Paid advertising is no doubt extremely helpful for a brand to scale up its business & revenue, but there are still a number of things that an e-commerce business should follow other than running paid advertisements to increase their sale & efficiency.
Use case: Even if you are spending 10 Lakh a month in digital ads but your brand is extremely new with zero awareness, zero social media base, etc, the statistics have it that you'll not be able to scale up your brand at least for some time being.
Below we've highlighted some of the best practices that you can follow other than running ads:
1. Maintain your social media handles:
This is a very important practice that every brand should follow. In this digital world where social media's presence is almost everywhere, it is important to make your identity & maintain it here on this platform.
You can consider posting at least once a day (that equals 30 posts a month). These posts should be good in terms of quality & engagement.
2. Raise social awareness through your posts:
Nothing beats a good engagement than running relatable content and raising awareness about something that is considered a taboo, a stereotype, public health concern, or just a toxic ritual.
If you're in the health & wellness industry, you have got a plethora of topics to do such posts.
-- If you're in the apparel or beauty industry, you can raise awareness on sustainable fashion, beauty standards, etc.
3. Brand Awareness Campaign on Facebook:
Run brand awareness campaigns directly from the ads manager other than running conversion campaigns. Give it a budget of 100-150 a day.
-- Through brand awareness campaigns, you can reach a broad target audience at a fairly low cost. You can then retarget conversion ads towards these very people.
The goal of brand awareness ads is to increase the recall of your ads among your target audience.
4. Reels: The powerhouse of reaching masses
The recently launched Instagram Reels is spreading like fire. Brands are making the most out of it. The more people you are reaching with your reels, the higher your chances that followers & engagement activities will grow.
5. Frequent giveaways/contest through your social media handles:
This helps in keeping the users engaged with the page & website. And thus, helps boosts brand awareness and brand visibility.
You can have contest clauses like the participants must follow your page to enter the contest or share your post in their stories for higher chances of winning the giveaway. This will boost your follower count & engagement rate.
6. Influencer Marketing:
Influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people, and organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field.
-- Influencers can be big or small. They charge on the basis of their followers' count and reach.
7. Share clients Stories through testimonials & reviews:
Customer testimonials give your business authority and offer your audience a sneak peek into the success they can expect if they engage with your business or purchase your product. It gives the audience a good clarity about your brand & product.
8. Email Marketing:
Email marketing is still among the most effective marketing channels. It is the act of sending promotional messages to people in mass quantities. You just have to have a good email ID list for prospective customers who would be interested to know about discounts, promotions, new arrivals, etc on your website. It is a great way to generate leads.
9. Before & After customer service:
A good & promising before, during, & after service helps in improving customer loyalty towards a brand and helps gain the customer's trust. It is beneficial in the long term as we are not only retaining the client but also increasing our customer base through referral marketing. For any good you do, you receive a lot of it in return.
10. Run promotion offers on your website:
By running frequent promotional offers on your website, you are making sure that users are constantly engaging with your brand. It should not always be a sale rather you can run 'Buy1 Get1', 'Spin the wheel to win coupons', 'First purchase Discount', etc.
11. Moment marketing:
Moment Marketing is when we keep up to date with new trends, news, etc & use it creatively to promote your product. Some of the brands who are an expert with Moment Marketing are Zomato, Fevicol, Amul India, etc.
12. Host flash sales:
A flash sale is an impromptu sale hosted by the brands for a short period of time. Unlike other festive sales & end of season sales where we have a specific time period, the flash sale can be hosted at any time during the year. Hosting such sales frequently keep your customers glued to your social media & website. They keep on looking at your website & social media pages to check about such sales. Thus, increasing engagement.
13. Implement reviews:
Reviews on the website help the customers gain higher trust in the brand. They feel more confident when making a purchase. The more reviews your product page has, the more content will be your customer. And thus, the higher will be your conversion.
-- Reviews with product pictures helps in building added confidence & trust.
14. Have a live chat option on the website:
Having a Live Chat option on the website helps you to solve your customer queries when they are still present on the website, & thus increasing the chances of conversion. It is the most effective tool to save the customer's as well as the business's time. The customers get a traditional store shopping experience if their doubts are getting resolved at the very moment on the website.
Last but not the least, A/B testing. What works for one brand might not work for you. Every brand is unique & we've to keep on testing and trying things until we figure out what's best for us.