“We are not doing so well, so we are not going to spend all that much on marketing” is a phrase often heard from the mouths of companies’ decision-makers and entrepreneurs. We dare to argue that this approach is nonsensical: when the road gets rough, marketing is certainly not one of those things that should be neglected. Comparing marketing channels and tactics, critical evaluation, and optimization on the other hand is the right approach – especially when the marketing budget is limited.

1. Email marketing and automation

Email marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing and very cost-effective when done right. It pays off to use a professional tool that is user-friendly and works properly.

Purchase history is a good source of information for profiling webstore customers. By offering products, product categories and brands that interest the customer in your newsletter, you show interest in customers’ needs and improve the chances of your newsletter meeting its goals. With marketing automation, purchase history can be incorporated into the letter without continuous manual work.

Automation enables different kinds of trigger messages that help the customers to find their way into a webstore again.

Examples of webstore automation:

• Reminders based on search history
• Cross sell campaigns
• Shopping cart reminders
• Activation campaigns for passive customers
• Messages based on the customership

2. Press releases

Press releases are commonly seen as a communication channel that only larger companies use to give out information about events happening in these companies. It is, however, a communication channel worth considering even for a smaller webstore entrepreneur to gain visibility in the media. Even though press releases are less marketing-oriented in language and form, the same principles apply to them as to other marketing channels: it takes perseverance to succeed, quality content and the right recipients.

With long-term PR work a webstore can also be profiled as the expert in its field and get the media to show interest in its actions.

Examples of subjects for press releases

• New product category/retail agreement
• Product or service development
• Webstore development, expansion or internationalization
• Opening of a new location/showroom/distribution location
• Trade fair booth
• Different marketing actions, such as charity campaigns
• Articles on current topics

3. Search engine advertising

Google AdWords enables targeted adverts to show amongst organic Google searches. At its best AdWords advertising is very effective and can substantially increase the sales of a webstore. The goal of a webstore’s search term marketing is to have campaigns that can be ran with virtually limitless budgets. This is possible when the campaigns are so well optimized that their ROI (Return On Investment) is always positive.

A clear campaign structure, considered and polished ad copies, targeted ads (limited according to geography, language and device), taking advantage of remarketing and carefully analyzing and monitoring advertising help to make a webstore’s search engine advertising successful.

4. Mobile webstore

The amount of mobile users is increasing at a rapid pace. Therefore, a webstore that is mobile-friendly can reach a growing number of potential customers. Approximately a half of email marketing letters is opened with a mobile device and companies around the world are investing in mobile solutions. In certain target groups mobile use is proven to be very widespread, so when planning mobile optimization, analytics should be relied on. If a webstore’s target group mainly uses mobile devices, one of the best marketing strategies is the mobile-friendly webstore itself.

If the webstore is not mobile-optimized, this should be considered in marketing actions. For instance, in these cases it would be beneficial to limit mobile users out of search engine advertising because they would most probably leave the webstore right after clicking the ad.

5. Live chat

Customer service, needs assessment and influencing purchase decisions are more challenging in an online environment than in an actual store. Online service is often and unfortunately faceless and detached when the interaction between people diminishes. With a live chat, the sense of being present in real time with a real person can be brought into the service in an online environment.

For a webstore customer, a chat window is a direct channel to the customer service and many questions, that otherwise would not be asked, are in fact asked. Getting answers to puzzling questions increases the chances of a purchase.

LianaCommerce is a webstore platform developed by Liana Technologies. Technically advanced, marketing-oriented and mobile-friendly webstores are built on this platform that effortlessly integrates with numerous marketing tools.

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