CHAPTER 3: E-COMMERCE MARKETING AND SALES STRATEGIES

Marketing

Refers to activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of a product or service.

Includes: advertising, selling, and delivering products to consumers or other businesses.

Sales

• Refers to all activities that lead to the selling of goods and services.

• Salespeople help prospects become customers confidently and efficiently.

Professionals in marketing

• Aim to get the attention of key potential audiences through advertising.
  

• Promotions may involve Celebrity endorsements, Catchy phrases or slogans, Memorable packaging or designs, and Overall media exposure.

Traditional marketing

creating ads and buying media space.

Inbound marketing

creating content that helps potential buyers understand how products or services solve their problems.

Modern Marketing Role

• Marketing now takes responsibility for educating prospects to move them smoothly through the buying process.
  

• Sales traditionally took over once a prospect existed (e.g., someone entered a store).
  

• Today, websites and online content handle much of that work.

Trust

• the currency of all business—crucial, fragile, and slow to develop.

• Websites that build trust shorten the sales process.

• Sales reps remain vital for human connection and purpose during transactions.
  

Marketing Mix (Five Ps)

• Product

• Price

• Place

• Promotion

• People

Product

• Item(s) the business offers to fulfill market demand or fill a gap.

• Marketers must understand what’s being sold, how it stands out, and the other competing/substitute products
  

Price

• How much the company sells the product for.
  

• Factors: unit cost, marketing/distribution expenses, and competitor prices.

Place

• The distribution channels of the product, whether physical stores, online, or both.

• Product placement matters. When it's sold in a storefront, what kind of physical product placement does it get? When it's sold online, what kind of digital product placement does it get?
  

Promotion

• Integrated marketing communications campaign.

• Includes: Advertising, Sales promotions, Public relations, Direct marketing, Sponsorship, and Guerrilla marketing.

• vary depending on the product life cycle stage.

• Marketers understand that consumers associate a product’s price and distribution with its quality,

People

• The people in your business (sales, customer service, etc.) affect success.

• A newer addition to what was previously known as the four Ps of marketing.

• Rude or unhelpful employees drive customers away; good service leads to repeat business.

Happy customers = repeat customers

Tools for Sales and Marketing Success (CRM, MAT)

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

• Marketing Automation Tools

Both tools should integrate smoothly for efficiency. Even small businesses can benefit from low-cost, long-term marketing strategies.

CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

keeps track of all prospects, customers, and clients, with details about contacts, deals, and companies — and it allows for robust analysis and collaboration. (for sales team)

Marketing Automation Tools

send and track emails, automate campaign tasks, and analyze data. (for marketers)

Marketing Strategies

1. Produce Original Content

2. Optimize Website Layout

3. Content Marketing

4. Email Marketing to Nurture Leads

5. Social Media Advertising

6. Web Design for First Impressions

1. Produce Original Content

• The first step in setting up an e-commerce website. 

• Create high-quality and original website content.

• Be creative and unique—content should engage, not deter users.

2. Optimize Website Layout

• Test the website’s layout, language, and placement of conversion elements.

• Ensure checkout is simple and intuitive.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

the process of optimizing your website to boost its ranking in the search results.

• Optimizes website ranking to drive traffic.

• 80% of shoppers research products online. To help them figure out if your product is right for their needs, they turn to search engines to provide them with valuable information about products and brands.

SEO Essentials

• Find relevant long-tail keywords. If you want your business to appear in relevant searches.

• Optimize product images. All product listings on your site should include high-quality images to showcase the details of each, but keep them compressed for faster loading and better user experience.

• Optimize title tags and meta descriptions.  Include your core keyword in both components, so both humans and search engines know your page is relevant to the search results.

3. Content Marketing

• Attracts positive attention and sustainable conversions.

• Create diverse content (blogs, videos, newsletters).

• Invest in quality tools, experts, and training.

• Apply Pareto’s 80/20 Rule:

  • 80% informational content

  • 20% promotional content

How to Start with Content Marketing

• Create a blog

• Use a content calendar

• Try different content types

Create a blog

• Focus on industry topics and relevant keywords. on industry-related topics and target relevant keywords to help you appear in the right search results.
  

• Blog consistently for fresh content. Having fresh content consistently keeps people coming back to your website.

