Many online entrepreneurs have come to see dropshipping as an ideal eCommerce business model. There is no need to invest and build up an inventory, very little set up cost and quick profits.
Though you undoubtedly know what dropshipping is, a quick recap may help.
The most usual model involves selling on Amazon, eBay, or Shopify but without holding any stock. When you receive an order, you pass it on to your supplier.
The supplier sends it to the customer. Your role is that of an intermediary who pockets the arbitrage. At no point does the product pass through your hands.
Due to the enormous ease with which a dropshipping business can be set up, there are thousands out there vying for a piece of the pie. You need to stand out.
If you are looking for tips about how to successfully promote your dropshipping business, you need a powerful dropshipping platform that empowers and educates you. Plus, you need to keep on innovating, and for that, be sure to read these tips.
Tips to Promote Dropshipping Sales
Facebook Ads
As of June 2019, there are over 2.4 billion monthly active users on Facebook. That is one-third of the entire global population.
It is a no-brainer that you need to run Facebook Ads not only because it has such a vast user base but because it allows you to target a demographic by location, gender, age, education, and numerous other filters.
It is the most targeted form of marketing ever. And it is also the cheapest form of advertising. For as little as $10, you can reach 1,500 people.
It is also unbelievably fast. If you wish you can reach out to your intended audience right now with few clicks.
Facebook offers detailed metrics that show you the number of impressions, clicks, and conversions, making it straightforward to calculate your ROI.
Create and share content on social media
As a brand, you must tell your story through gripping content on social media. Whether it’s via infographics, videos, blogs, or any other content format, you need to get some traction on your social media pages.
Consumers love videos, for instance. According to a study, 88% of businesses claimed they are satisfied by the ROI generated by social media videos.
Of course, it is time-consuming to create a video, edit it, and publish it. But the emergence of new tools such as Animaker allows you to select a template, drag and drop elements and directly upload it to Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube.
And there’s so much more to do. Use social media management tools to research, ideate, generate content, popularize it, measure and improve your marketing.
Find your niche
Don’t start a dropshipping business because your friend earned an extra $3,000 by buying Boho silver jewelry from AliExpress and selling them via Amazon.
You need to have a credible idea about your products. To find your niche research Amazon and eBay. Find what is in demand.
There are tools such as Trendosaur that completely eliminates guesswork.
Once you have identified your niche, find reliable suppliers. If you are sourcing products from China, it is best to use China EMS (ePacket) and not China Post. The website of the latter mostly uses Mandarin and is hard to navigate.
It is important to understand that trends are always changing. Thus if the hottest selling product last year was Pet Deshedding Brush Glove it might not interest to customers tomorrow.
Most firms like to gift their employees’ calendars, hoodies, gift chains, and the like. Use a custom printing service like iCustomLabel to customize the order.
Stay on top of trends and try to have an insight into how the market will work in the future.
Use blogs
The use of blogs might sound old school, but it is still a popular way to generate organic traffic.
Every month WordPress users publish almost 92 million new posts. 57% of marketers claim that blogging builds a customer base.
They are not only useful for letting people know about your business but also for SEO.
Blog marketing is low cost and a tried and tested way to grow the number of visitors to your site. If you cannot devote time to writing, then outsource it to a freelancer.
For a few hundred dollars every month, you would have several thousand words of brand new content.
Blog posts can be easily modified and repurposed for Facebook posts.
Customer service
Great customer service is probably the biggest tool in your arsenal. Dropshipping is not only about copy-pasting customer details to the supplier’s website.
It is about caring for your customers so that they keep returning again and again.
Since not many dropshippers pay a lot of attention to this aspect, it is easy to stand out.
Encourage the customers to leave reviews for you. Be receptive of any criticism and immediately regret the inconvenience caused.
Correct it to the extent that you can and offer the customer some freebie for their trouble.
It is cheaper to get an existing disgruntled customer to return than to get a new one.
Email marketing
Every dollar spent on email marketing generates an eye-popping $44. The dropshipping business model allows you easy access to the customer’s inbox. You can be sure that they have not marked you as spam so that they can be notified about the order.
Take time to create personalized emails which have a higher rate of click-through.
From time to time, offer your customers a fantastic discount. The huge profit margin of 300% or more on dropshipping makes such offers not only possible but a feasible way to grow your business.
Conclusion
Hopefully, these tips would give a fillip to your online business.
In brief, find your niche and use Facebook Ads, videos, and blogs.
Pursue these avenues vigorously and create value for your customers. Within a few months, your dropshipping business will grow beyond your wildest expectations.