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What marketing strategies should you use to attract customers to your dropshipping business?
💡 Quick Answer: You need innovative and relevant marketing strategies to attract customers to your dropshipping store. Utilize omnichannel marketing, user-generated content, SEO, retargeting, social media, TikTok organic, and online community forums to market your business. Each of these strategies is tried and tested. When executed well, they can deliver excellent results. Having such a dynamic marketing strategy should also help you acquire prospects and convert them into customers without breaking a sweat. Read on to know more.
Dropshipping is an industry that is growing exponentially—it was valued at $243 billion in 2023 and is expected to exceed $301 billion by the end of 2024. It is no wonder, then, that every eCommerce entrepreneur wants a slice of this lucrative pie. Apart from the potential profits, there are other factors that make it an attractive business model:
- You can sell products without holding inventory
- Dropshipping is flexible
- It requires lower upfront costs
- You have access to a global market
However, these very advantages make dropshipping a highly competitive arena. There are hundreds of thousands of active dropshipping stores worldwide, with platforms like Shopify alone supporting over a million merchants, many of whom use the dropshipping model. Overall, over 27% of all online retailers use dropshipping.
These numbers make it evident that a well-crafted dropshipping marketing strategy is essential for standing out from the crowd and building a successful and sustainable dropshipping business. Effective dropshipping marketing techniques are what will attract, engage, and convert customers.
So, how do you go about doing this?
A proven method is to capitalize on current technology and relevant trends to market your products. Let’s delve into the ten best marketing strategies you can use to boost your dropshipping business.
What is a dropshipping marketing strategy?
A dropshipping marketing strategy is a comprehensive plan of action that outlines how you will attract, engage, and convert customers. Your dropshipping marketing strategy, at its core, should be able to leverage various marketing channels and tactics to drive traffic to your eCommerce store, increase its visibility, and ultimately, boost sales.
Like any other marketing strategy, it typically comprises four Ps:
- product
- price
- place
- promotion
Creating a foolproof marketing strategy gives a competitive advantage to your business that helps you sell more of your products. It is the foundation on which successful businesses are built.
In a highly competitive niche like dropshipping, a robust marketing strategy becomes the key differentiator between a profitable and struggling business.
However, creating a dropshipping marketing strategy is no easy feat. Marketing is an art that you learn with trial and error. As a new dropshiping business owner, you may need assistance in developing your marketing strategy. Depending on your experience and competence, you could do it in-house or outsource it to an agency that specializes in digital marketing.
Outsourcing your marketing requirements can be cost-intensive, so it is better to avoid taking that route if you’re just starting your dropshiping journey.
Here’s a list of tried and tested dropshipping marketing tactics that anyone can implement to drive consistent sales.
10 dropshipping marketing strategies to boost your business in 2024
We have chosen the following strategies because they are robust, easy to execute, and can deliver great results for your dropshipping business—both in the short and long term. What’s more, implementing these strategies will not break the bank—and these dynamic strategies can work wonders for dropshipping businesses of any scale. Whether you’re a new business owner or planning to launch your dropshipping store, these can get you started on the right foot.
1. Optimize omnichannel marketing for dropshipping success
Omnichannel marketing is a customer-centric marketing approach wherein you interact with your customers wherever you meet them. In dropshipping, this implies approaching your customers on search engines, social media, emails, and text messages.
As customers navigate different digital spaces, you should meet them at all these pitstops and market your products to them as a solution they need.
For example, imagine a prospect browsing the web for waterproof hiking boots. They may come across your website alongside other storefronts when they are browsing. However, browsing does not guarantee a purchase. Now that you know your product can cater to their need, go to their social media channel and show them a paid ad of the same product with a discount.
Now, there are higher chances of them making a purchase.
Omnichannel marketing for dropshipping involves customer-centric, experience-driven product advertisement that eventually convinces people to make a purchase. It focuses on creating a seamless journey that converts prospects into customers.
As found in a McKinsey report, omnichannel shoppers buy 1.7x more than those who use single channels. They are also big spenders.
So, omnichannel marketing, when done well, can work wonders for your business. The best part of omnichannel marketing is that you can easily customize it to fit your budget and the requirements of your target audience.
There are other notable advantages, too:
- You can collect valuable data about your customer’s shopping preferences and habits
- You can personalize your marketing communication to enhance your appeal to your customers
- You can segment your customers based on geography, demography, purchasing power, etc.
- You can trigger repeat purchases of your products
- You can build a loyal customer base
Many famous global brands like Sephora and Nike actively invest in omnichannel marketing— and so should you.
2. Incorporate user-generated content in your dropshipping website & socials
User-generated content (UGC) is a powerful asset that you have at your disposal. It comprises everything from reviews, ratings, and testimonials to any promotional content like videos made by customers and influencers. You can use UGC to generate social proof for your dropshipping brand.
After all, there’s nothing more convincing than the reviews of other customers who have already made a purchase.
When you incorporate UGC, such as client reviews, on your website and social media channels, it creates a sense of transparency that’s attractive to other buyers. They may not always believe in your ads, but they will believe the good things that other customers like themselves have to say about your brand.
