Do you have big aspirations for your eCommerce business? Good! We’ve got just the thing for you... The secret to eCommerce success is not just to get your products out there and see how they perform. Without a marketing plan, you might miss out on the fact that 96% of Americans with internet access have made an online purchase in their life, 80% in the past month alone. In this presentation, I’m going to walk you through a 12-month eCommerce marketing plan you can use to successfully grow your business. Each month contains actionable and tactical strategies that you’ll be able to refer to again and again throughout the year.

1. ECOMMERCE
MARKETING PLAN
The Step-By-Step Guide to Making Your
Ecommerce Business a Success
A COMPLETE 12-MONTH

2. Do you have big aspirations for your eCommerce business?
Good!
We’ve got just the thing for you…
The secret to eCommerce success is not just to get your products out there
and see how they perform.
Without a marketing plan, you might miss out on the fact that 96% of
Americans with internet access have made an online purchase in their life,
80% in the past month alone.
In this presentation, I’m going to walk you through a 12-month eCommerce
marketing plan you can use to successfully grow your business.
Each month contains actionable and tactical strategies that you’ll be able
to refer to again and again throughout the year.

3. SUMO is a free suite of tools designed to grow your
eCommerce traffic, conversion, and revenue.
Before you read any further,
download SUMO to grow your
eCommerce business
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5. JANUARY
One of the very best ways to drive consistent traffic to your website and
increase sales is by creating content that matters.
But much too often businesses create content without knowing exactly
how it will perform in terms of traffic, engagement, and sales.
Yikes!
Here’s a quick, easy-to-follow process to ensure that every single piece of
content you create will make a difference towards your bottom line.
Rank top 10 in search engines by mapping out your
content with a focus on SEO

6. Step One: Create a list of relevant keywords with mid-to-high (1K+) monthly
search volume using a tool like Google Keyword Planner or Moz’s Keyword
Research Tool.
Step Two: Brainstorm 5-10 additional keywords for each of the keywords
identified in step one.
For each keyword with mid-to-high monthly search volume, you should
have several similar keywords that you can write content for in addition to
the main keyword.
Step Three: Start writing content (blog posts and product pages) around
each of the major keyword opportunities you’ve identified in steps one and
two.

7. #PROTIP
The key to finding success with content and SEO as an
eCommerce business is consistency.
TWEET THIS

8. FEBRUARY
While there are dozens of advertising channels available to eCommerce
businesses, there are only two that can begin to increase revenue from day
one: Facebook and Instagram.
Many other channels require a lot of work up front (Influencer Marketing),
others can take months to bear fruit (content marketing), while some are
difficult to master with a small team (AdWords).
Social media advertising has proven to be the best channel when it comes
to ROI
Use your "Mafia Offer" to make sales on Facebook and
Instagram

10. Step One: Identify Your Highest Converting Offer
At the heart of every successful advertising strategy is an offer that can’t
be refused.
Step Two: Create Your Target Audience
The convenient thing about the two social media giants (Facebook and
Instagram) is that you can run all of your advertisements from a single
platform -- Facebook Ads Manager.
Step Three: Optimize Your Ads for eCommerce Sales
After you have your offer and audiences lined up, it’s time to dive into
creating the actual ad. A/B/C/D/E/F/G test until you find the right
combination of offer, copy, target audience, video (or image!) and desired
results

11. MARCH
With all of the hype around content marketing and social media over the
last few years, it can be easy to forget how important email is to your
eCommerce marketing plan.
Here’s how to set up three automated email campaigns to make sales from
your email list.
Create an automated email campaign that turns casual
subscribers into lifelong customers and advocates
Psst... Click here to get SUMO for free

12. Email One: Welcome Email
A good welcome email hits a person’s inbox as soon as they subscribe to
one of your email lists or make a purchase on your website.
Avoid “selling” to new subscribers right away. Use the welcome email as an
opportunity to build a relationship with your customer by providing them
useful and valuable information.
One of our favorite examples of
a welcome email done well is
from the men’s outdoor retail
brand Huckberry >>>

13. Email Two: Abandoned Cart Email
67.23% of online shopping carts are abandoned before the customer
completes a sale. Abandoned carts are the perfect opportunity to send your
almost-customers a gentle email reminder that they have an item waiting to
be purchased. It might be all they need to finally pull the trigger.
<<< Here’s one of our favorite
cart abandon email examples
from Chubbies.

