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How to Promote your E-commerce Business

After you have built and set up your online store, the next step is to promote your products to your target audience. Traffic and conversion are two important things when it comes to e-commerce marketing.

You need to attract people to come to your website and provide them with an excellent shopping experience. Promoting your e-commerce business includes building brand awareness, spreading your message, increasing sales, and building brand loyalty.

In online business, there is no, “build it and they will come” scenario. Let’s look at the best tactics that successful online entrepreneurs use to sell their products effectively.

1. Upsell and Cross-sell your Products

When done effectively, upselling and cross-selling can help you acquire new customers. In this approach, you are giving options to your customers by comparing price points and additional value.

For example, if you are selling handbags, you will emphasize their differences from each other. Which one has a unique feature? Do they differ in leather material? Are there some handmade components, etc.?

In cross-selling, you are upgrading the product with additional accessories. For example, if you’re selling cell phones, you may offer earphones or phone cases at an additional cost.

2. Focus on Site Speed

Imagine going to a physical store and no staff is there to assist your inquiry. Surely, you will leave with disappointment. The same happens online. When people visit your store and it takes years for your product page to load, they will likely leave your site and find another store – your competitors.

Poor site performance creates unhappy customers. When a customer clicks through your store, and ends up waiting for the products and information to appear, you will lose the potential sale.

Plus, site speed impacts SEO. Google doesn’t like slow websites. This will lead your online shop to drop in desktop and mobile ranking. It will get buried deep in search pages and people won’t know that your business exists.

3. Social media

We use social media not just to communicate but also to look for products and services. In today’s world, establishing an online presence in social media networks is a must.

In an e-commerce business, you can display your ads and content on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok. Show off your products with good imagery and drive attention to your store.

Paid Ads

Paid Ads allow you to place advertisements in front of your target audience. Be careful in ad spending though. Start small and test different ad campaigns. Utilize photos and videos and adjust your tactics based on how well it performs and what results you get.

Organic

Organic is about social media activity that does not involve any paid promotion. Build an online following and drive engagements by interacting with your audience. Run contests and giveaways, optimize your social media profiles, and use hashtags strategically.

4. Use Videos

Videos can be more time-consuming to make than posting images and texts. But if you really want to boost your online presence and leverage your social media, videos are extremely important.

Short and engaging visual content converts better than static images. Share a demo of your product by highlighting its features, how to use it, and what value it gives to your customers.

5. Tap into Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing is one of the social media tactics that can garner attention and bring more sales. In this strategy, you connect with an influencer (celebrity, model, community) to promote or recommend your product to their audience.

These influencers have a huge following and can influence the audience’s purchasing behaviour. Make sure that you work with the right influencer and your brand aligns with their values. If you are selling cosmetics, tap beauty influencers and not food enthusiasts. Reach out to them and make a good deal – either paying them per Ad or offering a commission for every sale.

6. Building an email list

Most online entrepreneurs forget the value of email marketing. It’s very cost-effective and holds a specific value. Create email marketing campaigns for your existing customers and prospective buyers. Send a “welcome” or “thank you” email when a customer makes a purchase. Solicit feedback from your web visitors who doesn’t make a purchase and ask them how can you improve their experience.

Send regular newsletters to your subscribers and keep them updated with your latest products, promos, product tips, or giveaways. Build a drip campaign that is segmented according to your buyer’s interest and purchasing behaviour. By sending emails, you are building trust and making your customers know that you care for them.

7. Blog Posts

If you are managing an online furniture store, writing blog posts about “how to decorate your living room” can attract web visitors who are planning to improve their homes. Articles about your products make you more credible, making the visitors more engaged. Write unique blogs and target keywords in your niche. Blogs are great for SEO and they will help your website to get found in online searches.

Conclusion

Selling online without a marketing plan put into place is a recipe for failure. In this competitive online world, you must develop strategies to reach your audience and build a customer base. Stay consistent, be patient, and learn how to test and tweak marketing campaigns.

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Top 10 Dropshipping Tips Every Entrepreneur Should Know

The times where you have to drive to your local convenience store or to a city mall to buy products you need are declining. As technology advances, online shopping is on the rise.

Many entrepreneurs are taking advantage of this market trend. With most products and services available in just a click of a button, it makes the buying and selling process easier and more convenient. 

