Social eCommerce

Chapter 4. Marketing Strategy: Digital Goods and Services

If you just read Chapter 3, there probably isn’t going to be much in this chapter that is useful to you. In fact, some of the information here could be harmful, if applied, because it is geared toward a completely different market than the advice in Chapter 3. If your ecommerce business is not selling digital goods and services (such as webinars, ebooks, software licenses, online media streaming, etc.), then skip this chapter and head to Chapter 6 to get a comprehensive education on ad design and testing.

In the beginning of this book, we said that a successful strategy has three components: intention, context, and tactics. This is why we have separated the sale of digital goods and services—things that are delivered and consumed digitally—from the sale of other sorts of things. There is a low barrier to entry for this kind of sale compared with other categories. This is where impulse buys thrive, and viral marketing can bring a tidal wave of sales.

The key to successful ecommerce sales is driving prospects to opt in, partake in free samples, and make impulse purchases. You can use these separately or combine them. We’ll get into the details for both of these approaches in this chapter.

Let’s start with Figure 4-1, which shows a sales funnel as a visualization and planning guide for your business.

Figure 4-1. Sales funnel of Stephan ...