14. Email Three: Upsell Offer Email
Product upsells and
recommendations do two things:
(1) Increase revenue through repeat
or multiple purchases from current
customers & (2) Entice potential
customers to make their first
purchase.
Here’s a great example of an upsell
email from Surfline targeted at their
Premium subscribers to buy their
new holiday gear. >>>

15. APRIL
50% of Instagrammers follow at least one brand on the platform, and 75%
of those Instagrammers will take action on a call to action (such as going
to a website) after reading an Instagram post.
There’s a ton of Instagram advice out there on just about everything you
can think of, but here are a few ways for your business to stand out on the
massive platform.
Grow your Instagram account by over 150% and
increase sales by following this proven strategy

16. Step One: Write a Killer Bio
Your Instagram bio is your first (and maybe last) chance to impress
potential customers that visit your profile. It should include everything that
makes your company and product awesome in 150 characters or less.
Good As Gold, one of the top eCommerce businesses on Shopify, executes
this perfectly with their Instagram bio:

17. Step Two: Develop a Feed Theme
The second thing potential
customers do right after reading
your Instagram bio is to look at your
feed. This is your chance to show
off your professional creativity.
<<< lululemon does an incredible
job of creating a beautiful
Instagram feed by continually using
whites, pinks, purples, oranges, and
other similar colors.

18. Step Three: Utilize Native CTAs
Native CTAs are made to feel like they’re not advertisements at all, which is
why they are perfect for Instagram.

19. Now you're done setting up
the foundation for success
Read further to learn how to grow and scale
your eCommerce business

20. MAY
Influencer marketing isn’t new to eCommerce by any means; it’s been
around for years.
According to a study from TapInfluence and Nielsen of one Fortune 500
food brand, influencer marketing can drive annual incremental sales at a
rate of 11x versus traditional digital advertising.
In short, influencer marketing is when a brand partner with a well-known
internet or social media personality (influencer) to expand the brand’s
credibility, reach a new audience, and drive sales.
Reach your target customer and boost brand
awareness with influencer marketing

21. You may be wondering where you should find influencers for your products.
No worries, we got you covered. Here are a few top-rated influencer
marketing tools you can use to identify the right influencers for your brand
and business.

22. JUNE
One of the biggest challenges for eCommerce businesses is driving more
qualified traffic to their websites. Which is a shame because:
More traffic = more leads = more revenue
So what’s the best way to drive traffic to your website that doesn’t involve
email or SEO? Here are three repeatable, traffic-driving tactics that you can
implement today.
Drive 2x the traffic to your website with these three
repeatable tactics

23. Tactic One: Become a Quora Expert
Quora has more than 190 million monthly active users and is raking in 200+
million monthly visitors -- each one looking for answers to their questions.
And Quora isn’t just for individual users. Quora can be lucrative for
eCommerce businesses as well.
But getting your product in front of people on Quora is easier said than
done. Users here and on similar sites are extremely wary of self-promoters.
The only way to beat that is to provide value 100% of the time.

24. Tactic Two: Harness PR for Product Features
Public relations (PR) can be a gold mine for your business. The problem is,
everyone knows it, which makes getting your product featured in a top
publication or website all that much more difficult.
What you need to know: (1) Press outlets are looking for more page
views, (2) They want more traffic in a short amount of time, and (3) They
often look to smaller sources for great stories.
So here's what should do to stand out:
(1) Start small: work with your inner circle to get some social proof
(2) Aim for smaller publications to start out with.
(3) Write personalized emails to a group of activators

25. Tactic Three: Run a Cross-Promotion with Another Brand
Two audiences are better than one.
Teaming up with another brand to run a cross-promotion (as long as you
aren’t competing) can expose your product to a brand new, targeted
audience. All while building brand recognition in the process.
A great example of a
cross-promotion done well
was between furnishing
store Pottery Barn and
paint company Sherwin-
Williams >>>

26. JULY
The holiday season is still months away, but prepping early will help you
stay ahead of your competitors and in the minds of your customers as we
enter one of the most lucrative times of the year.
Some of the biggest eCommerce shopping days of the year in the United
States happen between November and December. You’ll need a plan to tap
into this one hundred billion dollar shopping bonanza.
Prep your holiday season marketing plan to capitalize
on the biggest traffic opportunity of the year
Psst... Click here to get SUMO for free