While physical stores expand their business online and other business owners create their own products, some entrepreneurs are riding the dropshipping model in the e-commerce business.

Because dropshipping is easy to start and requires less capital, millions of people are interested to try it. But even though you can sell items without dealing with products stock, it is not as easy as you think.

To make the most profit, you have to learn how to operate a dropshipping online store properly. 

Below are ten essential tips that you should know:

1. Find the Right Supplier.

All successful dropshipping businesses start with a reliable supplier. No matter how good your marketing is, if the quality of your product is poor, you will not get any customers and sales.

The problem is there are thousands of supplier options on the internet. Finding the right one can be a daunting task. It is crucial to find the right supplier who will help build your brand image by delivering high-quality products with good packaging and shipping time.


Drophippo is a reliable supplier which deals directly with manufacturers and takes the pain out of sourcing products from China. Their quality control and customer support are top-notch, leaving you without worries about your orders.

2. Avoid selling the same product.

Not because a certain product is trending, you will immediately want to sell it too. It’s a simple law of supply and demand. If many businesses and online sellers are selling the same “hot product”, the prices will go down because of the growing competition. 

As a result, your profit margin will become slim; and you waste valuable time and energy. Instead of jumping to the hype, pick a more sustainable strategy like a niche item with low competition and a decent profit margin. 

3. Price wisely.

Not because your products are lower in price than your competitors, customers will flood you. Underpricing your products will lead you nowhere in the long run. Consider your profit margin when pricing your products. 

Calculate marketing expense, staff, overhead, and other relevant factors. If your competitors are lowering their prices, don’t try to imitate them however tempting it might be. Also, don’t price ridiculously high as it will turn away your store visitors.

Pricing your products fairly by keeping them within the market value is the right way to go. Providing an excellent customer experience is also crucial to increasing sales. Factors such as swift customer support, hassle-free returns and refund policies, and personalized packaging lead to an enhanced customer journey. 

4. Focus on Niche Products.

One common reason why online business owners fail is they sell a wide variety of products. To be successful at dropshipping, it is important to research and study your niche. Instead of selling many products, try narrowing them down to the products that you are interested in.

Sell products that you are knowledgeable of. Let’s say you’re a mom who loves cooking. You can pick home and kitchen appliances as your niche. Since you understand your products, you can market them well.

Then, conduct market research on your niche and find products that have a good profit margin. A focused niche can give you an edge instead of products in random categories.

5. Use an e-commerce platform for your Dropshipping Store.

If a physical store is made up of brick and mortar, an online store is built on an e-commerce platform. Some of the popular options are Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, Wix, and Squarespace. Each of them differs in pricing, features, and capabilities so make sure to do your research before deciding on one. 

When choosing an e-commerce platform, keep these factors in mind:

  • Integration with distributor’s product feed: It allows you to automatically import products from your distributor to your store. 
  • CRM Integration: It allows you to connect important software to ensure a seamless workflow and process. 
  • Freight and Taxes Automation: It allows you to automate order checkout and guarantees trust and transparency to your customers.
  • Support: Whenever you encounter a problem or issue, the platform should be accessible for support 24/7 and be contacted through phone, email, or webchat.
  • Scalability: As your business grows, the e-commerce platform you choose should also grow. Does the platform charge more fees and additional costs as you expand? If so, consider other options.
  • Mobile-friendliness: Your e-commerce platform should be responsive to multiple devices as mobile shopping is on the rise. 
  • Security: Data security is one of the biggest concerns in online shopping these days. Make sure that your e-commerce provider has strong data security to safeguard customers’ data and information.

6. Optimize Product Descriptions.

A good product description makes use of high-quality images and detailed information about the product. To make your listing effective, use clear photos with a clean background.

When putting product descriptions, avoid copying the text provided by the manufacturer. Duplicating content affects SEO so if you want your website to rank higher in search engines, creating unique and relevant content is advisable. 

7. Create an amazing Offer.

Offers and deals can help your store stand out from the crowd. Special deals and bundles affect consumers’ buying behaviour. Saving motivates them to buy and the price advantage makes you shine out from the competition. 

This fundamental marketing strategy makes your customer see that you’re offering a great bargain and they’re getting more value from it. Utilize promotions and deals as well as upsells and cross-sells – anything that can persuade people to pull their credit cards out. 

