By Rodney Laws | Business
Ecommerce businesses have larger potential audiences than ever before thanks to the far reach of the internet and the relative affordability of national and international shipping, but they’re also facing more competition than ever before. A small clothing business in Colorado can now reach customers in Germany… but that means businesses in Germany can reach customers near you, too.
To thrive in the ecommerce world today, it’s crucial to know how to leverage the right marketing platforms so that you can better connect with and sell to your audience.
Pinterest should be a go-to marketing platform for ecommerce businesses of all shapes and sizes in 2021, and in this post we’re going to go over why it’s so important and how to get started.
Pinterest is a high-value marketing platform that your audience will likely use to discover and research items before purchasing. There’s an abundance of proof that Pinterest frequently drives direct conversions, including the following:
People are using Pinterest to find new products, and if you aren’t on the platform, there’s a solid chance that you’re missing out on those sales as a result.
There are several essential factors to consider when you’re ready to start marketing on Pinterest. You’ll need to set up a profile, work on strong content development, create engaging images, and connect Pinterest to your overall marketing strategy.
You can get a comprehensive overview in this free Quickstart course here, but let’s take a look at the basics that you absolutely need to know now.
Start by setting up a business profile on Pinterest. This (as opposed to a personal profile) will give you access to analytics and the ability to run native ad campaigns.
Credit: Pinterest
To create a strong profile, you should do the following:
Pinterest is a place where people come to research, so while of course you’ll want to have product pins that link directly to product pages to promote sales, think outside the box, too. If you’re able to create valuable, educational content that your target audience would love, that’s a great way to steer them to your brand.
A great example of this is Fenty Beauty. Their “shop” tab is filled with product pins, but you can also find an enormous library of pinned tutorials showing people how to use the products. This can drive immediate sales, and it’s a fantastic strategy.
Credit: Pinterest
Images are everything on Pinterest. Visuals are central to the platform, and the reality is that if they aren’t great, you’re unlikely to see a lot of traction here even if the content itself is solid.
Consider testing images that have two or three bright, dominant colours, and unlike Instagram, you don’t need to worry quite as much about lots of negative space; close-up images often perform well here.
In order to speed up visual creation, look into third-party tools like Tailwind that can help with image generation. You can have the tool automatically pull images from the site or upload them yourself, add text, and then choose different formatting and colour palettes to create a number of dynamic, visually-optimised pins in a matter of minutes.
Credit: Pinterest
There’s no graphic design experience needed, and you’ll still end up with pins that look professionally-created.
Credit: Pinterest
While Pinterest is an exceptional platform on its own, you’ll really have the best results with it if you connect it to your overall marketing strategy instead of treating it like a truly standalone entity.
See where Pinterest fits into your digital marketing funnel. If, for example, you’re able to send users from a pin to an educational blog post, you can use a CTA in that blog post to get them to sign up for your email newsletter. From there, you can use triggered autoresponders to follow up and nurture them into customers.
Plenty of pinners, after all, will likely add items to their cart before abandoning them for some reason. The ability to email someone within 12 or 24 hours after they’ve abandoned a cart with a coupon code can earn you a sale and a new customer. You can also set up PPC campaigns to retarget to users who added items to their cart but didn’t purchase, making your Pinterest marketing more effective.
Pinterest is an ecommerce marketing powerhouse, and that will hold strong through 2021. If you aren’t already using and prioritising the platform, the time to change that is now. Even though it does create one more profile that needs to be managed, the potential payoff here is massive, and if you don’t get started, there’s a good chance that you’re just handing your competition sales that should have been yours.
Keep in mind with all the resources and tools like Tailwind now available to brands and marketers, Pinterest marketing is easier than ever, making that payoff even sweeter.
Ready to get started marketing your ecommerce business on Pinterest? Sign up with your free trial at Tailwind today.
Author bio: Ana Gotter is a strategic content marketer specializing in business, finance, ecommerce, and marketing writing, though she’s worked across a range of industries. She works from her home in Orlando with her three dogs and can be contacted at www.anagotter.com.