Use a content calendar

• Keeping track of your content will make it easier for you to spread out your content over time.

• Plan earlier but not too early, might have unexpected changes, at least 3–4 weeks ahead to stay organized and avoid overlap.

Try different content types

• Blogs, videos, infographics, eBooks, and more.

• Keeping track of your content will make it easier for you to spread out your content over time.

4. Email Marketing to Nurture Leads

• Builds personal connections with your audience.

• 82% of companies already use it.

• Great return on investment (ROI)

Steps to Effective Email Marketing

• Obtain subscribers organically (no purchased lists). 

• Segment your email list (demographics, interests).
  

• Personalize the experience for your audience.

5. Social Media Advertising

• Increases brand recognition and drives conversions.
  

Key Tips:

• Use compelling visuals: photos or videos of products in use.
  

• Target the right people: create buyer personas.
  

• Use appropriate CTAs: e.g., “Learn More,” “Shop Now.”

6. Web Design for First Impressions

• Your website is the heart of your ecommerce marketing strategy, so you must invest in building a beautiful design that creates a positive first impression with your audience.
  

Best Practices:

• Use a unique custom design with your brand’s colors and style.

• Create simple navigation (e.g., JC Penney’s category structure).

• Make sure your site looks good on mobile.

Affiliate Marketing

A Process where an affiliate earns a commission for marketing another company’s product.

• Sales are tracked through affiliate links.

Three Main Parties of Affiliate Marketing

SAC

1. Seller/Product Creator – provides goods or services. Solo entrepreneur or large enterprise, vendor, merchant, product creator, or a retailer with a product to market.

2. Affiliate/Publisher – promotes products to their audience. Either an individual or a company that markets the seller’s product in an appealing way to potential consumers.

3. Consumer – purchases through affiliate links.
   

How Do Affiliate Marketers Get Paid?

PpS

PpL

PpC

1. Pay per Sale – affiliate earns a percentage of each sale.

2. Pay per Lead – payment for generating leads or sign-ups.

3. Pay per Click – payment for redirecting traffic to the seller’s site.

 Common Types of Affiliate Marketing Channels

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1. Influencers – promote through followers and social media.

2. Bloggers – write product reviews that drive traffic.

3. Paid Search Microsites – focused small sites with specific CTAs.

4. Email Lists – promote via newsletters or email campaigns.

5. Large Media Websites – high-traffic sites promoting products with banners and links.

Referral marketing

is a marketing tactic that makes use of recommendations and word of mouth to grow a business's customer base through the networks of its existing customers.

Key Statistics

• Word-of-mouth drives 5x more sales than paid ads.

• Referred leads convert 30% better and have 16% higher lifetime value.
  

Six Principles of Sharing (Jonah Berger’s Contagious)

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1. Social currency: We share what makes us look good.

2. Triggers: We share what’s at the top of our minds.

3. Emotion: We share what we care about.

4. Public: We imitate what we see people around us are doing.

5. Practical value: We share things that have value to others.

6. Stories: We share stories, not information.

Referral Marketing vs. Affiliate Marketing

• Affiliate: artificial recommendation (not necessarily a customer).

• Referral: genuine recommendation from an existing customer.

Why Referral Marketing is Powerful

1. Precision Targeting – referrers know who to reach and how. Sometimes the shopper reaches out asking if their friends or family have a referral code for a particular product or service that they want. 

2. Trust Factor – According to Nielsen, people are four times more likely to buy if they are referred to by a friend or family.  (4x more likely to buy).

3. Reach and Acceleration – With referral marketing campaigns, your reach increases quickly. Current customers must do the work for you by reaching out to their friends and family to get the incentive.

• Celebrities have an extensive reach

Conversion Funnel

• Illustrates the customer journey from awareness to purchase and retention.

• May include upselling, cross-selling, and subscription models.
  

Importance of Conversion Funnel

• Knowing your funnel allows you to optimize each stage for higher sales.
  

• Example: you find out that social media (like Facebook) may play a large role in conversions, so you act on it by boosting your Facebook activity and encouraging your website visitors to follow you on Facebook.

Key Takeaway (Conversion Funnel)

Identify which platforms or actions most impact your conversions, then double down on them.