Ecommerce Advertising: 7 Strategies in 2023 (That Actually Work)

If you have an online store and sell goods or services online, you might want to consider ecommerce advertising. Some business owners think that if they just make a business, people will come because they really need it. But the truth is whatever the niche your business operates in, it’s highly possible that it is very competitive. Your online store needs to stand out, so you have to promote it, and attract your target audience so that they know that your business exists.

In this article, you can find all the necessary information about advertising in ecommerce and the best ways to do it.

What is ecommerce advertising?

Ecommerce advertising is simply a way to attract more customers to the shops that sell online. It includes online and offline ads that spread awareness of an online shop or even an individual who sells handmade goods on different websites. Advertising in ecommerce is the best tool for reaching specific groups of people who would like your products and keep in touch with them through multiple platforms.

While offline ads (various ads on TV, billboards, magazines, and so on) are considered obsolete by many marketing managers, online advertising is spreading all over the Internet. In general, it is any form of advertising that happens online: social media ads, influencer marketing, etc.

One of the best ecommerce advertising strategies is email marketing because customers show their interest in your product by signing up and providing their email addresses so that they could receive emails with information about your online store.

There is still a concern for smaller online stores because their budgets will not allow them to compete with much bigger companies but with some creative thinking and well-built strategies around advertising for ecommerce, they still can build a successful marketing campaign.

The 7 Ecommerce Advertising strategies for your business

The most popular ecommerce platform is Google, which millions of marketers use daily. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, or TikTokNot are not less popular. Although these platforms are really useful in marketing, they can be tricky for ecommerce advertising because the users do not plan to watch ads, so they might simply skip them paying absolutely no attention. Which is why you need to think outside the box to attract users’ attention.

So how to make your ecommerce advertising strategy effective? At first, you need to understand its purpose: attracting more customers and encouraging them to keep shopping at your online store so that they become your loyal customers.

If you’re not sure how online advertising works, how to advertise effectively or what ecommerce advertising platforms to use, we've prepared 7 ways for your business to become more successful.

1. Use paid ads on social media

Opt-in channels are great ways to reach clients who have already expressed their interest in your business. It also helps with users who have never heard of your brand. And this is exactly where you can use paid search and social channels. If you put some money from your budget into paid search and social ads, you can widen your targeted net.

A big amount of companies run ads on different social media platforms; you could notice that. It is easy, as millions of people use social media, and placing your ad on some of those platforms may simply be the best marketing campaign. The advantage of such ads is that you can target specific groups of people who might be interested in your business. But keep in mind that your ad has to stand out among others and be competitive.

If you want your ecommerce ads to become successful on social media, you need to learn about specific features of each platform. All of them can be helpful in generating traffic and targeting if you are aware of the way they work and the exact ways ecommerce advertising works on these platforms.

If you chose Instagram for your ecommerce advertisement, the best strategy would be to show users your products in everyday circumstances, where it perfectly fits your lifestyle. Thus, it will fit theirs, if it is your target audience.

Facebook may be a great platform for sharing customer reviews and displaying real people who use your products. 

On TikTok or Snapchat, you need to be more creative as the users of these platforms are used to funny content. If you choose these social media platforms, don’t be afraid to look funny or even a little bit silly. This is exactly what the users need.

Advertising in a more formal environment, like LinkedIn, should be more serious; for example, you can share real inspirational stories, advice, or various tips. The main focus is to attract people’s attention and get them interested by creating eye-catching ads. 

If you really want to boost your ecommerce advertising, there is an amazing feature for you, like specific settings. For example, If you want to reach single men aged between 25 and 35 who are into sports and a healthy lifestyle, you can do that with no problem. Targeting people who live near the sea and listen to rock music? Totally possible. You can set up a certain country or city, people’s interests and where they work, and even the languages they speak.

The advantage of advertising on social media is that you can show your ads only to people who you think might be interested in your product. While using traditional media like TV and banners means everyone can see your ad, even those who have absolutely no interest in your brand.

2. Facebook and Instagram for advertising

Whether you like Meta or not, use Facebook and Instagram or not, you cannot deny their great impact on the ecommerce industry. For many online businesses, these platforms have become the biggest source of customers. It is not surprising because Facebook and Instagram are still extremely popular among people with about 3 million active users in a month.

