The eCommerce industry is a never-ending industry and as per a survey by eMarketer, it will increase to $4.058 trillion by 2020. In this ocean of opportunities, Digital Marketing plays a major role.
Rightfully said by the business tycoon Bill Gates that "If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business."
Today every single thing in our day-to-day life connect with the eCommerce industry. Have a party plan and need a dress or a pair of shoes, guests are coming for dinner and you need to get groceries or feeling extremely hungry but no mood to cook.
I know you can relate to it, so tell me what comes to your mind when you met with these situations, of course, online order from an e-Commerce store.
And entering into this industry can turn into a fortune for anyone.
Earlier thinking of opening an eCommerce store required a warehouse to stock the products, enough capital to buy products, the estimated price, and of course more staff to maintain all the process.
A truly expensive and hectic process which directly refers to NO Cash, NO Business. In this case, the quote "Everything begins with an Idea" fails due to lack of resources and fund. But now things have totally changed as the technological advancements are taking place.
In today's era, new technologies and trends are opted by people at a breakneck pace. One of them is dropshipping. Odds are high that you have heard the term before, but in case you haven't stick to the guide, I will tell you precisely regarding this.
Is Marketing Important for Dropshipping?{Latest} Beginner's Guide To Dropshipping And Marketing To Make Money 2018
Digital Marketing is one of the core liabilities of drop shippers. How will you sell your product if no one knows about them? Why should people trust you? Here Marketing swoops in and makes you a hero with a cape. The magic is that it can make even strangers fall for you that they cheerfully hand over their hard-earned money to you.
Owning an e-Commerce store in this era is a dream for many of us. Entering into this industry is a fantasy and in achieving it the major hurdle anyone faces is the investment and fund requirement. Buying and selling in any type of business in e-Commerce involve the Internet. This industry solely based on the Internet and in this Digital Marketing impersonates an influential role.
For instance, you are playing football and the goal post is on the right side but you are making efforts on the left. In this case, all your efforts are vague right!!!
Exactly the same situation arises when you just create an e-Commerce store but do not market it. Due to the lack of marketing of products, you will not reach to the target audience and no one will know about your products.
Besides all this talking now let's take a look at the analytics, which shows that 37 million social media visit led to approximately 529,000 orders.
Marketing is just not a word it's the secret ingredient of your dish. There are a billion tactics that can be used to effectively market your brand to drive your sales up. With so many entrepreneurs jumping on this bandwagon, it's a competitive panorama out there.
So don't be chameleon when you can become a Komodo dragon, why to fit in when you can Stand Out. If you want your store to be unique and appealing then you need to give your venture credibility and endurance.
I think just words are not enough to describe that how rapidly this word is changing many people's life.
Google trends analytics will tell you further that Dropshipping is just not a word it is becoming the next e-Commerce trend.
Not only this, Dropshipping has over 301,000 monthly searches on the Google search engine
Isn't it INSANE?
After considering these figures, neglecting this topic is next to impossible. Now let's dive into the detail description.
Detailed Guide On Dropshipping And Marketing For The Beginner's July 2018
I know you have too many questions about this topic and don't worry you will find all the answers over here. As this is a newbie in the market everyone is wondering about it but I exactly know what you are looking for.
What is Dropshipping???
Let me reveal the secret of being a billionaire. It's not a rocket science that you cannot crack. Dropshipping is the best way to fulfil all of your will-o'-the-wisp.
It is not a new thing. Zappos began it in 1999 and many others such as Amazon also followed this model.
Do you know nowadays 33% of eCommerce industry uses Dropshipping model?
Let's simplify the term, dropshipping organize the sales as well as the delivery of the product between the customer and the manufacturer.
Dropshippers don't need any inventory or warehouse to manage, they just sell others products on their site and take their share of the purchase.
The rest of everything is taken care of by the supplier.
The process can be encapsulated as the merchant fulfils the order by placing an order for the same product from the supplier who sends it to the customer.
