Your products don’t sell themselves.
As an ecommerce owner, it’s up to you to develop and launch marketing strategies that help your target audience better understand what problem you’re addressing, what solutions you’re offering, and why it should matter to them.
The problem is, the proven digital marketing strategies that you and other ecommerce business owners have been using for the past few years to boost brand awareness, traffic, and sales just aren’t as effective as they used to be. The internet is a noisier place today.
As new brands continue to enter the market each day and compete for the same online consumers, you have to do what you can to differentiate and prove to people that you’re different. That you care. That you’re willing to listen. That you aren’t just interested in selling products. That you’re committed to establishing and nurturing real relationships with the people you’re trying to serve.
To do all that, you can’t just market products to people. Instead, you have to be willing to build community with your customers, followers, and target audience.
In order to differentiate from competitors and cut through all the noise that now exists online, you have to establish an authentic community that your target audience can attach onto and actively participate in.
But building community online has a much different meaning today than it did ten, five, and even two years ago. Today, the focus of building community online isn’t about creating a presence on the right social sites—instead, the focus is entirely on your audience and their interests, their passions, their concerns, their beliefs, and their motivations.
Community building is less about your business and your goals, and more about the people you’re trying to serve.
To survive, succeed, and grow throughout the next decade of ecommerce, you have to understand your customers today.
Ecommerce Brands Investing in Community
Building a community that aligns with the shared beliefs, motivations, causes, and interests of your audience might seem like an intimidating amount of work, but it really doesn’t have to be that complicated. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to building community through your ecommerce brand, so long as you’re committed to focusing on what matters most: the wants and needs of your customers and prospective customers.
What are you doing to build community with your customers today? Share your ideas with us.