But if you want your ecommerce ads to work effectively on these platforms, you need to adapt your way of thinking according to the users' needs on these platforms. Advertisements on Facebook used to be very thorough and tactical, but now it has to be very creative because your goal is to reach a lot of people and not just a small specific audience.

The best idea is to make your customers believe that they know your brand, and all the aspects of your product, so they are ready to be convinced to buy it. If your customers develop FOMO (fear of missing out) it might have the right influence on them to purchase your product and, further on, come back to your online store again.

Talking about Facebook, one of the best features of advertising is telling Facebook about your customers who bring you the most profit, so its algorithm could find more people with similar qualities. The other option is to upload a list of email addresses in order to make your custom audience so you can show those users your ads. As they are already familiar with your brand, such custom audiences can increase conversion rates. 

Installing the Facebook Pixel onto your online store website is also a good idea. You will be able to use a wide range of really useful tools, such as retargeting features. You may send your ads exclusively to people who have recently visited your site or just some pages with specific products. Such a tool can be really helpful in your ecommerce advertisement strategy when attracting more customers to your online business.

3. Ecommerce advertising on TikTok

The best way to understand how e-commerce advertising on TikTok works is to spend some time there scrolling the videos and paying close attention to the patterns that are used on this social media platform. Learning the algorithms of TikTok is crucial if you want it in your ads.

For example, you can use trending music featured on TikTok. If you notice some songs constantly repeat throughout the videos you may as well use them in your ads.

Another tip is to integrate TikTok challenges and running jokes into your ads. Mind the trends that are relevant, because all the challenges and themes on TikTok are ephemeral and change really quickly. Try to recreate them in your ad and TikTok users will definitely pay attention to it.

If you choose TikTok as a platform for ecommerce ads you need to keep in mind that people do not use social media to look at ads. Making a purchase is not their goal. They visit social media platforms to be entertained and to have fun. Just make sure your ad doesn’t look like an ad and looks like some form of entertainment. If you manage that you will definitely succeed.

4. Reaching customers through Google Ads

As nowadays Google is the most popular search engine you may want to consider placing your ad in Google Ads. You can use some options for ecommerce advertisement, for example, banner ads on different websites, text ads that will appear on search results, videos on YouTube, or placing your ads on GooglePlay.

Attracting new clients is the most difficult process in ecommerce advertising, so you need to make sure your ad gets their attention. A very popular method Pay-per-click (PPC) is really effective. PPC means that you pay only when a user clicks your ad but not when it’s displayed.

The big advantage of Google Ads is that people are looking for your product, and after they type the keywords your ad appears. So your ad doesn’t interrupt the user, as on social media platforms, because the user is doing exactly what they want, which is searching for a specific product.

Surely to make ecommerce advertising effective all the ads should be different depending on the platform you’ve decided to use. As for Google Ads, it’s really important to make your ad as light as possible so that people wouldn’t work hard in order to find it. They are searching specifically for what you’re offering, they need your product, so it’s crucial for you to make it easy to find and buy.

There are two types of ads that you can show on Google. The first one is the simple text for Google Ads. The user will see them while searching for the exact product and typing the terms related to your keywords. And the other type of ad is Google Shopping Ads. These ads are a bit more complicated and may show the users all the features of your product — pictures, price, and reviews. In such a way, people can see exactly what they were looking for right in front of their eyes. Such ads are considered to be more appealing.

5. Retargeting techniques

So what is retargeting? Simply put, it’s a reminder to return to the online store and buy something eventually. The biggest challenge for ecommerce advertising is that people leave online stores without making any purchases. However, many customers who walk away from their shopping cart want to return to it later because some are not ready to purchase on their first visit to an online store. But unfortunately, some of them simply forget about it. So to avoid that many ecommerce businesses turn to email retargeting to increase their sales. 

A lot of marketers use landing pages to collect personal data from their shoppers. Usually, it includes their email addresses, but sometimes they get people’s phone numbers. Having such information is crucial for retargeting. You can stay in touch with your customers and contact them later if they, for example, haven’t completed their purchase.

