**** Viral marketing: Off the Internet, viral marketing refers to word-of-mouth, creating buzz, leveraging the media, or network marketing. Send e-mails to customers with an offer for a free small product of some sort and a $10 off coupon on subsequent referrals for each new customer they refer to the site that makes a purchase. The new customer will be offered a $10 off coupon code that can be easily transferred to the new customer via e-mail. New customers are then be offered additional incentives when they make their first purchase.
***** Content Strategy: What voice or messaging will you use in your copy? Will you have a blog, and if so, what will make it a destination blog in your industry? Will you have an on-site Resource section full of tips and how-tos? Will you be designing a user-generated content campaign, leveraging social media and customer stories? Who will write your content and how often?
Blog marketing: Set up a store-sponsored blog with commentary on the latest products; send product announcements/samples to leading blog commentators in order to encourage them to favorably mention products and the site in their blogs.
**** SEO: Organic visibility is crucial to the success of many eCommerce shops. What will your SEO strategy look like? Will you do it yourself or outsource it to a professional? If youre keeping it in-house, what tools will you be using and how will you be learning? What will your keyword strategy look like? Provide some information on the tactics youll use for on-site SEO (keyword research, metadata, content, category and product optimization, and technical elements) and off-site SEO. You can keep your off-site SEO section relatively brief, as the PR section will discuss most of the specific tactics youll be using during your off-site SEO campaign.
cody PR: How will you get the word out about your website and products? Will you offer products for bloggers to review or will you write guest posts? Will you be running any newsworthy campaigns or promotions? List a few blogs who would be your ideal target blogs in this section, too.
****Paid Search: If you are planning on running PPC (pay-per-click) ads, what does your budget look like? What sort of competition will you be looking at? Are you going to run a Shopping Feeds campaign as well? What about retargeting or banner ads? If you will be devoting resources to paid ads, explain why theyre a good fit for your business.
****Social Media: What platforms does your target audience use most frequently? Discuss each one in detail, including information about how you plan to engage your audience on that platform. An example could be: My target audience loves to share clothing and quirky products on Pinterest. Ill meet them on this platform by curating a number of boards that cater to their likes, working my dresses into the mix. I will also like, follow and otherwise engage with users who fit my target demographic.
Ideas; Create videos featuring products to post on YouTube and other video-sharing sites, encourage social shopping by providing discounts or other incentives; set up product pages for specific products on Facebook, and similar sites.
****Email Marketing: For many eCommerce shops, email marketing is a cornerstone; its nearly as timely as social media, but users will not have to navigate to your social media page or spot an ad to receive the information. How often will you update your new or returning customers on whats in store for your products? What additional copy will you include to entice them to read the email? How will you encourage email signups in the first place? How will you segment your email marketing list so that each group is getting the type of email most relevant to them? Will you use an e-mail vendor such as xyz.
Promotions: How often will you run promotions, and what type will they be? Will you be running any competitions on social media? List one as an example, or share your entire promotional calendar. How will you get the word out about these promotions?
****Customer Loyalty: How will you encourage repeat buyers? Will you be sending out a newsletter, creating retargeting ads or setting up a rewards program? Will you offer promotions to people who can get a friend to purchase your products? Are there exclusive deals for people who are in-the-know? Customer loyalty can be a key component in keeping your eCommerce business sustainable and having a loyal following will remind you why youre running this business in the first place!
