Coming up with a strong product idea is no small feat, yet the work doesn’t stop there. As the second half of this ecommerce equation, you still have to promote your new offering.
And let’s face it: even if you’ve got the most amazing product or service on the market, without effective promotion, you risk missing out on sales and losing money.
But don’t panic, this blog post has you covered. Today we’ll delve into why product promotion is essential and explore ten proven strategies to boost your store’s sales and ramp up your revenue. So, without further delay, let’s dive in.
Why is product promotion important?
Why should promoting your ecommerce products be a priority? For one, when a business is offering the same products or products similar to yours, it is promotional strategies that will help differentiate your products and generate sales.
Furthermore, the process of marketing your products allows you to collect and break down key information, such as general market trends, your customers’ consumption patterns, and pricing structures that work more often than others, etc.
Additionally, another huge advantage of promoting your product’s in this digital age is that you can use online platforms. Now more than ever, these platforms allow you to be more visible on the web, ultimately resulting in better visibility for your brand.
10 ways to promote your new product offerings
Before we explore the strategies below, let’s set the record straight: product marketing isn’t one-size-fits-all, meaning it’s not realistic to claim that a single method will work universally for every product. Instead, what we can generalize is the importance of understanding your products, your customers, and your market.
This knowledge is key to identifying the most effective methods for your business and driving sales. Now, let’s dive into these 10 strategies. Take a close look and consider which ones align best with your overall promotion strategy.
1. Create a customer loyalty program
In terms of brand relationships, 71% of customers say loyalty programs form an integral part of them. These loyalty programs, which may be free, paid, or both, work by offering special benefits to subscribers.
For the most part, paid programs require consumers to pay a membership fee to unlock several perks and exclusive offers. Whereas, unpaid loyalty programs offer points for every purchase the customer makes and for completed actions such as sign-ups.
Program members can then save these points until they have enough to redeem for another item of value. As an ecommerce store owner, using loyalty programs can be effective because they give customers a clear incentive to return to your store.
2. Promote with introductory offers
If you’re ready to launch a new offering, rather than just announcing it, make it available as part of a limited introductory deal. An introductory offer simply refers to a special low price you charge for a new product but only for a limited period. You can promote these deals with different incentives, including:
- Discount pricing
- Buy one get one free
- A coupon or voucher with the purchase
- A bundle with complementary products
- A gift for every referral
With introductory offers, it doesn’t really matter what your promotion incentive is. As long as it is relevant to your customers, just emphasize that the offer won’t last long. This is because customers who have limited purchase power either by inventory or time will feel a sense of urgency to purchase when they see a limited deal.
3. Write blog posts
When promoting a new service or product, you might not have to make a new landing page, for example, when the new offering is simply an upgrade to an existing service. In this case, your goal may not be to get more customers but to engage existing and dormant customers.
Hence, creating a blog post where you introduce the new service to readers is an effective product promotion idea. However, even if you do have a dedicated landing page, you can still leverage blog posts to generate a buzz about your new product and give potential customers more info about the offering.
If you’ve just launched a new product or service, or you’re planning to, consider sending out a blog post where you go into depth on all the details, benefits, and features you would otherwise include on a dedicated landing page.
Also, include how it differs from other products and say why that should matter to the customer. Afterward, publish it on your blog then share the blog post link via your social media channels or emails if you do email marketing.
4. Host a virtual event
Virtual events are a great way to gather participants in your industry in one spot to talk about your products. By hosting such an event, you can also leverage the platform it provides to promote a new service or product in front of relevant audiences in your industry.
Furthermore, hosting virtual events on your social media pages will also channel a lot of traffic from other businesses to your page, which ultimately results in more reach and engagement. In particular, here are some ideas for hosting a virtual event:
- Host a Facebook live where you demo the product and highlight its features
- Host a live question and answer session on the product
Pro tip: While virtual events are often more convenient and cost-friendly, there’s no hard rule stating you can’t hold a physical event. These events don’t have to be fancy and meticulously organized.
Rather, you can host something as simple as an info session in a facility that is relevant to your offerings. For example, if you sell gym wear, you can rent a gym for the duration of the event. Likewise, if you sell hair care, you might use a salon.
5. Practice cross-selling and up-selling
When done right, up-selling and cross-selling are subtle yet effective ways to boost store sales and increase the average value of orders. To give a little background, cross-selling is when you ask customers to buy a complementary item along with their primary purchase.