Retargeting is an incredible tool. You can send emails to people reminding them about your business. For example, you can offer them a discount, a limited edition product or free shipping and so much more. Sending a reminder is automatic, and the first message is sent some minutes after the customer stopped shopping and left the website. Such an email just reminds them that they haven’t finished shopping and that they still have some items in their cart. The next reminder might be sent hours later and the last one after a day. Eventually, in case the visitor doesn’t take any action, they are added to a custom audience on Facebook.  People who have similar characteristics will see retargeting ads, again as a reminder to come back and get what they wanted.

But don’t think that this is the only way you can apply retargeting emails. They can be used to send emails to the customers who actually purchased something from your online store. You can show them recommendations based on their preferences and past purchases or offer them discounts. This is an effective way to turn your buyers into loyal customers.

6. Advertising through content marketing

Do not underestimate content marketing. It might seem pointless at first sight, but content marketing has proven its effectiveness over the years. It can bring viewers to your website and convert them into paying customers. Using this strategy can help build a trustful relationship with your users who may become a part of your email list.

Basically, any type of content you can use in your e-commerce advertisement may help your business significantly. You can place your ads in YouTube videos, podcasts, blogs, product pages, etc. But you need to carefully consider the type of advertisement, such as video, audio, written or combine them any way you like. Also, pay close attention to what exactly you will post, how often you will do that, and the purpose of your ad.

As there are various forms of content marketing strategies, pay attention to the most effective ones. One of such strategies is to appear on guest websites. You can promote your business on YouTube shows, podcasts, or social channels as well as on blogs. Not only will you target a bigger audience but also expose your online store as credible to all search engines.

As podcasts and blogs are really good platforms for your ecommerce advertising, you should really consider adding YouTube to your list of platforms for advertising. YouTube is no doubt one of the best ways to promote your products. You can do interviews with your customers who will share their honest feedback, do various reviews of your products, and much more. Basically, anything you can come up with can be realized and shown on this platform. Another great advantage of advertising on YouTube is that people share videos, which is advantageous. Your target audience will become bigger in no time.

7. Make contact with influencers

Influencer marketing seems like a completely new strategy that has appeared recently but in fact, it existed even before social media. In that pre-digital era influencers were famous actors, musicians, athletes, and so on. Companies paid them a lot of money to promote their products. And we can still see our favorite celebrities in TV ads. But nowadays we have more influencers, including Instagram or YouTube bloggers with a large audience. 

Now it has become possible for non-celebrities to become influencers, providing marketing with more tools for advertisement. And because many Internet influencers produce content based on one specific topic like technology, fitness, or traveling, it means that their subscribers are engaged in that topic. So the marketers can appeal to the influencer's audience by offering products these people will be interested in. For example, if you sell equipment for hiking, advertising your product through influencers who are into the traveling space could be helpful for your marketing strategy.

For many people, recommendations from their favorite influencers have almost the same power as the recommendations from their friends and family. So you should definitely consider them as a powerful e-commerce advertising campaign.

Choose the Right Ecommerce Advertising Method for Your Brand

Building a successful ecommerce advertising campaign may be a great challenge. Choosing the right strategy and the right platform for your ads may seem like too much effort. But the result of a well-thought strategy is the growth of your brand. 

You will be able to acquire new customers, who will proceed all the way to complete a purchase, keep in touch with the users who already like your brand, as well as offer them perks and bonuses to keep them interested. You may even bring back those who once bought something from you but then simply forgot about it. Eventually, you will increase your profit and establish a strong brand.

If using Google Ads might seem like the best option in ecommerce advertising, do not forget about other ways of promotion. And even if you are not an active social media user and do not know much about it, remember that it is worth learning about these platforms as they are a perfect tool for any ecommerce advertisement strategy. They are the best way to promote your business, acquire a bigger audience, and increase conversion rates. 

In some cases, you will need to think outside the box, but don’t be afraid to entertain your viewers, especially if you advertise your product on such platforms as TikTok or Youtube. The users will enjoy that and get interested in what you offer.

Consider all possible outcomes and choose the best way of advertising just for your brand, and don’t forget that you can always switch from one option to another or use several of them at once.