Normally, this introduction would cover the importance of online marketing—but let’s be honest, is that even necessary anymore? By now, almost everyone knows that online marketing is crucial for shops to stand out from the crowd, attract more visitors, and ultimately convert those visitors into customers. So, let’s get straight to the point: What should you focus on to ensure your competitors don’t leave you behind, and what tips can we offer to help you succeed?
Where to start?
There are almost too many platforms to choose from when it comes to getting your message out to users. This doesn’t exactly make things easy for businesses: What should you focus on? How much budget should you, as an online shop owner, invest and where, and where do you even begin? What opportunities and hurdles await you? How will you make your shop a success? What should you definitely include in your strategy? If you’re planning to take your shop to the next level, you’ve probably asked yourself these questions more than once—without necessarily finding an answer. Perhaps you started Googling and tried to piece together answers from thousands of different blogs and guides. Often, we want to be prepared for every eventuality right from the start, clarify every question, and define exactly how we’ll proceed in the future, how we’ll handle difficulties, and so on. But this often leads to being so overwhelmed by it all that we never even get started.
Therefore: take a deep breath, let the future be the future, and just get started. You can tackle the next steps of your strategy one by one. We’ve provided an overview here that makes searching through countless articles unnecessary and serves as a guide for developing your strategy.
The most important prerequisite for scaling your brand through online marketing is, of course, a great product. While many things can indeed be sold successfully via social media, not everything can.
The second important prerequisite is an optimized online shop. Potential customers visiting your shop must be able to navigate intuitively and be guided through their customer journey without any obstacles. Picture it this way: you take your visitors by the hand and accompany them step-by-step from their first impression to a completed purchase. It is definitely worth investing significant time in User Experience (UX) and the User Interface (UI) to ensure your shop runs smoothly and looks appealing. Always remember that your shop must not only look good and function well on desktop, but it is essential that it does so on mobile devices as well.
However, if you think you can sit back and relax once everything is set up, we have to disappoint you—regular review, adjustment, and updating of your shop are an absolute must. To keep up with the times, you will constantly need to change things and further optimize your shop—for example, when Google changes its algorithm. A little "fun fact": this happened 13 times in 2021 alone!
Organic vs. Paid Online Marketing
Before we dive into the various ways you can market your online shop, we need to cover two fundamental terms: Organic and Paid Online Marketing. Online marketing is divided into unpaid (organic) and paid measures.
Organic online marketing includes all unpaid measures, such as SEO (search engine optimization), a blog on your website that you can use to share expertise or provide behind-the-scenes insights, and, of course, free content marketing via social media.
Organic social media marketing is primarily about community building, generating followers, likes, and engagement. This type of social media marketing is very content-heavy. It involves sharing content and interacting with the community, e.g., by responding to comments, starting polls, etc. Through organic social media marketing, you introduce your brand and products and build a connection with your followers—your potential customers. Of course, you want to use social media to showcase your products, but make sure your posts offer added value. You can also provide a look behind the scenes of your brand. Feel free to show your authentic self as a shop owner to build an emotional bond with potential customers and retain existing ones. This helps lower your CAC (Customer Acquisition Costs). One disadvantage of organic measures is that they do not have as strong an impact on sales. This is because organic reach on Facebook and Instagram has dropped significantly in recent years.
On the other hand, we have marketing measures that you have to pay for. Paid online marketing includes, for example, SEA (Search Engine Advertising—ads displayed on search engine results pages) and social media ads. Together with search engine optimization (SEO), search engine advertising falls under the umbrella term of search engine marketing (SEM).
With paid ads, also known as paid social, you can communicate your message via Facebook and Instagram very quickly. You invest money, give it to Meta, and Facebook or Instagram place your ads in front of your target audience. This generates impressions that, in the best-case scenario, lead to conversions—i.e., potential purchases—when a person visits your shop. Of course, you still need some form of content for paid ads, but these measures are less labor-intensive than driving organic growth. These paid ads can significantly influence your sales growth. Why? Performance marketing is the keyword here. Through performance marketing, you make your marketing measures measurable. To do this, you first determine exactly what you want to achieve. In marketing, this goal is called a KPI (Key Performance Indicator). For online shops, the goal is usually a purchase; in many other business sectors, it is a lead (someone providing their contact details for you to use). Through ad tracking, you can monitor the extent to which you have achieved your goal. Based on these results, you can then further optimize your campaign.