You can incentivize consumers to leave testimonials and embed links in your order delivery emails so that it’s easy for them to rate your service.
There are many ways of incorporating UGC in your marketing efforts:
- You can collaborate with social media influencers to create branded content that drives sales
- You can syndicate UGC and utilize it in your social media as well as content marketing
- You can build a community around your brand
So, the possibilities are endless. Be creative and use it to your advantage.
3. Ensure your dropshipping website/storefront is optimized for conversions
A website optimized for conversions acts as a marketing funnel for your dropshipping business, helping you convert visitors into customers. Whether you’re building your brand from scratch or opting for a website builder like Shopify/BigCommerce, it should attract prospects and make them stay.
Aim for a 2.5-3% conversion rate from the get-go, and you’ll set your store up for success. This is because most eCommerce stores usually lag at 1-2%!
It’s easy to make a conversion-oriented website if you keep the following in mind:
- Focus on one niche and high-value products that are guaranteed to sell. You can utilize the SaleHoo Dropship to find, compare, and add winning products from AliExpress to your Shopify store.
- Add benefit-focused product descriptions and use high-ranking keywords in them. Supplement them with HD images and videos.
- Optimize your website for mobile view, seamless navigation, and site speed
- Ensure the checkout process is easy and you have multiple payment options
- Add customer reviews, ratings, and testimonials to your website
This way, you can ensure that anyone who visits your website from a web search stays back to explore your products and eventually makes a purchase.
4. Join a community
Look for online communities frequented by your target audience. It could be a Facebook group, a subreddit, Quora, an online forum, or just about any online group where people discuss their purchases, look for product recommendations, share their reviews of products they have used, etc. You can join such communities and interact with potential customers.
Ensure your interactions offer a solution to customer queries or provide them with suggestions they cannot overlook. Be clever with your replies, and make sure your exchanges are convincing.
You don’t have to be upfront about making sales. But strategically suggesting your top-selling products or including a link to your website are some best practices you should follow.
Interacting with potential buyers in social media communities and online forums can help you build word-of-mouth for your brand and siphon off traffic to your website. You can also use online communities to retarget old clients who have not made any repeat purchases.
Since most online communities are free to join, all you need to invest in this tactical dropshipping marketing strategy is your time. You have lots to gain and nothing to lose.
5. Utilize SEO best practices
SEO is your best bet for marketing your dropshipping business because it can drive organic traffic to your website. It is the dark horse that can turbocharge your business if you’re consistent with your efforts. While you will not see the results overnight, investing in SEO has three major benefits:
- It can improve your Search Engish Results Page (SERP) ranking by optimizing your on-page elements
- It can enhance your brand visibility and boost brand awareness, which is crucial to making headway in a crowded dropshipping marketplace
- It can boost the discoverability of your website and your products to help you reach a wider audience
So, implement SEO best practices when building your website, drafting your product descriptions, and making your blog.
There are a few hacks to getting SEO right for your dropshipping business:
- Pepper your content with less popular but long-tail keywords as these can bring you more organic traffic to your website in the long run
- Use generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to streamline your SEO efforts and get more done by investing a lot less time and effort
- Optimize the metadata of your blog and your website
- Focus on building high-quality backlinks for your blog
- Conduct extensive keyword research because high-intent, low-competition keywords can be used equivocally across product descriptions and blog articles
You can follow these best practices to get started with dropshipping SEO and optimize it as your business grows. Remember to stay up to date on the latest trends in SEO because the rules of the game change often and fast. But once you get a grip on it, there’s no looking back.
Just make sure to avoid these SEO mistakes.
6. Collaborate with influencers
Use the influencer trump card to sway your target audience’s purchasing habits in your favor, boost brand awareness, drive engagement, and increase sales. It will not fail you if you find the right match for your dropshipping business.
There’s a reason why 36% of marketers believe that influencer content outperforms branded content. At least one in every five consumers between the ages of 18 and 54 make purchases based on an influencer’s recommendation. So, you can target a wide demographic with varying purchasing habits and powers.
Collaborating with influencers is also good for eCommerce businesses of any scale.
Another benefit of influencer marketing in 2024 is that you don’t have to break the bank to finance your partnerships. You can work with nano and micro-influencers to market your small dropshipping business with great success. Such influencers usually boast a proactive and dedicated audience that can drive significant engagement for your brand.
Influencer marketing also generates UGC—and we have already covered the many benefits of UGC for your brand.
Just ensure you find and onboard the right influencers for your brand. The products you sell must have a tangible benefit for your chosen influencer’s audience. Your brand should also be a natural fit in their recommendations.
With all of these factors aligning, the collaboration will show great results.
7. Work on a dynamic retargeting strategy for your dropshipping business
As mentioned earlier, on average, eCommerce websites have a conversion rate of 1-2% only. That means 98% of the traffic you get is available for retargeting.
Instead of blowing cash on new customer acquisition, invest in a robust retargeting strategy. It’s 8x cheaper to acquire customers via retargeting compared to new customer acquisition. That’s just one reason to go for it.
