This week, we’ve got a guest blog from David Webb, who gives us the lowdown on building a successful ecommerce brand.
Setting up shop, and just sitting there, waiting for customers to barge right into your little online store is not the smartest idea. Without a recognisable brand, your eCommerce business won’t amount to much.
Look at how, today, whenever someone alters a photograph or a picture, we immediately say it was Photoshop, even though some other software was used instead; or when we say Sellotape for any kind of adhesive tape, or Frisbee for a flying disc and so on.
Clearly, these brands are more popular than the product itself. So, how do you make your product more noticeable in a sea of other similar products?
The answer: by building a successful eCommerce brand that will set you apart from the pack. Here’s how to do it…
Focus on customer feedback
First of all, pleasing everyone is an impossible task.
Instead, you should be focusing on your target audience and the means of engaging them as much as possible.
Creating a relationship with your consumers increases the likelihood of them buying your products in the future. Statistics have shown that returning customers have a 60 to 70% chance of buying your products, whereas only a 5 to 20% chance of new customers doing the same. So, how do you work on your customer loyalty?
Well, make online surveys to check how your audience regards your brand and your product. Use this feedback to your advantage and make your brand suitable for that particular demographic.
Generate hype over social media and engage them that way, let them do the work for you.
Sharing your brand over social media will make it more recognizable, and marketing by word-of-mouth is the best strategy out there. As a result, it’s the people who actually create your brand, not some fancy logo.
This is why your brand should be ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’.
Stand out from the crowd
With so many different products out there, what is your brand doing differently that makes it stand out from the crowd? Is it a certain vintage or retro feel? A modern technique that only your brand uses?
Whatever this unique selling proposition is, you need to share it with the rest of the world. If your brand is based around nostalgia for a vintage product or design, use this to your advantage and invoke the feeling of nostalgia with your customers.
Nowadays, this strategy is extremely popular with big brands, such as Coca-Cola, where they re-release old bottle designs to get an emotional connection with their consumer base.
Not to mention that today, when someone says the word Santa, you immediately picture a bearded old man wearing his iconic red outfit, well guess what? We have Coca-Cola to thank for that. They took the image of Santa and recycled it for their own use and the rest is history. This is exactly the kind of mentality your eCommerce brand needs.
Besides the physical design of your product and the image it attains through marketing, you will need to build a strong image online. There is no better way to do it than through your own website, which should feature your colours, important info and what not. But without a great design of the website, all this could be hard to manage.
So, either invest your strengths into developing a great web design yourself or rely on experienced agencies such as Quikclicks and you are all set.
Be a storyteller
For thousands of years, people have been sharing stories from one generation to the next. This system of communication has been our main source of information since the dawn of mankind. Even today, people want to hear stories, it’s almost as if it was imprinted into their DNA. That is simply the medium through which we perceive things and the core principle of this medium is trust.
Customers are no different, this is the way they create an opinion about you and your brand.
And if your policies and philosophies correspond with one of their core values, you will earn their trust. Making an ‘About Us’ page as well as a ‘Testimonials’ page where you can outline your brand’s core values, and the story behind it is a good place to start.
Just make sure you use the same tone with every story you write and post, whether it be on your website or on social media. Consistency is key, otherwise, you and your brand won’t appear trustworthy at all.
Brand loyalty starts with the values you share with your consumers, so make sure they read about those values on your website.
Personalise your consumer experience
What better way of connecting with your customers than by personalizing their experience with your products?
Customising and tailoring your product to each individual customer will gain a lot of respect and recognition for your brand. For example, Man Crates lets you order uniquely and creatively packed gifts online that can be further personalised by adding names and the like on the product.
Also, they offer different methods of opening your gift, sometimes by the use of a crowbar to open your crate and sometimes by the use of a hammer to break a brick that contains your gift card and so on.
Anyhow, whatever the method used, it is highly memorable as well as spectacular. Imagine opening such a gift in the middle of the office, it will attract a lot of attention for sure and the brand name will engrave itself in the minds of everyone present.
All in all, in order to build a successful eCommerce brand, you need something that sets you and your product apart from your competitors. Something that stands out from the crowd, something that is memorable and something that will be shared around the internet or by word-of-mouth.
About the Author
David Webb is a Sydney-based business consultant, online marketing analyst and a writer. With six years of experience and a degree in online business strategies, he is driven to help people to better understand this new digital age. In his free time, David enjoys writing and travelling. You can read more from David at BizzMarkBlog or by following him on Facebook and Twitter.