If you are at the head of some eCommerce venture, then chances are you’ll have your own website to which you intend to drive as much traffic to as possible. However, unless your site is massively successful, you’ll almost certainly be making use of other sales channels as well – or you should be. You can list your products on Amazon, Shopify, and eBay. The important thing to remember here is that success on these sites requires a different marketing strategy than the one you are using to draw traffic toward your own site.
Of these alternative sales channels, eBay is one of the most effective and lucrative, and it is also pretty unique. eBay works on a business model that makes it quite different to most of its competitors. As you’ve probably guessed, this is the bidding aspect of eBay, although bear in mind that this is not the only thing that sets it apart. There’s a unique type of customer that visits eBay, normally those looking for something specific hard to come by and this too presupposes a different marketing strategy.
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The How and Why of eBay Marketing.
The biggest benefit of selling your wares on eBay is that you instantly have access to a truly massive base of customers who are ready to buy. The downside is that this massive customer base has thousands of other sellers competing for their customs. Accordingly, you need to stand out or risk becoming just another drop in the ocean.
Therefore, you’ll need an eBay-specific marketing strategy. Do not just assume that you can use the same one you’re using for your direct-to-consumer site.
This is not to say, however, that you cannot reuse your already-existing marketing materials. If you have winning marketing videos, for example, then for sure you can make them work for you here, but you need to present them in a specific way – in the eBay way.
Marketing Strategies for eBay
There are specific rules to eBay, and you need to keep these in mind when marketing on the site, but you also need to be innovative in order to stand out. For sure, it is a tricky balance to strike but nobody said business was easy. Here follows some marketing strategies you can make use of, but keep in mind that there’s no substitute for being original. You can start here then, but for real eBay success, try to go beyond.
Use eBay Advertising
One of the great things about eBay is that it has its own internal product marketing system. You might be reluctant to rely on this, but it really is the best way to reach a market that, while you may now have access to, you have certainly not cornered.
Make Videos
And yes, that means you make them. Video production company We Make Videos out of Nashville, say that you’re using a third-party video production company, you should specifically request that the video is intended for eBay. This is a common approach,and any video production company should be able to satisfy this request.
Focus on Ratings and Reviews
This one applies to most large eCommerce sites, and eBay is no exception. Ratings and reviews are in a certain sense best form of marketing on eBay. Independent customers singing the praises of your product is perhaps the best way to stand out among many sellers on the platform.
There is no getting around it, all but the largest of the eCommerce companies should be selling their products on eBay. The advantages are plentiful, but never forget there are marketing challenges.
