While you spend money on website management, content creation, hiring, vendor management, and more, advertising is yet another important section where you should invest to increase your eCommerce sales. 

eCommerce advertising refers to placing content either online or offline. Usually, this content is paid for. Advertising enables your brand to reach people who have not heard of your business before. 

The main goals of advertising campaigns are to:

• Increase brand awareness
• Get more people to buy your products or services
• Get direct response from people, such as when people sign up for your app or your newsletter.

If your eCommerce goals align with those, keep reading to discover our eCommerce advertising tips!

Types of Advertising for eCommerce or Where to Advertise Your eCommerce

Search engines, websites, newsletters, social media networks, podcasts, chat, and instant messages are examples of online platforms for eCommerce advertising.

Offline resources are more traditional and include:

• Billboards
• Television and radio commercials
• Direct mail campaigns
• And so on.

Since there are various types of advertising strategies, what works for one eCommerce business may not work for another.

You should always test which advertising campaigns will work for you and measure your return on investment from both online as well as offline channels.

8 eCommerce Advertising Tips

Listed below are 8 tips to remember when it comes to eCommerce advertising.

Keep your advertising consistent across social media websites

Regardless of your platform, be it Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, promote your brand by posting ads frequently. People will soon begin to recognize your brand wherever they see it. 

This is the famous "brand awareness" your eCommerce needs.

Use good quality images

Images are one of the best ways to grab attention as it conveys the message easily and effortlessly.

• Use your brand logo and colors. This way, no matter where people see the image, they will recognize your brand. 
• Feature smiling and happy people using your products, as this helps to increase trust.
• Photo size is also important along with the text.

Don’t forget to include videos

These days, videos are becoming even more popular than photos on social media. Studies suggest that most people prefer videos better.

If you are just starting out and do not have much of a budget to spend on video marketing and advertising, don't worry. You don't need to be a professional, nor to hire one.

Using a good camera or even a smartphone, the proper lighting, a few props, and a tripod, you can make a video or even several videos for your eCommerce advertising campaigns.

Then, you can find a multitude of great online video editing software to polish your creation. If you don't know how to use the tool, YouTube tutorials are your friend!

Create separate campaigns for people who are familiar with your brand

Studies show that most of your website visitors (a whopping 98%) will not buy from your brand when they visit it for the first time.

Even if you are targeting the right people and have got a great ad, people will hesitate to buy from you if it is their first time. 

Therefore, if you know certain people have looked at your ads and might be interested in your product or service, you can create an advertisement that targets only them.

This is a great way to add customers. For instance, you can use a discount code that is valid only for a limited time. You can also create specific ads for abandoned carts and for upselling or cross-selling your customers.

Advertise across different marketplaces

Did you know that you can sell your products not only from your website but on other marketplaces like eBay, and Amazon? This is also a part of advertising, and what will define your success is choosing the right marketplace. 

• Look for markets where you know your customers are most likely to shop for your products, and also see what competition you have.
• Look at what products are already sold on those platforms.
• Once you are fully aware, you can consider putting out advertisements on those platforms too.

This way you will not be spending the majority of your advertising budget in one area and you can profit from other marketplaces as well.

Don’t forget to add reviews

Many people are encouraged to make a purchase based on the reviews from other customers. These could be either written or video reviews of a product.

Reviews will help to increase engagement and conversions, and more people will trust your e-commerce brand. 

Studies show that people are more likely to trust the content that other users post rather than what an influencer posts about their own brand or products.

User-generated content is 10 times more impactful on a customer’s purchasing decisions.

Start out small

When you first start advertising your eCommerce brand, avoid spending a huge budget all at once and only on one platform or strategy.

It is best to test one or two channels, gauge what is working, and then invest more. 

Are you generating more sales directly from your website or social media sites like Facebook and Instagram?

Keep a track of how your advertisements are interacting with your audience, and then proceed towards investing more in that area. 

Incorporate referral marketing

Referral marketing is when customers of a particular brand spread the word about the brand's products to their friends, family, and others. Referral marketing is powerful as there is the element of trust.

Offer incentives like discounts or coupons for spreading the word to others. For example, you can reward a customer that reposted your social media advertising post with a 10% offer on their next purchase.

By keeping the above eCommerce advertising tips in mind, you will surely be able to boost sales by reaching a larger audience and building brand loyalty.

With a little marketing boost, your products' quality will speak for themselves!