6 Inbound Marketing Strategies for eCommerce Startups

You’re looking to start a new eCommerce site. No matter your product or service, there’s going to be one major challenge facing any startup: building and maintaining a customer base that will not only purchase but come back and provide you with good word of mouth.

The good news is, there’s a marketing technique that delivers dividends for businesses both old and new. Inbound marketing grows an organization by building lasting relationships with both shoppers and customers. While outbound marketing tries to market the company to people who don’t know about it, inbound marketing relies on positive word of mouth from customers who have been impressed with what they saw. Here are six tactics that can help make your startup an inbound marketing superstar.

1. Keyword Optimization

While traditional SEO aims to get a high volume of searches for a keyword, it’s about quality, not quantity, when you work with inbound marketing. Your goal shouldn’t be to get a mass number of visitors to your site but to make it easier for those likely to be interested in your site to find new information.

You’ll want to focus on long-tail keywords. These are keywords that are more specific and tailored to what your potential customers will be searching for. They’ll give you a higher click-through rate and lead only to your site while cutting out the biggest names in the field.

2. Strategic Content Marketing

The best way to get traffic to your site is through original content, which can be as simple as having a blog. Make sure your content is compelling and answers questions people are looking for, with headlines that lure people in. Adding content like linkable assets and unique visuals can help you stand out.

While your main priority should be to get people clicking and sharing your content, you’ll also want to make sure it lines up with Google’s content standards and follows the E-A-T formula. You can use PureLinq’s guide on Ahref’s Content Explorer to help you get started. The tool can give you metrics on two billion websites to help you figure out what’s working for your competitors and find opportunities for unique and effective content.

3. Promote Your Content for Natural Link Building

One of the best ways to rank up on Google’s search engine is with backlinks. This is where you get linked on other sites and drive new traffic to your content. Of course, you want to make sure this happens organically, so read up on what your competitors are doing before you start marketing.

One of the best ways to promote your content is through an active social media presence. First, find out which major social networks are home to your customer base and keep an active presence there. Then, make sure to publish and promote your content at times of high activity for your customers.

4. Use the Content You Have to Write an eBook

Have you been faithfully publishing content on your website and other platforms for a while? You might have everything you need to publish an eBook, and many tools let you format and design the digital book without any professional help.

eBooks will give you a massive new platform to market your company on like Amazon and other online booksellers. You’ll be introducing your company to a major new audience to get new leads and drive traffic to your site.

5. Build Relationships with Influencers

Influencers are everywhere; these popular social media superstars have a legion of fans hanging on their every word. An endorsement from one of these figures can go a long way to promote a company because people assume that anything recommended by a person they trust comes with a certain level of quality.

The rise of social media has made this one of the most important parts of any marketing strategy. Much like other inbound marketing strategies, you want to tailor your choice of which influencer to approach carefully. Don’t go for the one with the most followers, but one who is most likely to speak to the customers you want to attract.

6. Email Marketing

Email marketing is possibly the most old-school digital marketing tactic but still one of the most effective. Get customers or visitors to your website to sign up for your email list, and they get alerted of any new products or sales you’re offering.

This method is one of the marketing techniques with the highest return on investment margins because everyone who signs up has already shown some level of interest. This form of marketing can take a while to show dividends, so make sure to keep your email list updated.

Targeted Marketing Always Wins

Inbound marketing works on a simple strategy: sticking with the customers who already know and trust you. These techniques will help you spread the word and build your reputation. There’s nothing more important than a happy customer ready to be your brand ambassador.