Organic and paid social differ particularly in their content intensity and their impact on sales.
The mix is key: Combining all online marketing elements
When it comes to the question of which online marketing elements make the most sense for your shop, you might feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities. Online retailers can advertise across various channels and use a wide range of sales platforms. Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads are arguably the most important channels right now. Depending on your target audience, Twitter and LinkedIn ads, as well as TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest, can be added to ensure your strategy is a success.
Feeling overwhelmed? Don't worry. We’ll go through the options one by one.
In this graphic, you can see how you can successfully scale your brand through online marketing:
Follow these four steps to take your brand to the next level
Starting with Facebook and Instagram ads for reach and tapping into new target audiences, you can increase your website traffic with Google Ads. You can also use Pinterest to inspire, use TikTok ads for cost-effective reach, or reach a global audience with TV or YouTube clips.
Let's take a closer look:
1. Facebook & Instagram: achieving high reach and new target audiences on a low budget
Facebook and Instagram are THE platforms for successfully scaling your business. Together, they offer the largest volume among social platforms. Due to the high number of users, you can reach the most people here. Profitability also tends to be highest in the end. This is because Meta possesses an enormous amount of data, allowing it to know quite precisely who buys what, when, and where. This information is used to place your ads in a targeted manner.
Furthermore, you can achieve enormous leverage through Facebook and Instagram: even with a small budget, you can reach a huge number of users and tap into new target audiences. Exactly how much you invest in your first campaigns is entirely up to you. Experiment a little and see what the initial results look like. Gradually, you will become more confident and invest more budget into paid social. Spoiler: It’s worth it!
In addition to paid ads, there is also the option of collaborating with influencers. Influencers give you access to their community. Prices for a collaboration vary, as they set their own rates. You can often work with smaller accounts on a smaller budget. When selecting accounts for a collaboration, make sure that the influencers' values align with your brand. Also important: the number of followers isn't everything. Be sure to get information on actual story views. Ideally, the ratio of views to followers is over 20%.
There is currently probably no channel that boosts scaling better than social media. You should focus your social media marketing on paid social and micro-influencers. You will surely be celebrating your first successes soon.
2. Google Ads & Newsletter: engaging fans & prospects
In the second step, you should extend the attention you've gained through paid search and a solid CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system including email flows.
What does that mean?
Unlike Facebook and Instagram, Google is a pull channel. Everything starts with the search term users enter. When you run ads on Google, they appear above the organic search results—thematically relevant, of course. The ads don't really look different from organic search results, but they are marked as ads. You can use Google Ads particularly well to drive more traffic to your website.
It also makes sense to engage fans and prospects through a strong CRM to turn them from one-time buyers into loyal customers of your shop. Customer retention measures also include engaging newsletters and a well-functioning email flow. This refers to the automated sending of emails. You can define yourself in a CRM tool when which emails are sent to which people. This allows you, for example, to send a reminder email to visitors who have already added products to their cart but haven't completed the purchase, inform existing customers about current offers, or ask for feedback a certain time after a purchase.
3. Pinterest & TikTok: test what works for you
Pinterest is a platform that is often underestimated in marketing because people think of Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok first when they hear "social media." But with nearly 16 million users in Germany, Pinterest is also a serious channel when it comes to social media advertising.
From an advertiser's perspective, most social media platforms are push channels. This means your ads are delivered to users even if they aren't actively looking for them. As mentioned before, Google, for example, is a pull channel.
Pinterest, on the other hand, combines both strategies. On one hand, users are shown ads that might interest them while they scroll through their feed. On the other hand, a lot happens on Pinterest via the search bar. For example, if someone searches for sustainable clothing, an ad for a sustainable brand will also appear in the search results. You can take advantage of both options here to drive more visitors to your shop. On Pinterest, users are primarily looking for inspiration. They aren't actively searching for a specific brand, as statistics show: 97% of top Pinterest searches contain no brand name (source: pinterest.com) - the perfect opportunity to bring unknown brands to the forefront!
