Every business shares one common goal. Whatever your industry, your go to market strategy will revolve around increasing sales. That means marketing your business in a way that gets people buying.
A good marketing plan should have a variety of strategies to be successful. Before you choose those, you should know your customers’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. Developing buyer personas helps you select the right marketing strategy to increase sales online.
Social Networks and Viral Marketing
Many companies are turning to social media to reach more people, market products, and increase sales. It’s become one of the most critical tools in a company’s marketing plan. You can use it to connect with your target audience, engage them in a conversation about your product, and convert them into customers.
While these platforms are great for supplementing your marketing efforts, you can’t count them as a sales channel. Some companies use social media sales strategies to sell through social networks. A lot of them combine them with other methods to generate sales leads and drive traffic to their website or eCommerce platform.
That’s where Viral Marketing comes in. Viral marketing uses existing social networks to promote a business. It relies on the business posting content that consumers feel is worthy of sharing with others on the platform.
Paid Media Advertising
The paid advertising strategy involves sponsored social media posts, paid search results, video ads, and a lot more. They’re all great, but not all work for every business.
With these types of paid media, you can target a specific demographic, so you’ll only spend money marketing to people who are likely to buy from you. It expands your reach, generates more traffic to your business, and may lead to an increase in sales.
Paid search results strategies like Pay-Per-Click (PPC) put your business on the first page of Google search results. By combining that and SEO, your company can be the first thing people see in their search results when they’re looking for a product you offer. That increases the chances of them buying from you, and you’ll only have to pay for each click you receive.
Social media networks offer sponsored content or ad placements to increase brand awareness. Think of it like a special loudspeaker that lets more people hear what you’ve got to say.
Point-of-Purchase Marketing
The marketing strategies mentioned above may convince a customer to add some of your products to their cart. To go beyond that, they may need a little push to click the ‘Buy Now’ button. That’s a terrible point in the journey to lose a sale, but luckily there’s something you can do about it.
Understanding the customer journey can help you convince them to return to their abandoned cart and complete a purchase. A couple of things that influence a customer’s buying decision are:
- Offering them limited-time coupons or promo codes for a discount
- Sending them a better offer like an upgrade or a bundle package
Sales Channels
A sales channel is the method used to distribute a product. It bridges the gap between the manufacturer of the product and the customer who buys it. The distribution channel affects marketing decisions like the price, which in turn impacts sales.
The sales channel you choose also depends on your product. The two main types of channels are:
Direct Channels
With this channel, the product goes from your business to the customer through your stores, website, or app. There’s no middle man involved, so the price is usually reasonable and affordable.
Indirect Channels
When you use indirect channels, your products go to distributors or Value Added Resellers before they reach your customer. Usually, the middleman marks up the price so they can also make a profit from selling it.
The higher price might put off customers or attract more of them, depending on the positioning of your product. For example, stocking in high-end shops only indicates that you offer quality products, which might entice customers who prefer that over affordability.
Conclusion
Marketing strategies make it easier to promote products and services and grow your sales. The ones listed above help you focus your marketing efforts to your target audience for better results. You can use one or all to increase your sales online and advance your business.
