If you’ve ever looked at your sales figures in dismay before furiously googling “how to promote Shopify store products,” then you’re not alone. Everyone wants greater brand recognition, better ROI for marketing activities and time invested, and more sales overall. But how do you make it happen?
The good news is, the marketing tactics for a Shopify business are much the same as for any other. There’s no magic marketing bullet. Rather, you should rely on the same strategies that business owners have used for decades.
For instance, you want to keep your current customers happy, since research shows that “over 50% of Shopify stores receive recurring customers.” And since Shopify has reached impressive market penetration (currently “32,181 Shopify Plus stores across 175 countries as of 2023,”), you’ll have all the customers you could ever need as long as you promote your shop in a smart manner.
Today, let’s take a look at some of the highest-priority strategies to consider, as well as some of the benefits of intelligent Shopify store promotion. We will also give you a tool that can help you skyrocket your sales if used right.
Ready? Read on.
Again, the benefits of promoting a Shopify store are much the same as those of any other online store or brick-and-mortar establishment. When you use the right marketing strategies, you will see outcomes such as:
Hopefully this answers the question of why you should promote your shop. In the next section, we’re going to tackle the question of exactly how to do it.
You’ve scrutinized enough infographics, responded to enough webinar offers, consumed enough quality content marketing, read enough demographic research, and followed enough entrepreneurs to know that marketing ain’t easy. That’s why there’s so much dang content out there to help beginners learn marketing strategies, after all.
What you may not have realized is that each time you consumed those items, you were building a relationship with the brand that provided it. Chances are good that at least some of the time, you clicked on a pop-up, checked out an e-commerce website, or subscribed to a mailing list along the way ... and then those brands shared every new guide and tool they’ve published since then.
That’s what you want to do with your customers as well, so let’s take a deep dive to see exactly how this works so you can gain new customers, keep them engaged, and positively promote your own e-commerce store.
Social media platforms are ripe for finding your target audience, which is why social media marketing is one of our favorite Shopify strategies. From TikTok to Insta and YouTube to Facebook, social media ads and organic posts are excellent ways to get your products to the masses. Using popular and trending hashtags in your posts can help expand organic post reach, so be sure to do some quick research to get relevant hashtags in your posts.
Store owners using social media for the first time (professionally speaking) often feel overwhelmed, however. The best approach is to start slow, use just one platform for your biz until you’re comfortable, then branch out from there.
Another of the best online marketing strategies to promote your store is email marketing. With an email list in hand, you’ve got a great way to drive people to your e-commerce business whenever you need an influx of cash.
Start by creating email marketing campaigns, then drive people to them with signups on your main site, at the bottom of product pages, and on the Thank You page after checkout. Send coupons or early access deals regularly so that people get used to hearing from you. The more touches, the more likely they are to buy.
Paid ads aren’t anyone’s idea of a good time. It’s right there in the “paid,” and when there are so many free strategies to try, you have to wonder if spending the money is really a good idea.
The truth is, though, that unpaid digital marketing can only get you so far. If you want to bring in more of your target customers, the old standbys like Facebook Ads and Google Ads (as well as other advertising platform options, like Instagram and TikTok) are pretty reliable. When you add in remarketing – showing ads to those who have already visited your site or social profiles – this becomes even more profitable.
If you’re wondering how to promote Shopify store items without spending too much, a little research can really help.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the best ways to increase the reach of your product listings. By using specific keywords, gaining backlinks, including meta descriptions, and improving your domain authority, you can get your website ranking at the top of the Google search results page for the terms your target audience is searching for. This puts your online business front and center for new prospective buyers.
In order to earn a high search engine ranking in your prospect’s Google search, make sure to do your keyword research well and target the most relevant keywords. That way, you’re not putting a ton of time and effort into terms that won’t pay.
While “influencer” has become a bit of a dirty word in today’s parlance, that reputation is unearned. Many influencers are deeply devoted to their audiences and want to bring attention to good products like yours.
In order to leverage influencer marketing most effectively, you can take a few approaches. For instance, you could:
All of these options can encourage influencers and “regular” users alike to promote your Shopify store items.
Everyone loves a deal, which is why reduced pricing, giveaways, seasonal promos, and email discount codes tend to lead to sales. Offering these deals via email or social posts can bring more shoppers to your store, increasing sales and justifying the slight discounts being offered. This cost-effective promotional method doesn’t require you to pay anything at all. Rather, you give up a slight revenue edge in order to move inventory and create happy customers.
If you want to learn about the best Shopify apps for coupons and everything else, we’ve created a great roundup of Shopify marketing apps.
Testing product pages and landing page designs is a smart way to tweak your promotional performance. Make small tweaks to your templates, page formats, offers and CTA text to see which works the best. Let your tests run for a few months (longer if you have lower site traffic) and take note of which variations win.
You can also test which of the best Shopify apps increase your sales the most.
You need high-quality product reviews; your customers need ... err, want ... free gifts and coupon codes. If you want to generate customer reviews for both new products and old, then offer incentives that will make people want to share.
For instance, you might offer free consultations for beauty supplies, a BOGO deal on bookmarks, or a percent-off coupon for cat care items. Offer these incentives via email post-purchase and watch as the testimonials come rolling in!
So now you’ve got more online shoppers arriving to your store and viewing your product pages. How will you capture their attention and encourage them to make the purchase?
Enter Product Options & Customizer. This app is the best possible tool to simplify your online store inventory, making it easy for shoppers to find the items they’re looking for, and customize them to their exact specifications. It helps you diversify your listings without squeezing a million products into one storefront. In a nutshell, it’s your all-in-one app for adding unlimited (yes, unlimited) customizations to each of your product pages. That way, you can promote endless varieties of merch to your customer base in a clean, orderly fashion – and leave the confusion of a billion listings to the amateurs.
For instance, instead of making a listing for each color and style of a specific T-shirt, you can now use dropdown menus, checkboxes and radio buttons, and color or image swatches to help your customers build the shirt they’re looking for right within the product listing. So now, when you promote one listing, you’re actually promoting every variation of that listing at the same time.
It’s like a million-for-one deal, all for one low monthly price and with a 14-day free trial. What do you have to lose? Sign up now and start promoting your store like a boss.