8. Create a  Marketing Plan.

Most dropshipping business owners fail in this part. They found a reliable supplier, set up their online store, and just left it there – assuming that customers will magically come and buy their products.

Magic doesn’t happen in any business. You need to have a solid marketing plan to get your first order. Advertising drives your customers to your store so it’s vital to promote effectively.

In this digital age, you can take advantage of social media and online directories. Successful dropship merchants do not stick to one selling platform but utilize all resources available. 

You can market directly through your website or other channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, eBay, and other marketplaces. Create strategies on how you will reach your potential customers. You can try organic SEO and paid advertising to spread the message and let the world know that you exist.

9. Provide Excellent Customer Service.

Bear in mind that people buy online for the convenience it offers. This means that they expect a satisfying shopping experience from you. The best way to retain and attract customers is by providing customer interaction. 

Offer tracking information and be clear about the delivery times. Not being transparent to your customers and not addressing their concerns can lead to negative feedback and bad reviews. 

Always meet your customer’s expectations. Keep them up to date with what’s going on with their order, confirm shipping dates, receipts, etc., and build trust. Excellent customer service reflects your brand image, encourages repeat business and puts you on top over your competitor.

10. Don’t give up too early.

Dropshipping is not a sprint but a marathon. Starting an online business requires patience, dedication, and hard work. Many entrepreneurs enter the e-commerce business thinking that it is the easiest road to wealth yet most of them quit when bombarded with challenges. 

If you want to succeed as an online entrepreneur, you must learn how to face failures and disappointments. Dropshipping involves a lot of trial and error and only the brave ones with realistic goals succeed. 

When facing adversity, figure out the solution, learn new skills, and understand how the business works. Don’t throw in the towel early – all big businesses start small.

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Did your Facebook ad account just get banned? Frustrating, right?

Other Marketing Platforms that Work Best for Your Online Business

Did your Facebook ad account just get banned? Frustrating, right?
It’s natural to feel exasperated. You’ve been relying on Facebook to promote your products, get leads, and eventually drive sales.
Be calm. You should not feel it’s already the end of the world for you—or your business. You still have other options, namely Google Shopping, Shopify, and other social media platforms like TikTok and Pinterest.

Google Shopping
Of course, the very first thing that you will ask is this: Is it worth investing in Google shopping? Because it’s from Google—the search engine giant, there’s no doubt that the answer is YES. It can significantly help in marketing—and growing—your e-commerce business. However, you have to learn the right strategies.
To become one of the online businesses that are successful with Google Ads, you have to learn and eventually master:

  1. Google Ads creation
  2. Google Shopping campaign segmentation
  3. Search Engine Optimization or SEO (including use of keywords on your ads)
  4. Google Analytics (analysis of data then taking relevant action)
    Once you’ve learned this fully well, you’ll get to enjoy success in your online business.

TikTok Advertising
Many e-commerce business owners like you haven’t discovered the power of TikTok as a marketing tool yet. You may be asking now: Why TikTok advertising?
Why not? This social media app has been enjoying popularity, with 800 million active users worldwide. For this reason alone, it is a viable option for your e-commerce site. Aside from driving site traffic and generating sales, TikTok can help you promote new products and widen your reach.
The average engagement rate for TikTok among the more than 100,000 influencer profiles, according to Influencer Marketing Hub, is 5.3%, as compared with Instagram’s 1.1% and Twitter’s 0.3%. You may choose to post videos regularly or spend on TikTok advertising.

Shopify
Being able to create a ‘storefront’ using Shopify offers a lot of help for your online business already. But it offers more—with its tools that let you manage and grow your company.
For one, Shopify has an online shopping cart that allows you to accept PayPal and credit card payments. If you run a small- or medium-sized business, this gives you the opportunity to already start selling online soon as you are able to create a merchant account on Shopify.
The reports and analytics provided by Shopify help you study the performance of your online store and your website. Moreover, this e-commerce platform helps you with Search Engine Optimization that lets your potential customers find you on Google and other search engines.