27. Step One: Create a Plan
Your holiday season marketing plan will differ from other marketing efforts
throughout the year as it’s now or never to meet your end-of-year goals.
Your holiday marketing plan should include:
(1) Goal: Total revenue, traffic (search, social, paid), bounce rate,
conversion rate, cart abandonment rate, average order value, etc.
(2) Calendar: This should include every important event down to the minute.
(3) Budget: Your budget should include specific allotted amounts for paid
advertising, creatives (banners, cover photos, graphics, videos, etc.),
website, social media, and events.
(4) Content: Pre-write as much content as you possibly can. Emails, social
media posts, PPC campaigns, creatives, promotions, website copy, etc.

28. Step Two: Create Targeted Holiday Content and Promotions
November and December are arguably the best times of the year for
eCommerce brands to thrive in the world of content.
Many keywords are seasonal and so if you’re able to create unique,
targeted content early on in the season, then you might just see extra
traffic from search.

29. Step Three: Prep for an Influx of Customers
If you’ve followed all of our marketing tips and strategies to this point, you
will have more customers than you’ve ever had before this holiday season.
Which means you, your team, and your website need to be ready.
(1) Hire extra or reassign customer service staff.
Handling inventory, answering customer questions, shipping, processing
orders and returns all take time. And guess whose time is more important
than yours during the holidays? Your customers’ time.
(2) Ensure you have extra bandwidth for traffic spikes
Fast. Secure. Mobile friendly. Those are the three critical things that
people have come to expect from websites.

30. You're killing it...
Time to dive into some advanced strategies

31. AUGUST
At this point in your eCommerce marketing plan journey, you’re driving
hundreds, no, thousands of visitors to your website each month. Nice work!
Now it’s time to convert all of those leads into brand new customers and
revenue.
Product landing pages are one of my favorite eCommerce marketing tactics
to talk about because there is a very scientific approach to creating a
landing page that converts at a high rate.
Optimize your product landing pages for conversion
using this scientific, data-backed method

32. Step One: Understand High-Level Components of a Great Offer
The number one thing
people care about when
arriving at your landing
page (it’s why they’re there!)
is your offer. You’ll convert
customers like a champion
with a solid offer that
people can’t refuse.

33. Step Two: Craft the Perfect
Headline and Copy
A big part of putting together
the ultimate product landing
page is the words you use to
describe it.
Put simply, the headlines
and copy on your landing
page communicate to the
visitor exactly how they will
benefit from your product in
a clear and concise way.

34. Step Three: Feature Amazing Product Images
As equally important as your offer, your headlines, and your copy on your
product landing pages are your product photos.

35. #PROTIP
Put yourself in your visitors’ shoes. If you were in their
position, on this specific landing page, would you
convert into a customer?
TWEET THIS

36. SEPTEMBER
Unlike influencer marketing, affiliate marketing is focused on a publisher
(who produces content) and a retailer (you!) who has an official affiliate
program in place.
Publishers are given unique retailer product links to add to their website
(more on that later) and rewarded, usually monetarily, for every referral sale
made.
Collaborate with the most powerful personalities in
your industry and increase referrals with affiliate
marketing

38. The easiest, most straightforward way to get started is to join an
established affiliate network.
One of the most well-known affiliate networks out there is CJ Affiliate --
recently voted as industry network of the year.

39. OCTOBER
PPC advertising is a great way to drive additional revenue during the peak
holiday season and continuously throughout the year.
There are two major platforms for eCommerce PPC advertising that can’t
be ignored: Amazon and Google.
Use data, intuition, and research to launch a lucrative
PPC advertising campaign

40. No matter which platform you ultimately decide to use, these are key
components to running a successful PPC advertising campaign:
1. Reviews of your product
When you’re buying a new product, what’s the first thing you do? We bet
that you look at customer reviews. It’s only human nature!
2. Targeting long-tail, valuable keywords
Long-tail keywords will provide you with visitors that have a very specific
product in mind and who are much closer to the purchase, not research
phase.
3 Pricing your ads competitively and intelligently
To do this, you should set up proper tracking using Google UTM tracking
links is critical in understanding the full impact of your PPC campaigns.