There are other tangible benefits, too; retargeting can also reduce the cart abandonment rate by 6.5%.
You can run display ads on other websites and the social media channels preferred by your target audience to get good results. Both Google and Facebook offer tools for running retargeting campaigns. Email retargeting campaigns are also at your disposal.
Experiment with various retargeting strategies and conduct extensive A/B testing to see what works best for your audience. Once you’ve found your golden rooster, use it to convert web visitors into paying customers.
8. Create a blog
Blogging is a low-cost but effective marketing strategy for dropshipping businesses. This is because it allows you to engage with your customers and deploy SEO tactics to drive traffic to your main website.
Having a blog is a value-add because:
- You can use it to publish tutorials, trend reports, guides, and so many other forms of content to keep your audience engaged and invested in your brand
- You can use it to position your brand as a top voice in your niche
- You can create a community of loyal buyers by actively interacting with them
- You can use it to generate UGC
- You can utilize catchy CTA and opt-in forms to generate leads
While maintaining a blog may feel like an added responsibility when running a full-fledged dropshipping business, it could give you the marketing edge a small business needs. And once the wheel is set in motion, the upkeep of your blog is not that difficult.
You can always take the help of GenAI to run your blog to make matters easier to handle. From finding trending topics in your niche to crafting blog posts, hashtags, and more, AI can be rather helpful. Just do not forget to maintain the human touch because that’s what’s going to keep your target audience hooked to your posts.
9. Drive dropshipping growth by creating a YouTube channel
It may sound unorthodox, but YouTube is a potential goldmine that can turn your dropshipping business around for the better. Creating your YouTube channel is equivalent to having a dedicated vlog for your brand. You will get all the benefits of a blog but with better engagement and greater outreach.
With more than 2.49 billion monthly active users, YouTube is accessed by more than one-third of the world’s population. You can gain instant and easy access to this vast user base by simply creating your account and posting videos. The other perk of using YouTube is that videos are significantly more engaging than blogs.
High-quality videos that are value-driven are bound to get the attention of your target audience. With YouTube, you can target prospects who are tied for time or prefer to watch videos over reading blogs.
Doing a product showcase to demonstrate its features, uses, etc., is way easier on a video-first medium like YouTube than on a blog. It’s also one of the most effective but low-cost mediums for video advertising. You can even collaborate with influencers to create videos for your YouTube channel.
While blogging is great for improving your website SEO, YouTube is better for advertising your brand. So, harness the power of YouTube to market your dropshipping business.
It may take more effort to create videos than updating your blog, but the effort is worth the benefits you will get.
If you don’t want to start your channel, you can also test the waters by asking your affiliate partners to make videos for your brand. You can repurpose these videos into reels, stories, or posts for your social media channels.
10. Maximize your dropshipping business’s reach with TikTok organic
TikTok boasts a 1.58 billion monthly active user base and is the fifth most popular social media platform among internet users. An average TikTok user spends 52 minutes of their day on the platform browsing videos. You may think it’s only for dance videos and gimmicks, but when leveraged the right way, you can successfully market your business on TikTok.
Why?
Because the TikTok algorithm is built to prioritize discovery. Unlike Instagram or Facebook where an existing user’s interests affect what shows up on their For You page, TikTok shows new and interesting videos to its users. In fact, it’s called the Discover page on the app.
As long as you can create interesting and engaging videos, the algorithm will pick it up.
Not just that — the more likes, comments, and shares your video gets, the better your chances of reaching more people. So, you should start taking advantage of TikTok Organic for marketing your dropshipping business. Make the videos yourself or rope in an influencer—it works either way!
All you need to budget for are the products and the cost of making the video. You can get the reach of paid ads without any ad spend if you can make a stellar video. Play by the TikTok rulebook, of course.
There’s no need to work with an influencer from the get-go. Make the videos in-house and publish them on TikTok. Be consistent. Keep it real. Make it fun. That should do the trick.
Once you have created and posted a few videos, you can consider roping in a TikTok influencer. Just go with the flow.
Turn the tide in favor of your dropshipping business
As you can tell, a robust marketing strategy is the cornerstone of a successful dropshipping business. Since you have the advantage of offloading inventory management and logistics to your supplier, you should not cut corners when marketing your products. Take inspiration from this updated guide and get started on making that dropshipping marketing strategy work for your business needs.
For everything else, SaleHoo is here to help you out.
Designed to empower small dropshipping businesses, you can utilize the SaleHoo Directory to access 8,000+ trusted suppliers to source your products. Use the Market Research Lab feature to compare products and find the best pick for your business.
Then there’s the robust dropship feature that lets you add winning products from AliExpress to your Shopify storefront in just a few clicks.
You can even learn about dropshipping on Shopify and Amazon Product Launch from the SaleHoo Educate resources.
So don’t let anything hold you back. Try SaleHoo today to kickstart your dropshipping journey. Visit the website to know more, and follow our blog for informative posts on eCommerce.
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