Pinterest Advertising
Pinterest is another social media platform where you can promote your e-commerce site. Pinterest ads or promoted pins work just like boost posts on Facebook. Those who are browsing on Pinterest can see your promoted pins basing on their past behavior. This means it connects you to people who are more likely to buy your products.
To be able to capture the attention of Pinterest users, your pins must be creative enough. Yes, it is the go-to for people who are looking for ideas and inspirations in cooking, fashion, handmade goods, home decor, and others. But, if you can get the creative juices in you, you’ll get lucky to use Pinterest in promoting your online business even if it does not belong in the above-mentioned categories.

DropHippo
Are you into the dropshipping business? Then DropHippo is the best platform for you. It makes your life as a business owner easier.
Dropshipping is already a big help for you because you do not need to have actual stocks of the products. Your third-party suppliers are even the ones who ship orders to your customers. But combining dropshipping with DropHippo, then things get more hassle-free. DropHippo processes customer orders for you. All that’s left for you to do is the marketing.
Market your products using Facebook and other online marketing platforms, including Pinterest, TikTok, Shopify, and Google Shopping.

As you discover these new online marketing platforms that can work for your e-commerce business, here are some marketing strategies that you can apply:

  1. Feature content that are user-generated.
  2. Team up with influencers.
  3. Introduce a loyalty program.
  4. Launch contests.
  5. Offer discounts.
  6. Use email marketing.
    You can boost your online presence and eventually sales if you are able to apply all of these and other marketing strategies that are known to work effectively.

Facebook is able to help online businesses like yours become successful even without a storefront. You can create awareness about your e-commerce website and your products without the need to pay for rent. You can actually transact business even from home or anywhere you may be.
Paying for ads makes it possible.
With Facebook banning ad accounts, it’s only natural for you to feel bothered. But you have other options while you are fixing your issues with Facebook. The marketing platforms—TikTok, Google Shopping, Pinterest, and others—can also effectively help you generate site traffic and drive sales. Start right now

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Top dropshipping niches to go for in q3 and q4 in the new styled 2020 by Drophippo.

The dropshipping world is always changing and expanding, so if you want to make it big, it’s important to know what people are looking for. That’s especially true when it comes to the last 2 quarters of the year. What type of niche is the most profitable one for q3 and q4 this year? Let’s find out!

Home gaming setups

Due to the lockdowns all over the world, people are stuck in their homes and have more free time. This will continue during the year in many locations, so home gaming is a great niche example. It’s a very large niche, since you can focus on gaming components, chairs, mounts, cases and so on.

Gifting

We at Drophippo.com suggest you to prepare for the holidays with the gifting niche. This one is very good most of the year, since a lot of people want to find gifts for various occasions. With that in mind, you can try to sell seasonal gifts for a better experience and more comprehensive results.

Home Gym equipment

The lockdown is also influencing how people are working out. During the last 6 months of 2020 you will see more and more Shopify websites that sell home gym equipment. People love to buy this type of products since they want to stay in shape despite social distancing. That makes this niche a great one for any dropship enthusiast.

Sleep niche

It might sound strange, but the sleep niche is growing quite a lot late 2020. People focus more on their health with this pandemic, so things like healthier pillows, anti snoring devices and just about anything related to sleep end up being great sellers.

Shelving and organization

Since people have more time on their hands, it makes sense that they would organize and clear up stuff that they don’t use anymore. That’s why one of the dropshipping trends right now is to sell organization items and shelving, since they are a hot product. You can go with the themed units if you want to stand out and help people decorate wisely.

Creator tools (for YouTubers, vloggers)

A lot of people started creating their own content, so buying creator tools is common. These can be anything from cameras to lighting systems, even digital content creation products can work very well. You can be as creative as you want here.

Gadgets

Gadgets are great as gifts, but they also end up being very easy to use and can help people during their day to day life. You can focus on specific gadget categories for your Shopify dropshipping website if you want. This includes kitchen gadgets, office gadgets or even spy gadgets. Or you can go with a more generalized gadget dropship site if you want.

Conclusion

There are lots of amazing niches you can focus on for your dropshipping website in late 2020. It all comes down to figuring out which ones are the best option for you based on your own preference. You can make quite a lot of money if you pick the right niche, so take your time, prevent any rush and if you keep at the testing you will be impressed with the results.