41. The year is almost done by
now… But not you.
Let's make the best out of the last two months
while everyone is slacking

42. NOVEMEBER
There are eCommerce websites that function, and then there are
eCommerce websites that turn casual shoppers into customers. It’s time to
turn yours into the latter.
Continue reading to discover how to growth hack your website to lower
bounce rates and convert more customers in the process.
Growth hack your website for optimal sales using
tactics implemented by the world’s largest businesses
Psst... Click here to get SUMO for free

43. Step One: Make Your Website Easy to Use
Customers want a smooth shopping experience from the moment they
arrive to the moment they click “purchase.”
Patagonia does a great job with not overwhelming their customers when
they first arrive, only giving them a few options in the navigation bar.

44. Then, when you click on “Shop” they list all of their products in easy to read
categories, sorted by their most popular products.

45. Step Two: Offer a Powerful Search Function
Offering your customers a powerful search function is important for two
reasons: (1) It makes using your website easier, and (2) It allows you to
collect important data from your customers like popular products and
specific search terms.

46. Step Three: Include User Reviews
We’ve mentioned reviews already on Amazon, but it’s worth repeating here
so you can see how to best use reviews on your own website.

47. Step Four: Suggest Related and Popular Items
Your customer's worst nightmare as a shopper is making the wrong
decision, even after all the reviews and research.
Suggesting “related” and “popular” items in real-time can help to alleviate
some of those concerns.

48. DECEMBER
Everyone loves free stuff. Viral contests are a great way to attract attention
to your business, grow your email list, increase traffic, and drive additional
revenue.
Don’t believe me? Unbounce compared landing pages using contests to
those that didn’t… Get this, landing pages with contests captured 700%
more email subscribers.
Below are two types of viral contests you can run today.
Boost your email list subscribers and social following
by over 400% with viral contests

49. Contest #1: The Social Media ‘Share-to-Win’ (Social)
If you want your contest to truly go viral, then social media will have to play
a big role in increasing word-of-mouth among participants.
The best way to do this is to run a contest where social media sharing is
required for entry.

50. Contest #2: The ‘Partner’ Collaboration (Email)
If you’re a relatively small eCommerce business finding it a challenge to
gain traction, then you should be partnering with other brands to help boost
your email subscribers.
Find a partner within your industry, one where the relationship will be
mutually beneficial, and run a viral contest over the course of a month to
capture emails.

52. There you have it.
A massive, 12-month eCommerce marketing plan to help you take your
business to the next level.
Every one of the steps outlined in this guide are proven methods of
increasing traffic, customers, and revenue.
Skip around the guide, go back and repeat strategies, or try everything in
one month. Whatever it is, make sure you give your marketing plan a
facelift.
Ecommerce sales are projected to skyrocket this year, and I wouldn’t want
you to miss out on any of the fun (or profits).
RECAP

53. JANUARY
Rank top 10 in search engines by mapping out your
content with a focus on SEO
FEBRUARY
Use your "Mafia Offer" to make sales on Facebook and
Instagram
MARCH
Create an automated email campaign that turns casual
subscribers into lifelong customers and advocates

54. APRIL
Grow your Instagram account by over 150% and
increase sales by following this proven strategy
MAY
Reach your target customer and boost brand
awareness with influencer marketing
JUNE
Drive 2x the traffic to your website with these three
repeatable tactics

55. JULY
Prep your holiday season marketing plan to capitalize
on the biggest traffic opportunity of the year
AUGUST
Optimize your product landing pages for conversion
using this scientific, data-backed method
SEPTEMBER
Collaborate with the most powerful personalities in
your industry and increase referrals with affiliate
marketing

56. OCTOBER
Use data, intuition, and research to launch a lucrative
PPC advertising campaign
NOVEMEBER
Growth hack your website for optimal sales using
tactics implemented by the world’s largest businesses
DECEMBER
Boost your email list subscribers and social following
by over 400% with viral contests

57. Sumo arms you with a suite of tools to increase your
traffic, build a following and track your success every
step of the way. Get up and running in 37 seconds to
start converting visitors into your lifelong customers.
Free Tools to Automate Your
Site Growth
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FREE

58. Run your eCommerce
business on Shopify?
Get the SUMO Shopify app today!
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