This is the fifteenth and final post in a blog series about how to launch an eCommerce business years 1-3. You can view the previous week’s post, “How Facebook Stole Christmas: A Cautionary Holiday Tale” here.
Creating a new eCommerce brand is difficult; making it to year three is almost impossible. The brands who do survive for 3+ years have proven their worth and have likely found some advertising tactics that work well for them.
If you’re a 3+ year business heading into 2023, you may be tempted to fall back on what’s worked in the past and avoid rocking the boat. But we highly suggest you fight the urge to play it safe. After all, the hallmark of a successful business is steady growth and continuous learning.
Chances are, what worked for you in 2022 won’t continue to work indefinitely. By constantly testing and adjusting to the market and your customers, you’re securing your business from disruption and opening up new avenues for success.
Here are few clever marketing tactics that you can try in 2023 to make sure your business continues learning and growing:
1. Implement at least 3 to 8 advertising tactics.
We’ve seen it over and over again: A company has success with one ad tactic, so they go all in, thinking their profits will only grow. Then when something inevitably changes, either to the tech or the market, they’re entire business is at risk (Learn more about how a change to Facebook’s algorithm brought the hemp industry to its knees in 2020 in our previous blog post).
Always, always use more than one ad strategy for generating revenue. We suggest finding a healthy mix of organic (free) tactics and paid tactics.
2. Start utilizing scarcity (only 3 left!) and other clever motivators
At 3+ years, you’ve likely educated your audience on the value of your product and probably experimented with some seasonal deals, coupons, and price drops. But what about other clever motivators, such as scarcity? What about bundling (encouraging customers to buy certain items together for a better value or to meet a specific need)? Are there ways that you can contextualize your product to speak to the moment / what’s going on in the world or your industry right now?
It’s worth your time to explore other motivators besides money or the core benefits of your product to give your business that extra edge over competitors.
3. Establish a money-back guarantee and/or a customer pledge
Many businesses are hesitant to offer a money-back guarantee or commit to a set of standards for fear that customers will abuse that goodwill down the line. But showing that you’re committed to customer happiness, even if it comes at a temporary loss for you, will go a long way toward establishing trust and often generates more revenue by setting customers at ease.
4. Create premium content (explainer videos, testimonials, infographics, etc.)
In the age of the internet, where all manner of photos and videos are at our fingertips, you can get away with using stock images, Google reviews, and videos to populate your website and social accounts. But there’s a lot to be said about generating your own content once you’re financially stable enough to justify the expense.
Investing in well-produced videos, testimonials, and quality content that’s specific to you will elevate the look and feel of your brand and ensure that your content meets the needs of your audience.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
Starting an eCommerce business is like building a rocket in your garage and expecting it to take you to the moon—it might not work, and even if it does, there’s a good chance you’ll get hurt along the way.
The good news is you’re not the first person crazy enough to try this. There are many others (myself included) who have tried, failed, and tried again. By learning from our many (many) mistakes, you can launch an eCommerce business that makes it safely to orbit and beyond.
In this blog series, we gave you a step-by-step guide to creating and launching your eCommerce business years 1–3. We went over how to create a functional brand, set up your website, and develop an advertising strategy that scales with you. We went through the various pros and cons, so that you can feel empowered to make the best decisions for your business.
My name is Chris Franks, and I’m the founder and CEO of CleverFunnel, a digital marketing agency that focuses on using straightforward, data-driven strategies to drive real results for our clients.
I’m also an avid lover of indie music, fly fishing, baseball, and sunscreen (although that’s more of a genetic necessity). I wrote this with the hope that my story could help other young entrepreneurs achieve their goals, without losing their savings (or their sanity) in the process. If any bit of this helps you, it’ll have been worth it.