Kev

DropHippo.com

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Shipping updates and more…

Hey everyone, I hope you and your families are safe, healthy and well after what was a difficult set of circumstances for everyone due to the Covid Pandemic. The last 3 months have been a test for us all. From health, family, business and now adjusting to a new “normal” until the virus has been eradicated. We have some great news about the shipping and features of the app to share with you all. We are now seeing a big difference in delivery times in most countries, though some are still struggling to work through the backlog of orders (Canada and Australia Customs were backlogged due to the sheer amount of orders and less staff) we are seeing things get back to normal now thankfully. Below I have listed a select few countries we are seeing a huge difference in delivery times.

As we move into the second half of 2020 we have hopefully seen the worst of the Covid Pandemic and we are doing some big upgrades to our application. We are adding what we think is essential to be able to make your life easier but we have also taken action and made some changes due to your valued feedback from our recent surveys. The main difference in the app that you will see in the next couple of weeks will be the removal of having to accept manual orders as our app will automatically pull and sync orders that you would like us to fulfill. Now you can pay in the app for orders that you have made so no more exporting order sheets! This will save a massive amount of time, both for us and your staff, and will ensure that tracking is automatically updated and orders fulfilled in your store. We are also proud to announce that we are Payoneer VIP partners and can accept payments to our Payoneer account if that suits you better. If you would like to know more about this please reply to this email and we will tell you more.

Stay Safe everyone. ⁠

Kevin & Stefan⁠
DropHippo⁠

#feedthehippo

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5 Free courses to Enhance your Knowledge on lockdown

We had done a live Instagram video last week but it cut out and didn’t record. So here is my best attempt at ensuring i covered all points and answered all your questions.

Enjoy

DropHippo Team

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$1 Million Dollar Product

We’ve had our first MILLION DOLLAR SELLER on the app recently and best of all, they managed to get sales in excess of $1M using a product that was meant to be saturated!

How were they able to sell a product that was already saturated and selling millions of dollars worth elsewhere? Well, it simply comes down to the mindset of the seller. Rather than say “Damn, I wish I thought of that” they thought “I will get a piece of that action”. It’s no secret that the product that they sold has been seen elsewhere however they were able to turn an apparently saturated product into a 7 figure winner using cold traffic i.e. launch using interests rather than Lookalike Audiences.

So, what is the product? It’s a Blackhead Cleaner that is available on our app! Oh, and there’s also several upsells on our app that you can also use to bring your average order value up and boost your profits.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that a product is not worth running – just think of everyone who made a fortune on the Fidget Spinners as proof that the “I’m not doing it” mentality is bad not just for you but for your business.

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UK Fulfilment Centre

Hey everyone, Stef and Kev from DropHippo here with some awesome news for those of you who sell in big numbers in Europe.

We are proud to announce that we now have our own Distribution Centre in London that opened this week. This means that you can now ship pallets of your winning products straight to our Distribution Centre ready for next business day dispatch to Europe. We also have a Fulfilment Centre in the USA too if you are scaling in America.

Best of all there’s absolutely no storage fees for the first 6 months. That’s right – we can offer you something that even Amazon can’t – free storage!

With our Distribution Centre all you need to do is pay a small $3 picking and packing fee for each order and you also have the ability to include your personalised inserts so you can promote other products, add a thank you note or offer your customers a discount etc to take your brand to the next level.

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How to create and grow a profitable store

You’re Fed up with your 9-5 job and you’re seriously thinking of launching your dropshipping business to ensure your financial independence? It is time for you to make goals of your dreams and step towards their achievement. The good news is that you neither need to invest too much money, nor to seek help from experts. And with more and more users shopping online, you have no excuses to delay your entrepreneurship plans.

To help you start, we created this blog post where we share with you the best tips you can use when creating your store, starting from the platform and sourcing choices and ending with the decision-making.

 

 

How to create your online store?

Before you start thinking of what website builder you’ll need to choose, you should decide first what to sell. Things are easier when you already have a niche you’re passionate about. You’ll only need to focus on the products you’ll sell within your niche, and that users are more likely to buy. Click here to learn more about how to find winning products.

Now that you made your choices, you can move to the next step and start creating your online store. The best way to build it is by using ecommerce platforms. These are software solutions that are available online and which help you build your store with almost no IT skills requirements. You’ll only need an innovative idea, a laptop and a good internet connection.

