6 Online Marketing Tactics to Increase Your Sales

Even if you're happy with the current number of sales you're making, there are always ways to increase these figures.

Online marketing is just one of these ways, and if done effectively, can make a real difference in your profits.

Try these online marketing techniques to make more sales:

Make use of affiliates. When you use affiliates, they generally promote your business online and drive new customers to your product or service. In exchange for this, you pay the affiliates a percentage of each sale that they make.

• • Affiliate marketing is not only an effective tactic but a cost-effective one too. You don't have to pay for advertising up front in order to get new prospects. You don't pay until after the sale is made, and then you only pay a percentage of each sale to the affiliate.
  • Also, the traffic generated is already targeted to your particular niche. When traffic is pre-warmed, it's more likely to convert into a sale.

Use the power of social media. Social media allows you to keep in touch with your customers while simultaneously growing your brand. Social media is more informal than your website, so a lighter, casual presence is required here.

• • • Your goal on social media is to engage with your customers. Ask questions, respond to their questions, and participate in discussions. You can take polls and have contests.
    • Post valuable information that will interest them, and they might share it with their friends and business associates as well!
    • Use a variety of formats for your posts, such as text, images, videos, and more.
    • Let them know about special sales that you're currently running, too. They'll be glad to save some money!
    • If you are not utilizing social media marketing in your overall marketing strategy, you could be missing out on a huge number of potential customers.

Target mobile phone users. Nowadays, most internet users browse the web using mobile devices. Ensure that your website and other marketing materials, such as your emails, are mobile-friendly.

• • A cost-effective way to reach new customers is via text message. Text messages on their smartphones have a higher open rate than emails. Take advantage of texts to reach local customers interested in your products.

Gain customers through giveaways. People like to receive free stuff, so why not take advantage of it? You can offer a coupon or freebie in exchange for a potential customer's email address. Once they're on your email list, you can continue to market to them via emails.

• • Opening a competition on social media can also be an effective way to build your email list or drive sales to new and existing customers.

Create a YouTube channel. One of the fastest-growing forms of content online today is video content, so it makes sense to take advantage of this trend by creating your own YouTube channel.

• • You won't need to create highly polished, professional videos. Most successful videos are simpler and show that you care about your customer base.
  • Just create a few how-to videos showcasing what your company does or how your products work.

Include testimonials on your website. One effective way of showing how good your products or services are is by including testimonials from past clients.

• • Allow your customers to submit their own video testimonials. To encourage your customers to make testimonials for you, you may want to consider offering a gift or discount coupon for their next purchase.
  • A positive review could turn a possible sale into a definite one, so encouraging your customers to make testimonials is worth your time and efforts.

Not all of the above online marketing tactics will be appropriate or work for your business but making the effort to try them could bring you greater profits. It's only when you try different techniques that you can test how effective they can be. Always make data-driven decisions.