Another advantage of Pinterest is the low cost of reach and clicks. You can therefore use Pinterest as a great supplementary measure to platforms that are stronger at driving conversions, such as Facebook and Instagram. Pinterest is frequently used, especially for products with a predominantly female target audience, such as fashion, jewelry, or cosmetics. This is because the share of female users is over 60% (source: pinterest.com).
Our tip: just give it a try! Test Pinterest with an initial campaign and see what learnings you can generate.
Just like with Pinterest, the advantage of TikTok Ads is the cost-effective reach. On no other social media platform can you reach so many users with such a small budget. Initially often underestimated and dismissed as a platform for dancing kids, TikTok has experienced an incredible boom. The biggest change in social media marketing in 2020 was TikTok Ads. No other platform has gained so many users in such a short time. There are now 1 billion worldwide (source: tiktok.com), with nearly 20 million of them in Germany. It is definitely worth running ads here to reach your target audience. Important to know: TikTok is video-based only, which means you can only place ads here in video format. Since TikTok is mainly about entertainment, you will do best with short, fun videos. True to TikTok's motto: Don't make Ads - make TikToks.
The same applies to TikTok: just get started and test whether TikTok Ads work for your brand. Whether it's a pure product presentation or customer retention measures – be creative and let loose. A little luck also helps your next video go viral.
However:
Pinterest or TikTok alone won't lead you directly to major success. It is better to integrate both platforms as a supplementary traffic channel in your social media marketing mix.
4. OOH, TV & Youtube: reach the whole world
Now we move beyond the world of straightforward performance marketing. To reach even more target groups and further drive the growth of your shop, you can start your first pure branding measures. Patience is key here. Don't expect the whole world to know your brand and celebrate your products overnight. Building a brand takes time. It is important to stick with it, not give up, and use new, creative ideas to boost your shop's profile. You can use various marketing tools for this.
OOH stands for “Out-of-Home”. It includes all marketing measures in public spaces that aim to draw people's attention to your brand. This includes classic billboard advertising, as well as advertising on digital screens in public areas, such as at bus stops, airports, or in gyms. Ambient marketing is also part of OOH. This involves “embedding” advertising messages into the environment. This can be done through merch like brand messages on lighters, coasters, etc., or through large-scale guerrilla marketing campaigns that are staged to be particularly eye-catching and are often extended to social media, thus generating online awareness as well. For such a campaign to be a success, creativity is required!
In addition, you can increase your brand awareness with advertising clips on TV or YouTube. Creativity is key here, too. Every day, we are confronted with an incredible amount of advertising, and many people have an extremely negative attitude toward ad clips. To be remembered positively and, ideally, to move people to make a purchase decision, your clip needs that certain something. This works best through emotions. Particularly touching or funny clips are received more positively than those where you simply show your product and say how great it is.
Especially for advertising on YouTube, which can sometimes be skipped, it is crucial to capture the user's attention and curiosity. Only if you hook them right at the beginning of your clip will they watch it to the end.
The relevance of branding
Branding is about the active development and maintenance of your brand. From the brand name to the design of your logo, the right color scheme for your online shop, the story you want to tell, and the values your brand embodies, all the way to the right positioning. Especially if your products aren't particularly emotional, your story is all the more important so that people can identify with your brand.
Branding is so incredibly important for your brand because it makes it unique. With the right branding, you create a brand personality that sets you apart from your competitors. Really imagine your brand as a person and ensure that it is likable, approachable, and authentic. You should plan plenty of time to develop your branding. Take a truly strategic approach and deal with it in detail.
You should definitely ask yourself these questions:
- What story are you telling with your brand?
- What is your vision and mission?
- What values do you want to embody with your brand?
- What is the right tone for your brand communication?
- What is your USP?
If all this overwhelms you and you don't know where to start, you can also get advice from a branding agency as a shop operator. They are professionals in this field and have plenty of experience in shaping your brand's personality. Even if it might be difficult at first to hand your baby over to others, it can be super helpful to get opinions and tips from outsiders and develop your branding together with them.
Conclusion
After this amount of information, you should have taken away one main thing: engage your customers at as many touchpoints as possible and ensure they have a pleasant experience when interacting with you and your company – starting with the ad, through the purchase in the online shop, to the post-purchase email flow. Test a lot and don't be afraid to seek help and inspiration! Over time, you will learn what works best for you and where you can achieve the greatest success.
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