This kind of business model is very tempting as it eradicates the need of owning a physical space such as office space, warehouse instead it just needs a laptop with internet connection. How easy and awesome it is?? I can hear the sound of agreement.
Once the business is off the ground and gains a little traction, it can turn into a money-making machine. The best element dropshipping offers is that you can learn through testing your products in real time if something goes amiss or you are not able to manage all you have to do is remove it from your store.
No beforehand cost and very little risk make it an appealing way of doing business.
Why should you pick Dropshipping as an option?
I think after reading the above facts you really want to start your own dropshipping business, but the benefits of dropshipping are still remaining and I bet that it will surely tempt you to start doing it right now.
Let me tell you an honest story. I have read about drop shipping in 2017 and researches on the same for more 15 days. Yes, I wanted to be sure that this business model will make me earn money. Everyone loves extra money in hand to make their lifestyle better.
After researching 15 to 20 days I realized that it is truly a game-changing model to earn money and do not demand any additional capital investment and security.
I was tempted towards it and inaugurated my own eCommerce store. At that time this term was not so popular and even I was testing it as my part-time money making source but after some time I got the unbelievable results.
That day I decided that I will prepare a guide for those people who truly have the courage and excitement to shape their dreams into reality.
In addition to numerous advantages, the dropshipping model is remarkably resilient. Savour the delightful flavours of dropshipping offers.
- Being a drop shipper, you can control your margins. You are not bound to MSRP (Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price) and can decide the retail price on your own.
- Dropshippers do not require to be well-settled business entities before starting your online stores.
- The best benefit it offers is that you can offer an array of products because you don't have to pre-purchase the items you sell.
How to Find the Ideal Dropshipping Supplier?
- First, let your legal ducks in a row then think of contacting any supplier. Most suppliers ask you EIN number and also a copy of tax or resale certificate. So get set before contacting the supplier.
- Sort the products that you want to dropship and contact the original manufacturer is the easiest way to find a fitted distributor.
- Keep in mind that not every supplier will be willing to drop ship. The market is jumbled with the scams and frauds. Google can also lend you hand in finding dropshipping suppliers.
- Partnering with a wrong supplier can ruin your business. Therefore don't rush in this step.
- Sometimes your suppliers are located overseas in this case building communication is very important in terms of response speed and the ability to understand each other.
- Be certain that whether they have the ability to scale with you or not.
Don't Forget Marketing My Friends!!!
Unless you have been under a rock for at least the last decade, asking what digital marketing is, seems like a completely irrelevant question.
We all know about the digital marketing because it's ingrained in so many aspects of our daily lives.
It is perfectly said that the pen is mightier than the sword. In case of dropshipping marketing can be defined as the implementation of customer acquisition technique.
For your better understanding, let's consider dropshipping as heart then marketing is the beats why the heart is pumping.If you will stop doing marketing, your drop shipping business will die.
This reminds me of the famous quote by Henry Ford "Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time."
Marketing is the differentiating, unique function of the business.
Do you know with the help of digital marketing 70% more likely to convert to your product?
Role of Digital Marketing
Promptly you are all set with an online drop shipping store it's time that you need to lure customers to your store. Customer procurement is also an art.
Having great products and a website is nebulous if you don't have the customer looking to buy.
Marketing provides you with the potential and relevant consumers. This allows you to generate sales and revenue you desire.
Marketing and driving traffic is absolutely essential to the success of your business and it is far critical during the initial stage of business when no one knows who you are.
I know what's buzzing in your head that why it matters the most in dropshipping and why I am pushing this more.
The reason is that here your job is to promote and sell a pre-existing product. So to survive in this competitive market you have to differentiate yourself from others through your strategy.
There are currently 4.1 million Internet users worldwide and this number is continuously increasing day by day. Sink your teeth into marketing because you can reach this many people through digital marketing.