There are plenty of ecommerce platforms on the web. However, the best amongst them and the one we would highly recommend for its reliability, ease of use and large community is the following:

  • Shopify: A complete ecommerce platform where you can easily create your website, customize your store and manage your different business processes (inventory, payments, shipping…). The good news is that you can run your business from anywhere as long as you have good internet connection. In fact, the platform supports multiple languages and payment gateways.

Shopify offers a 14 days trial for free with no credit card required, and you can choose the pricing plan that suits most your business by the end of the 14 days.

After you sign for Shopify, you’ll need to decide about the pricing plan you’ll go for, a basic one will be good as you’re a beginner. You’ll then need to get a domain name (Shopify offers its services for 10USD to 20USD per year), then pick a suitable ecommerce template and personalize it, add your products to your website and finally set up your payment methods and shipping settings. Don’t forget to preview your store and test it before you publish it.

 

How to best source your products?

There is a various choice online, but before you decide what directory you’ll opt for, consider the following criteria:

  • Make sure that the supplier you choose is trustworthy and that the products they offer are of a good quality. Read other customers’ reviews to decide.

  • Pay attention to products diversity the supplier you chose offers. If you’d like to sell large variety of products, your supplier needs to have a large inventory at his disposal.

  • Don’t ignore your supplier’s return policies. In fact, running a business means also that you’ll probably have to deal with return issues. So, make sure your supplier’s procedures are in line with your business strategy.

  • Opt for the supplier who has the shortest delivery time. The sooner your customers receive their orders, the better for all.

Remember that your supplier is your business partner. Hence, building a good relationship with him is a must.

Drophippo proudly responds to all the criteria mentioned above and even more. Click here to discover why we are the ones to choose to best source your products.

 

How to best take decisions?

Your business growth is closely tied to your decision making. Thus, being careful when acting is a must. Fortunately, Google puts at your disposal its web analytics service to help you take your decisions based on factual data rather than making choices based on assumptions, while planning your growth strategy. In fact, thanks to Google Analytics, you can easily track your store’s traffic and know how many users have visited it, where they are from and how do they behave while on it.

Find here the complete guide Google created to help you better exploit its web analytics service. Note that you need to have a basic HTML knowledge to use it. If not, let your webmaster do the job.

Besides, signing for Shopify means you automatically have access to their Shopify Analytics. This service provides you with an overview dashboard, a live view, key financial reports and acquisition, behavior and marketing reports. You can access more reports if you upgrade your pricing plan. For instance, the overview dashboard provides you with the following metrics: Total sales, online store sessions, returning customer rate, online store conversion rate, average order value and total orders.

 

5 common mistakes to avoid

  • Thinking that all you need is to create a store. There’s too much work to do before, when and after you create it if your aim is a sustainable business.

  • Selling bad-quality products to cut the prices. Disappointing customers will only have disastrous consequences.

  • Not using metrics to make decisions is a huge mistake. If your assumption worked once, it surely won’t always.

  • Not setting a relevant marketing strategy and integrate a good social media plan to drive traffic.

  • Having an online presence with no SEO strategy. It’s like sailing in the ocean with no destination.

 

As a summary, to create and grow a profitable store, choose Shopify as your website builder and take advantage of its easy-to-use features and functionalities. Allow Drophippo to take care of the sourcing part, we have a various choice of good quality products, we replace or refund if the product is defective and we have short delivery time. Finally, Use Shopify Analytics and Google Analytics to make all your decisions based on factual data not on assumptions. These tips are given to you by our former dropshippers at Drophippo based on their fruitful six years of experience, so make sure you take them all into account.

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Best ways to market your dropshipping products

If it has been a while since you launched your Dropshipping business and it’s still struggling to take off, then you surely need to reconsider your marketing strategy, assuming you initially have one. If not, then waste no more time and make of it your focus for the next coming days.

In fact, with the numerous marketing channels at your disposal, you might find it difficult to choose the ones that are likely to work for your business, especially as what successfully worked for others might not have the same results for you. Hence, it is essential that you carefully plan your promotional strategy to drive traffic to your store and consequently boost your sales. Fortunately, most of the available digital channels are affordable, and you don’t need to hire an expert to use them.

