• Choose the best platform
• Evaluate your resources
• Optimize your profile
• Brainstorm your content/ads
• Create a content calendar

So, what's next? Let's get this show on the road...

Execution of Your Ecommerce Marketing Plan

From goal-setting to crafting a marketing plan... it's now time to plan how you can execute everything we've talked about above!

So now, I'm going to teach you how to execute your marketing plan.

Let's start with...

1. Project Planning

To make sure that you are on the right track to achieving your goals, you need a project plan. It will also help you visualize the end goal.

Have a clear objective

If you don't know what you're trying to achieve... how are you going to achieve it?

Setting a clear objective is a must in project planning. It will help you and your team stay on track.

It's also easier to track the progress and hold yourself accountable if something is not aligned with your objective.

Identify the tasks you need

Based on your objectives, you need to identify how you can achieve them.

And one way to do that is by identifying the tasks you need. This is where you need to break down a big goal into smaller ones.

Delegate tasks

If you have a team, you can delegate the tasks based on your team's expertise.

This makes the tasks easier to achieve because other people are working with you towards the goal.

But what if you don't have a team?

2. Hiring vs DIY

When you're running your ecommerce business, you've probably thought of hiring someone or an agency to do all things marketing for you.

So in case, you're still choosing between the two, let me give you a breakdown of hiring vs Do-It-Yourself marketing.

Now that you know the pros and cons of hiring, it's time to look at DIY's highs and lows.

Have an idea which one to choose?

I already gave you the comparison between the two! The choice is up to you.

Next thing you need to take note of is...

3. Budget

Whatever marketing campaign you choose to do for your business, you need to have a budget.

I mean, you need to spend a little to spice up your marketing campaigns!

As I've mentioned above, when computing your CPA, it's important to note that you are not just paying for advertising costs. You are also paying for your marketing staff, tools, software, etc.

So, where can you spend your money?

1. SEM budget. This is for your paid advertising costs, such as Par Per Click and display ads.
2. SMM budget. While SMM can have little to no cost, you still need to have a budget for content, influencer partnerships, and paid ads.
3. Website budget. If you're planning to revamp or improve your website to enhance your customer experience, then a website budget is a must!
4. Tools. If you're just DIY-ing your marketing campaigns, why not invest in tools that will make your life easier? You can set a budget for scheduling tools, photo editing software, email marketing system, etc.
5. Content creation. You need a budget for content creation so you can effectively communicate your message.

It's up to you where you want to spend your money!

So whether you're planning to hire or Do-it-Yourself, you still need to invest in some tools to keep your marketing strategy winning. You also need to plan your project and make sure to achieve all tasks.

Here's your checklist:

• Determine your objective
• Identify the tasks needed
• Delegate tasks if you have a team
• Identify your budget
• Invest in a marketing staff or resources if you're going to do it on your own

That's not all! Because you need to...

Analyze and Optimize

It's important to monitor your campaign's progress from time to time.

Because if you do this, you can analyze in real-time if you can achieve your goal.

But it's also important to manage your expectations. Most likely, your campaigns are not going to succeed on your first try.

And that's okay because this is why you need to analyze results.

Let's say that some of your strategies are not working... then it's time you improved them!

Lemme show you how!

Analyze The Results

If you're already running your own campaigns, you need to analyze the results before knowing which channel needs improvement.

Let's say you're running an ad on Google. The goal of the campaign is to increase your website traffic.

Then, here are some important KPIs you can use to measure if you've achieved your goal or there needs to be an improvement.

• Organic clicks: These are visits from search engines that are not through your ad.
• Paid: These are website clicks from your ads on the search engine.
• Social: If you're promoting your website on social media, then clicks from your platforms will fall into this category.
• Referral: These are visits from other websites that referred your ecommerce store.
• Email: These are clicks from your email marketing campaigns.

To analyze these, just go to your Google Analytics page.

Another way to figure out if a marketing channel needs improvement is...

Conduct A Social Media Audit

Since the goal is to grow your pages, you need to conduct a social media audit every once in a while.

The purpose of this is to acknowledge what's going right and wrong with your strategies.

Here are the things you need to audit on your social media pages.

• Engagement rates (likes, shares, comments)
• Reach, Impressions, Website Clicks, and Profile Visits
• Content with the most number of likes, reach, etc
• Number of followers
• Number of unfollowers

Compare numbers from the previous months or see if the results align with your goals.

If not, then...

Make Adjustments

There is no permanent in this world... and marketing strategies are one of them!

Because the user interests are constantly changing in the digital world, you need to adjust based on their likings.

So if something's not working, go back to the previous steps!

Research your audience, see what your competitors are doing, identify trends and patterns, and create more surveys!

Speaking of making adjustments...

Why don't you let me show you a marketing campaign that succeeded after optimizing its strategies?

Let's take Warner Bros movie 'Pan' for example.

In 2015, they released the movie 'Pan' and for their marketing campaign, they incorporated some marketing analytics they gathered. They used the data to look closely into consumer trends.

Then Warner Bros decided to shift their media plan to person-level marketing based on the user behaviors, engagement patterns, etc. They also identified the right marketing channels to deliver their messages based on their data.

The result?

They saw a 26% increase in return on investment.

Remember, analyzing and optimizing your campaign is a continuous process. But this will help you come up with the winning campaign!

Let me give you a checklist:

• Analyze the results
• Conduct a social media audit
• See area for improvements

Do you also want that to happen to your brand?