A coin has two sides
The fact of every business lies in the hands of the marketing team who builds the marketing strategy. If you are not bringing in new buyers your business is not going to be making the profits it needs to stay afloat. Marketing is the Ace in the card deck of business. This gold coin also has two faces i.e. Inbound and Outbound marketing.
Let's deep dive in each of this overarching strategies.
Outbound Marketing
Outbound can also be called traditional marketing and it is any kind of marketing where a firm initiates the chat and sends messages out to the audience.
This form of marketing involves methods such as billboards, magazine ads, TV commercials, Radio, Event sponsorship, Direct mail etc. The reason behind the existence of outbound marketing is to promote the products wherever the clients can possibly be present. With the hope that maybe a small percentage of people will see it and convert into customers.
This amazing artwork is the fine example of creativity and comes under traditional marketing method.
The advertisement is designed to catch people's attention and get them to the fitness center.
Inbound Marketing
It is the best way to transform your strangers into your potential customers. This is the proven methodology for growing your business.
Perfectly defined by Hubspot, "Inbound marketing is focused on attracting customers through relevant and helpful content and adding value at every stage in your customer's buying journey. With inbound marketing, potential customers find you through channels like blogs, search engines, and social media."
The best thing is unlike the outbound marketing here you don't have to reach out to the customers. This way of marketing builds up your network when you provide a remarkable experience to your customers.
Digital Marketing Channels
Today, not only children's all age groups are spending more time on the internet. Being a drop shipper your major role is to market the products and that can happen when you are fully aware of the marketing channels available to you.
Let's take a deeper look at the key channels that you need to use in order to grow your business.
- Search Engine Optimization
- Pay-Per-click
- Influencer Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Content Marketing
- Email Marketing
Do you know 93% of online experience begins with a search engine?
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a marketing discipline which focuses on growing organic visibility on search engine results. It comprises both technical and creative elements to enhance ranking, drive traffic in the search engine
Matt Cutts said it right that "SEO is like a resume, you polish it so you have your best foot forward."
SEO helps you store rank in the search engine like Google. Google currently holds 80.5% of the total search engine market share.
There are two broad categories of SEO.
On Page SEO & Off-Page SEO
On Page SEO
In On-Page SEO you have to manage the schema in your backend so that the crawler bot of the search engine can get what your store is about and how optimized it is.
In layman terms, put simply what you rank for is what On Page SEO does.
Off Page SEO
When you publish blogs, articles on other websites in order to get traffic from their site so that you can get organic reach it comes under Off-Page SEO.
The Off-Page SEO look out how authentic and popular your site is and how high you rank in the search.
In order to get the best results through SEO marketing, , Ahrefs, and are the soundest tools.
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PPC is the one of the best marketing investment to make especially for drop shipping business because it costs you less and they target the people where and when they most likely to need your products such as Google Ads.
In PPC marketing, promotes pay an amount each time one of the advertisement is clicked. It's a method to bring visits to your sites.
Do you know that Google AdWords results receive 65% of the clicks that started with buying keywords, while organic results only 35%?
With 3.5 billion searches a day on Google, how can you compel the customer visit your online store?
The answer is PPC for a new online business it is the perfect way to let people know your presence in the market and for the drop shippers, it is truly a blessing.
The effectiveness of PPC ads depends on how well you pick your keywords for targeting potential consumers. However, this method is driven by how much you are willing to invest in bidding.
Google Keyword, WhatRunWhere and Spyfu are the several profitable tools you can use for PPC Marketing.
Do you know that 94% of marketer who uses influencer marketing find it compelling and also believes that it can generate up to 11k the ROI of traditional advertising?
According to Marketo, it is explained as the ability to create an effect, change opinions and drive effective outcomes through digital platforms. Influencers are the leaders within their communities with powerful social networks online.
An influencer is anyone who has the moderately large following online.
Hiring an influencer is not just where this process ends but the actual task is to hire a person who has genuine followers. Authenticity is the key that contributes to the success of this marketing channel.