You can put this into practice by displaying related items on your checkout or cart pages. Whereas, up-selling is when you encourage customers to buy a related product that is more high-end.
Unlike cross-selling, it’s more effective to upsell by displaying your offer on the product pages before the customer has committed to a purchase. According to Shopify, cross-selling and up-selling are built on the idea that when you have a compelling product and offer, 10% to 20% of your customers will be willing to spend a lot more than your average shopper.
With this in mind, the key to successful up-sell and cross-sell suggestions is to understand your audience and what they want so you can offer the right suggestions.
6. Collaborate with influencers
Have you ever seen an internet personality with a huge account and lots of followers post about a product they like and then offer a unique discount? That’s influencer marketing at work.
Though it’s a relatively new concept, influencer collaborations are a great way to get the word about your products in front of relevant audiences very easily. You simply pick out influencers in your niche, ask them to talk about your product and offer them something in return such as money or more commonly free products.
You can also get them to generate a hashtag to promote your product. If you’re looking for ideas, here are some ways you can hire influencers to promote your product:
- Product unboxing videos
- Product review/experience videos
- Promo codes
- Giveaways and contests
Choosing the right influencer is up to you and what you think will resonate with your audience. Whatever you do, however, make sure you pick a relevant influencer who is involved in your niche, has a decent number of followers, and is preferably loved by certain people in your target audience.
7. Use Google My Business promotions
Provided you have a Google Business account, there are several ways you can promote your new product or service using Google My Business. The first is using Google business posts and the two main post types are What’s New and Offers.
If you’re announcing a new service or product, it would fit best with What’s New. With this option, you can upload pictures of your product for people to view and click on.
However, remember that posts under the What New category expire every seven days so you will have to repost when they’re gone. On the other hand, if you’re offering time-bound discounts it’s better to post your products under the Offers posts.
There you’ll simply upload pictures and prices of products so customers can place orders. Regardless of the post type you’re using next, ensure to include high-quality photography and a convincing CTA so your promotion works effectively.
8. Run a social media contest
When organized correctly, social media contests can be a fun way to connect with existing customers and gather new fans or followers.
For example, it’s estimated that the average Facebook contest brings in 34% new customers per campaign, which is good news for Facebook marketers as these contests are a great way to counter the platform’s low organic reach.
As far as organization is concerned, the winner of your social giveaway or contest should win the opportunity to be the first to get their hands on your new offering and get it free or at a discounted price.
Additionally, remember to announce the event across all your marketing channels and not just the platform you’re using to host the main campaign. These include all your social media platforms, email newsletters, your website and even paid ads.
By doing so, you generate more excitement among potential customers, leading to increased engagement with your social media accounts and the opportunity to put your business in front of new customers.
9. Leverage email marketing
Email is a lifeline for spreading the word about your products and more importantly connecting with shoppers who are already familiar with your brand, either by visiting your store or completing a purchase in the past.
In the context of promoting a new product and as far as execution goes, you can launch an email campaign specifically for your new offering, most commonly a series of emails that build up to launch day. Or you might announce it as the focus piece of your next newsletter.
This email or emails could go out to your general audience or you can make it subscriber/customer exclusive in support of method to more tips for optimizing promotional emails.
- Refer to the product in the subject line so readers notice it quickly. Within the body of the email, also share information about the product, its big benefits and how to purchase it.
- Grow your email list by incentivizing sign ups through lead captures on your website (value in exchange for personal information i.e a discount code or ebook for their email etc) and by promoting it on your social media channels.
10. Run Facebook ads
With over 1 billion daily active users, Facebook is a window to a large base of people who will be interested in your new product or service. Facebook ads are particularly useful because the personalized data gotten through users’ profiles enables unbelievably specific audience targeting.
Facebook, which boasts over 3 billion billion monthly active users, opens a lot of possibilities for your business. Thanks to its ultra precise targeting tools, from Facebook Custom Audiences to Video Behaviour Remarketing and more, it’s no wonder over 200 million businesses use Facebook to reach their audience.
As a Facebook ad marketer, you can factor in gender, age, location, interests, marital status, profession, and more in your campaigns —ensuring you’ll get the most bang for your buck.
Facebook also offers several options for ad type, budget, and duration of campaign, so you can accommodate your goals within your means.
Final Thoughts
With that we’ve reached the end of this guide. By following one or any combination of the above methods, you can effectively spread the word about your product and convert sales.
But as you do so, remember the best ways to promote your new product or service will depend on what social media channels your target audience frequents and what their online behaviors are.
