Business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing requires forethought and a comprehensive strategy.
Are you looking for a way to increase profits and engagement on your B2C ( business-to-consumer) website? If so, we have some good news for you.
It’s possible to grow your business exponentially and get more interactions from users by fine-tuning your marketing strategy. Over 1.66 billion consumers shop online every year, so there’s no shortage of people to visit your website or buy your products.
The challenge that many business owners face is getting people to visit their site for the first time. Another common issue that plagues B2Cs across all industries is converting consumers once they land on their homepage.
Today, we are going to show you five proven strategies you can use to learn more about your target audience while securing more sales for your business.
Start gathering audience insights.
Let’s start by explaining a simple truth. If you don’t know much about your target audience, you’re going to have a hard time promoting your products, building rapport with customers, and growing your business.
You should always start your marketing strategy by thinking about your target audience. Ask yourself questions such as,
- What are consumers looking for in my industry?
- What can I do that my competitors are not?
- How can I get to the bottom of consumers’ issues and build a powerful, engaging experience?
Like most marketing strategies, you can get to the bottom of these answers by checking your audience insights. Your Google Analytics report can show you a wealth of information about your customers and their behavior on your site.
Look for common trends such as complaints, exit pages, and your highest-converting product. Hidden between the numbers, you can learn a lot about how consumers perceive your company.
Use what you learn to pinpoint your audience so you can create impactful marketing material. Once you know what people expect from your brand, you can move on to the next step.
Publish high-quality content.
What are the odds of you revisiting an e-commerce storefront if they don’t have an active and up to date blog? Our guess is slim to none. You would need to purchase another product from their store in order to go back for a repeat visit. Let’s be honest, other companies likely have comparable products and fully fleshed out blogs.
The best way to keep people on your site is by producing high-quality content. Research shows that companies that blog see 124% more lead growth compared to those who don’t. In other words, blogging can help you generate leads, which eventually translate to sales.
If you’ve researched your audience, you’re likely familiar with the kind of content they want to read. Use what you’ve learned to your advantage and focus on creating relevant, highly-engaging content.
When your posts are interactive and jam-packed with valuable information, consumers are likely to come back, even if they don’t immediately plan to make a purchase.
Diversify your marketing platforms.
One mistake we’ve seen many B2Cs make is they don’t diversify their marketing platform. They believe that it’s possible to have a thriving business just by marketing on their website and through email.
The reality is businesses are missing out on major marketing opportunities by not diversifying their platforms. Social media, for instance, is a great place to connect with consumers and grow your audience.
A stunning 66% of internet users have a Facebook account, which makes this one of the most valuable platforms you can use to promote your products.
You can share your blog posts, thoughts on the industry, or just a friendly hello to your followers. People on social media expect businesses to be engaging and keep in touch with people, even if they are not actively buying products from their store.
Engaging with your followers can help you build trust with your audience, while ultimately translates to more website visits. Once they land on your site, they’ll have access to your blog posts, online store, and much more. But before you can get to that step, you have to start building rapport as early as possible.
Streamline site design.
The design of your website can have a significant impact on how users engage with your brand. Consumers are looking for businesses that have an accessible website.
It’s hard to ignore the importance of a crisp mobile design for your store and website as a whole. Over 52.2% of all website traffic comes from mobile devices, so if your site isn’t optimized for these users, they may leave and choose not to return.
Including a secondary mobile-responsive template for people on their smartphone will ensure that your audience is able to get more value from your store.
Imagine going to a website, only to find out that the screen is distorted on your phone, buttons are impossible to press, and you can’t zoom in to read blog posts. You probably wouldn’t return to that page, and we totally understand why.
Designing a mobile-responsive site design isn’t something you can accomplish in one day, but it’s a significant piece of the B2C puzzle, and certainly worth investing your time and resources.
Reward consumers for visiting.
Finally, we want to talk about the benefits of rewarding consumers for visiting your online store. There are countless ways you can give back to users before they enter their credit card number, so let’s talk about some of the more significant changes you can make.
Lead magnets are essentially pieces of content that users can get if they subscribe to your email newsletter or list. They are typically long-form and include comprehensive guides and ebooks.
Consumers love reading what B2Cs have to say, providing there’s actual substance in the lead magnet. If you took the first step and researched your audience, you probably know some of the central questions or concerns customers in your industry have.
Use this knowledge to create a highly-engaging lead magnet that will keep people returning to your site. Don’t forget to use their subscription to promote new products or services as they are introduced.
You can also offer on-site discounts for new visitors. Rewarding a first time visitor with a 40% discount is a surefire way to build their trust and encourage future interactions. Of course, your discount doesn’t have to be 40%; pick whatever works for you.
Users are responsive to businesses that offer things of value before they make a transaction. While a steep discount involves the user spending money, the fact that you are giving them the deal and leaving it up to them to choose works in your favor.
Adding a limited-availability notice next to the discount can also drive sales based on FOMO (fear of missing out). A staggering 60% of people have experienced FOMO at some point, making it a popular way to secure more sales while engaging with customers.
It’s clear that B2C is going to grow in popularity as more people get access to the internet and online shopping. We expect to see a steady increase in sales for businesses across all industries over the next several years.
If you’re thinking about revamping your strategy and focusing on a B2C approach, these tips will help you start the process and grow your business and meet expectations in new and exciting ways.
