Five Reasons Why Your eCommerce Marketing Isn’t Working

eCommerce Marketing Now

1. Your eCommerce Marketing Plan Does Not Exist

Driving to a place you’ve never been without a GPS, map, or directions is probably a bad idea. Most people would agree with that, so why do less than 20% of small businesses across America have an annual marketing plan to drive business?

Just as a GPS tells you where to drive, a marketing plan shows you the path to business growth. Without it, the best you can do is hope to stumble on to a new batch of customers or a big account, and hoping is neither a replacement for a GPS or a strategy for success. Bottom line: you need a marketing plan.

If you already have one, take a moment to look at it critically. A marketing plan consists of strategy and tactics – does yours have both? Often, marketing plans are heavy on tactics (i.e., brochures, billboards, etc.) but contain little or no strategy. So, you have the GPS, but you’re just pressing buttons randomly, instead of understanding how it gets you to where you want to go. You’re putting a perfectly good tool to waste.

Fleshing out a full-blown marketing strategy is no easy task, but you can get a good start by asking yourself some simple questions. Think about what your business goals are for the next year. Who are you selling your product or service to? What problems do those people have when purchasing a product or service like yours, and how can you solve those problems? Can you do it in a way that is different than your competition (more on this later)?

Once your strategy is defined, you’re ready to talk to your target market. Marketing tactics like email, Internet and print advertising, video, events, and public relations are good tools to do this – as long as they work for you. Don’t be afraid to hold your tactics accountable; if they’re not performing, cut them without mercy.

2. Your eCommerce Marketing is Not Unique: Nobody notices you, because you’re exactly like everyone else.

We’re living in a very specialized world. Even a relatively niche topic like lawn gnomes spawns hundreds of websites, a handful of magazines, and an annual convention or two. No matter what you’re selling, you’re bound to have at least a few fierce competitors who offer exactly what you do.

DON’T BELIEVE IT? TRY THE “SCRATCH OUT/DROP IN” TEST.

1. Look at your own website, plus three of your competitors’ sites.
2. For each site, whenever the name of the company appears, scratch it out and replace it with the name of another company.
3. With the replacement made, is the statement still true? Could your competitors say exactly the same things that you say – and vice-versa?

If you don’t have anything separating you from your competitors, you have a big problem. How are people supposed to know to choose you over another company? All you can do is hope that they pick you – and again, relying on hope to grow your business usually doesn’t end well.

Contrary to what a lot of people think, the answer here isn’t necessarily to out-advertise and outspend your competition. Instead, you need to reposition your business as the only choice, not one choice of many. This can be painful, because it means rethinking fundamental aspects of your business.

Buck up, because it’s worth it; if you offer your product or service in a way that nobody else can, competition becomes almost irrelevant. In fact, done right, making your company something remarkable even drops marketing expenses, because you’ll get some serious word of mouth…and that’s free.

A lot of companies miss this, but the big guys sure don’t. Think of organizations like Disney, Apple and Starbucks — these are all companies that people talk about on a regular basis, and the reason for the buzz boils down to one reason: they’re doing things differently.

3. Your eCommerce Marketing is all about You

Let’s say you’re looking for a paper supplier, and you find one in your area. Their website has a picture of the production facility, pictures of their delivery trucks, and a statement that says “Family-owned and operated since 1954.” “That’s nice,” you think, “but so what?”

You’re (justifiably) annoyed because the website has nothing to do with why you’re there to begin with. There’s no information about how this company will help you choose the best paper for you, how they’ll make sure your supplies never run out, or how their customer service will be available to you. Simply put, it seems like this company doesn’t understand your problems. So you leave.

Our ficticious paper supplier just blew a potential lead because they were obsessed with themselves, not their prospects. Yes, being in business for a long time, having a large facility, etc. are important points, but they need to be part of a bigger story: how do you solve your prospects’ pains?

THE “RED/BLUE” EXERCISE IS A GOOD WAY TO GET A QUICK GAUGE OF HOW PROSPECT-FOCUSED YOUR WEBSITE – OR MARKETING COLLATERAL — REALLY IS.

1. Look at a printout of your website or other marketing tool.
2. Every time you talk about yourself (“we”, “us”, “our”), circle it in red; every time you talk about your prospect (“you”, “your”), circle it in blue.
3. If your blue circles don’t outweigh your red circles, you need to rethink your tone. Direct your speech towards your target market’s issues and how you deal with them, and more leads will follow.

4. Your website is embarrassing so Your eCommerce Marketing is Failing

It’s okay for you to admit it: your website could be better. Maybe even a lot better. You’ve made a few adjustments over the years, but your site remains a glorified, outdated brochure; it’s not taking advantage of the unique medium of the Internet, and it’s not reflecting your company’s current identity. Don’t worry – you’re not the only one.

This is the story with many business websites out there, but that doesn’t make it okay. You need to fix this.

Your website is no longer something you have because you heard the Internet is popular these days, and all your competitors are on it. Instead, your website should be the keystone of your marketing program. Emails, trade shows, TV commercials – all of these need to direct your prospects back to your website. Period. It’s the best tool you have to get prospects more involved in your company, but you wouldn’t know it from your current brochure site.

If that’s not enough to convince you, consider this: according to a Google survey from mid-2009, 88% of prospective buyers go to your website before calling or emailing you for more information…and that number is only going to rise with time. 88%. Are you comfortable with 88% of your prospects seeing your website as it is now? And what’s your current website doing to get those current prospects talking to you?

Time for a change. You need a website that you proudly hold up as a perfect representation of everything that’s great about your company.

5. You.

No offense, but it’s true. The number one reason that eCommerce marketing programs fail is because of business owners themselves. Why? Because they don’t put value on eCommerce Marketing as a crucial part of the business.

It’s not completely your fault – eCommerce marketing tends to be underestimated by lots of people, largely because it’s not understood very well. Everybody knows what finance and sales are, and how they work, and how they benefit the company. But what about eCommerce Marketing? It’s less of a concrete concept, and consequently, it’s easier for businesses to do haphazardly, or even not at all.

Recognizing the mistakes you’re currently making — as you’ve done by reading this far — is a good start towards setting things right, but you also need to admit your own limitations. Like plumbing or kidney surgery, great marketing is something that’s best left to the experts.

What you can do, however, is get both yourself and your team ready to accept the changes that eCommerce marketing will bring to your company, and acknowledge that you’ll need to make them in order to grow.

Article by Eric Keiles and Michael Lieberman at Square 2 Marketing – creators of “Reality Marketing Revolution” book: http://www.realitymarketingrevolution.com
This is a practical and down-to-earth blueprint for growing business.

I was “studying” this book over the holidays and we are implementing those strategies at our business now.
Note: I’m not affiliated with Square 2 Marketing and not getting any commissions for the sales of that book. I recommend it because I know it will help you to improve your business.

Hope you found this information useful and let me know if you have any questions.

To your success!

Anton Pachkine
and your FinestShops team

TOOL OF THE MONTH

http://www.compete.com – is a web traffic analysis service that publishes the approximate number of global visitors. Great tool to keep do a research and keep track of you competitors.