In this article, we are going to outline three online promotional channels that are essential to your businesses success:

 

Pay Per Click Marketing (PPC Marketing)

These are a set of marketing channels for which you can start with low budgets and only pay when users view or click on your advertising posts. It is a method you’d choose if you’d like customers to know about your product in the short term. It is available on all social media platforms and Google offers its services as well. So, as an advertiser, you create your ad and you set a budget, then you launch the promotion. Targeting options depend on the purpose of your promotional campaign and the channel you use. For instance, your targeting options are keywords if you use Google, and interests if you rather opt for Instagram or Facebook. The promotional post appears on the top search results in the first page of Google’s search engine while it appears on the users’ news feed in Facebook and Instagram. Using those channels doesn’t require an experts help as each one has clear guidelines explaining how to set your promotional campaigns.

Here are some tips on how to use each one of the PPC channels:

  • Facebook: Promoting your Dropshipping business can be done in two ways through this channel. It’s either you use your personal account, in which you can get free traffic thanks to the relevant content you create and post on your account, or share in various communities related to the niche you’re working in. Or create a business page where you most of the time post interesting and engaging content, and rarely share promotional posts. In fact, too much advertising can have negative impact too.

  • Instagram: This channel, owned by Facebook, counts over a billion users and offers a huge base of potential customers. To promote your business using Instagram, you need to start by posting relevant and unique content. Then, you can think of creating giveaways where you invite people to interact in return of a reward. You also might look for cooperation with influencers who operate in your niche. Finally, automated tools that interact – like or comment – with other users’ posts might help to attract attention to your account. Remember that it is necessary that you create a professional account before you start any promotional campaign.

  • Google AdWords: It is undeniably one of the most powerful marketing channels. In fact, the first thing that comes to a users mind when they want information about a product they need is Google. Appearing on top of the search results – whether in the form of simple text ads or in one of shopping ads with the image of the product and the price mentioned – will certainly help increasing traffic to your store and consequently your sales. Don’t neglect the step of keyword research to have a clear idea of the terms users look for.

Here’s a piece of advice you should consider before you start your PPC marketing strategy in social media: you need to well-feed your profiles with accurate and relevant content to catch your visitors attention and keep them interested and coming back for more.

 

Search Engine Optimization

This is not a marketing method that we would advise you to use if your aim is making a quick profit. It is indeed the slowest one you can use for your business promotion and it requires patience to see the fruits of your labor. Besides, with Amazon spending its billions of dollars budgets on advertising and huge marketing teams to appear on the top results for any product a user might type into Google search engine, having good search results seems to be impossible. However, you need to use it anyway if you would like to build a long-lasting business. Start by learning SEO basics and think of creating a blog where you share content with keywords that are related to your niche. Again, it will take some time for your content to be detected for some keywords, but don’t give up or try to take shortcuts. Be patient and remember to keep SEO in mind while writing product descriptions, blog and social media posts, titles etc, and if you decide to create a website, make sure that it’s SEO friendly and can easily be scanned by search engines.

 

Email Marketing

Emailing is another efficient marketing method that amazingly contributes to increase online sales if used correctly. You first need to expand your list of subscribers. For this, you can use pop-ups to offer discounts or free samples to users who land on your blog or on your store. Once you have created your list of subscribers, you should think of the way you’ll write your emails so that customers get interested and they don’t end up in the Spam folder. In fact, simple messages proposing offers to buy items are unlikely to draw attention. Consequently, writing attention-grabbing emails is a must! Here are some tips that will certainly help you:

  • Choose a simple but appealing subject, users should easily understand your message and feel it is important that they read your email.

  • Start your email with accurate and relevant information and show it along with the subject line.

  • Pay attention to the words your use for your emails. They should be convincing and call users to action.

  • Design your emails in a pleasant way, users are very attentive to the finest of details.

 

Hippo’s top tips

  • Add your happy customers’ testimonials, ratings and reviews to your store. This is a great method to build trust!

  • Retarget potential customers. In fact, most of the users who land in your store won’t buy on their first visit.

  • Users see blogs as a reliable source of information. Start one in which your share content that is related to your niche and use it to drive traffic to your store.

  • Join Facebook groups that are related to your niche and share interesting and relevant posts to catch attention.

  • Work with influencers to reach large fanbases and drive traffic to your store.