Brand-driven Ecommerce
In EA’s Ecommerce system I constantly emphasize how ecommerce must be marketing driven. Any other preoccupation leads to the most classic, avoidable and ruinous mistakes ecommerce businesses experience. But what type of marketing?
We do a lot of training on SEO and other channels but I want to discuss another type of Ecommerce that is re-emerging because of the online social networking explosion namely brand-driven ecommerce.
Creating a brand online on a budget used to be nearly impossible. How are you really going to compete with huge sites to get customers to remember your site name and become loyal? It was a good way to keep customers but not to great at aquiring them. Online social marketing is beginning to change this equation.
One case in point is an Ecommerce site called DB Clay. I met a couple of the guys behind this site at an ecommerce luncheon put on by EA in Portland, OR and they’ve really done a great job of building their brand. Here are a few pointers they shared with our group -
- Develop rapport with bloggers in your industry (using technorati)
- Use Social Bookmarking Sites to attract brand interest
- Manufacture a unique product
- Find a brick and mortar outlet (they sell in art gallery shops across the country)
- Blog about your product
Everyone getting into Ecommerce should seriously consider the advantages of creating a brand from their sites and selling products under your own brand name. It will diversify your income stream, give you control over quality, keep margins low, and give you access to the explosion occuring in social marketing online.
More on this techniques to come…