This marketing method is the proven most powerful tool for eCommerce industry and this is cherry on the cake for the new dropshippers.
In the case of Influence Marketing Sales Navigator(LinkedIn) and TweetDeck are the powerful tools that can show you some real visible outcomes.
Social Media is considered to be the fastest emerging trend in the history of the world.Do you know there are 2.19 billion people in the world uses Facebook?
It doesn't end here, every one out of four people nowadays has a social media account on this planet.
With such a number of audience, Social Media Marketing plays an incredible role. There are billions of people that you can reach by using this marketing channel.
Neil Patel's definition of Social Media Marketing is ideal "Social Media Marketing is the process of creating content that you have tailored to the context of each individual social media platform in order to drive user engagement and sharing."
According to Wikipedia, there are 200 social media platforms and the number is still growing.
Unbelievable right?
That means you have countless opportunities to let everyone know about your store.
But the most important platforms that you can't afford to skip are Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Tumbler, Snapchat, Reddit, Google+, Telegram, Pinterest and BehanceDribbble.
Now it's your move where you want to focus and where your audience is. So hit the nail on the head and let your store become the next Amazon.
Social Media Marketing has many tools but Hootsuite, Buzzsumo, and IFTTT are the most reliable ones.
Content Marketing can be defined as a strategic approach solely concentrated on building and spreading relevant, worthy and consistent content to lure and retain audience to drive productive user action.
Content marketing has become an indispensable part of the marketing strategy. It is one of the most influential techniques in terms of acquiring potential clients.
Well said by Ann Handley, "Good content is just not storytelling, it is telling your story really well."
It is not only used to entice clients towards your store but also a way of telling people about your values and identity.
According to the study by Hubspot 53% of marketers say blogging is their top content marketing priority. 90% of the businesses around the globe are already using Content marketing as their marketing's backbone. This study also reveals that organizations that have blogs are more indexed by search engines than firms without blogs.
Content is the present, as well as the future and marketing, is unimaginable without it.
So, despite what type of marketing tactics you use, content marketing should be a part of your procedure and in case of dropshipping you have to focus more on this aspect because as a newbie in the market people need to know what you stand for and what are your key services.
Trending and result-driven tools of Content Marketing are Content Studio, Ahrefs, and TweetDeck.
Email Marketing still continues to be the most compelling tool in marketing. According to HubSpot, nearly 75% of firms agree that emails result in a good return and truly a converter.
Let's take a look on the statistics here that will drive you to opt this option.
Recent research by the Direct Market Association shows that the ROI(Return on Investment) of emails is 3800%. It also shows that 72% of people receive more promotional matter through email than social media and 38% people say that because of special offers they subscribe to email lists.
Statista reveals that in 2017 there were 3.7 billion email users globally and this figure will reach more than 4.1 billion by 2021.
On the top of the incredible amount of people, you can reach the return on investment for emails average around 124%!!!
These facts and figures prove that email marketing is still the most powerful influence.
The best thing is that email allows you to build a relationship with your potential customers. It is the best way to strengthen the relationships and every dropshipping business needs it.
The best tools to speed up your email marketing are MailChimp and Getresponse.
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The Takeaway: Quick Guide On Dropshipping For Beginner's July 2018
Being a dropshipper, it is extremely critical to realize how vital part of marketing plays in order to increase your sales. This process needs full knowledge of marketing and what are the best options available for the dropshippers. It also incorporates identifying the target audience and strategically placing relevant and creative advertisements on the digital platforms.
Another key is to avid the pitch or promotional tone and lets the people know what's your story, values you deliver, your purpose and also describe how you will fulfil your customer's needs without draining their wallets'.
Social Media is the best and a perfect opportunity for marketing your dropshipping products. Also, try to find out what your business' unique factor is and promote that because you are running in the race where you have a large number of competitors.
I hope this guide will help you in getting your brand heard. Digital marketing is the most powerful term that can make your dropshipping business into a billion dollar business.
