eCommerce Marketing Strategies That Will Cut Through the Noise in 2021

As businesses invest in content creation, social media, SEO, and PPC, grabbing consumers' attention is becoming harder and harder. But what does this mean for ecommerce marketing teams?

For one, they've got their work cut out for them. Nowadays, businesses need to do more than pump budget into advertising campaigns if they wish to stay relevant. Doing the most or being the first won't help them stay ahead of the competition. Today, successful ecommerce businesses need to focus their attention on the right strategies for their target audience, as it’s the only way they can see high ROI.

So, if you're looking for ways to cut through the noise in 2021, the following marketing strategies are definitely worth investing in.

Content creation

While PPC marketing campaigns work great in bringing traffic to your online store, they do come with certain drawbacks. Research shows the average CTR for paid ads falls around 2%, depending on your industry. Furthermore, 47% of internet users utilize ad-blocking software.

These two statistics alone indicate the importance of going after organic traffic. And what better way to do so than with content-driven marketing?

When done right, content marketing can help you reach and interact with your target audience. Moreover, it promises a high ROI and can be successfully adapted to work with as many platforms as you need.

But creating content on just about anything won't do. If you want to grab your audience's attention in 2021, you need to step up your research game.

The first thing to consider with advanced content marketing for ecommerce is to target the most relevant keywords. On the whole, long-tail keywords are bound to work better, as they come with less competition and audiences further down the sales funnel. In addition to identifying high-quality search terms, you also need to know how to analyze and prioritize them. After all, content needs to have a high traffic potential if it's going to be worth your while.

Along with research, don't forget about investing in versatility, too. A well-rounded content marketing strategy will include both written and visual content, as well as video and audio.

Take a look at Lush's Halloween campaign for 2020. You'll see that it includes blog posts, video content, as well as a social media campaign that encourages their audience to send in user-generated submissions for a chance to win a $500 gift card.

Dynamic Facebook ads

The reason why so many marketers flock to Facebook is the network's scale. With over 2.7 billion monthly active users, it’s an online advertising space with almost limitless potential. However, volume without restriction usually leads to wasted funds.

Luckily, the platform found ways to use machine learning to provide users with a highly personalized advertising experience that results in higher engagement levels and conversion rates.

Dynamic ads use catalogs uploaded by businesses and deliver content to consumers based on their interests and behaviors. Because they use broad audience targeting, they can reach people who looked at similar products to yours.

For example, if a user has shown an interest in purchasing a car, they’ll be shown ads by different vehicle manufacturers. Best of all, the ads are continuously optimized, meaning they adapt to yield the best results.

But the most advantageous feature of this type of advertising is that the platform can automatically detect what ads NOT to show.

Take Orizaba Original, a brand selling hoodies and Mexican blankets. Because users searching for one of these products might not be interested in the other, the company created multiple versions of their ads. This ensures that each potential customer is shown products relevant to their interests and buyer journey. Because of their high levels of relevance, these kinds of ads minimize spend and maximize ROI.

Retargeting

Another advantage of Facebook (and Instagram) ads is that they allow retargeting. This makes it possible for you to keep in touch with people who have visited your website or profile but didn't convert. As it takes an average of eight touches between the first brand-consumer contact and a sale, this is a key marketing strategy if you want to cut through the noise.

The best way to use retargeting options is to study your audience's buying journey. Naturally, they’ll want to receive more concrete information as they move towards the bottom of the sales funnel, so it's best to create different ads for different audiences.

For example, if you're targeting website visitors who viewed products but didn't convert, you'll want to create social media and display network ads that remind them of your offer.

If you take a look at these Facebook sidebar ads by nu-in, you'll see that they're simple yet effective. Each ad includes a product picture and a description, focusing on sustainability: the brand's most prominent value proposition.

The same strategy can be applied to Google Display ads, which allows you a wider reach, all the while targeting consumers who are most likely to convert.

Email marketing

Though it may not be the newest of marketing strategies, email is a channel you shouldn’t neglect in 2021.

With an average 15% open rate for ecommerce, email marketing offers one of the best ways to get in direct touch with consumers. What’s more, it allows you to nurture each one of your contacts into becoming loyal customers and a reliable source of income. The best thing about email marketing is that it's easy to do, even with a shoestring budget (or none at all).

To make the most of your consumers' trust, there are two things you’ll want to pay attention to.

Ensure your ecommerce website includes effective lead capture forms

Most stores tend to go with pop-ups, but a strategy that works far better is offering customers something in return for their contact information. If you take a look at the LFA Capsule Fillers homepage, you'll see that the brand chose to put together an insightful ebook guide that teaches people how to create their own supplements.

Meanwhile Forever 21, whose objective is to get as many people as possible to download their app, is offering 20% off on first in-app purchases.

Always segment your audience

By creating personalized campaigns that are relevant to each contact's buying journey, you'll ensure that your messages aren't passed over or categorized as junk.

Think of Netflix and the company's "we just added a movie you might like" emails. Each of these messages is targeted at users who have shown a previous interest in a particular genre.

For ecommerce, you can take the same philosophy and adapt it to your consumers' needs. If a person previously bought a certain type of product, like a supplement, you could set up automatic campaigns to remind them to re-stock each month, or after the appropriate amount of time has passed.

Even better than waiting for customers to make a purchase and segmenting them based on previous behavior, you can do what Sennheiser did on their homepage, and include a question in your sign-up forms. This way, you'll have the information you need to send only relevant messages, thus maximizing the chances of them resonating with your target audience.

In closing

As you can see, the best way to step up your marketing game in 2021 is to do away with guesswork and instead base your campaigns on audience behavior.

If you adopt the strategies we've discussed in this article, you won't just grab attention; you can expect a much higher ROI without wasting your budget on low-quality leads.