What is dropshipping?

Dropshipping is slowly becoming a very popular concept and more and more people are looking for detailed information on this topic. It is a specific logistics model used for online sales. It consists in transferring the responsibility for the entire shipping process to the supplier. This means that the online store does not have its own goods and its own warehouses, but only cooperates with an external company that carries out orders transferred to it. Some of the benefits of such a solution are obvious – no storage costs and no need to invest in goods (which may or may not sell), so much lower financial risk. In addition, the transfer of logistics to an external entity makes running a business much easier. Of course, that doesn’t mean dropshipping has only advantages.

Advantages of dropshipping

It cannot be concealed – dropshipping is a very tempting solution that greatly simplifies the process of running an online store and allows you to start earning money on your own account very quickly. You can list many advantages of the system. What kind?

Own business without a lot of capital
Setting up a company usually requires some investments, and in the case of a store they are significant – you need the entire infrastructure to handle orders, as well as the goods and the idea for an online store. Meanwhile, dropshipping allows you to “cut” most of the costs of the project. The only expenses you have to bear at the beginning are those related to the operation of the store’s website and shipping. This means that basically anyone can afford such a business. Moreover, the lack of significant expenses means you can quickly see a return on your investment and start enjoying your profits.

Running your business from anywhere
An online store run in a standard way gives the owner a lot of freedom, but not entirely. It is necessary, among others having a stationary warehouse where goods are stored and where orders are completed and prepared for shipment. Dropshipping is a model that offers much more freedom. You don’t have to have a warehouse that requires inspection at least from time to time. This means you can just work from home and earn money without leaving your home. A trip to another city or even a country is not a problem either. You just need a good internet connection to control your business all the time.

Less responsibilities, less responsibility
By running your own online store in the dropshipping model, you are mainly responsible for collecting orders, acquiring customers and maintaining relationships with them. If the e-shop is integrated with a wholesaler, the inventory and prices are updated automatically. Many companies also offer after-sales service (i.e. primarily returns and complaints). Therefore, the scope of your duties and responsibilities is limited. This means more private life and less stress.

A simple way to do business
The traditional model of running a store also requires much broader knowledge, for example about the logistics process. In addition, it is usually necessary to hire workers, which can also be a challenge. People without experience often find it difficult to enter this world without help. Meanwhile, dropshipping, taking off the most onerous duties from the store owner, means that almost everyone can set up an e-store.

Offer flexibility
If you invest in a commodity, not only do you freeze a large amount of cash, but you also run the risk of it not selling. In the dropshipping model, you can quickly change the assortment if the current one is not popular enough. This flexibility also allows you to adapt to current trends and thus maximize sales. Currently, wholesalers offering cooperation on the basis of dropshipping offer a very wide selection of products from various departments. This in turn increases your options for action.

Fast service = satisfied customer
Reputable dropshipping wholesalers work very efficiently, preparing the order immediately after receiving it. This allows you to offer your customers fast delivery and thus increase their satisfaction!

The disadvantages of dropshipping and the risks associated with operating in this model

As mentioned at the beginning, however, dropshipping also has some downsides like any other business model. However, it is worth knowing that some of them can be minimized or even eliminated. What problems can owners of e-shops operating on the basis of dropshipping face?

Less control over the business
By delegating much of your duties and responsibilities to an external party, you also lose some control over the business. It is the wholesaler who decides how your goods will be packed, shipped and delivered, and you have no right to question it. Therefore, before choosing a partner, you should always carefully check these issues and the rules of customer service (including the return or complaint policy). These are factors that significantly affect the image of the store. If you care about good customer relations (and this is the basis for satisfactory sales results), you cannot ignore it.

Big competition
The numerous advantages of dropshipping and the low entry threshold mean that there are more and more stores operated in this model. Wholesalers also have a limited (though diverse) range. So it’s almost certain that no matter what you choose to sell, someone is already doing it. This in turn means that in order to grab some of the market for yourself, you will have to differentiate yourself. Don’t forget – even a seemingly simple business, such as an e-shop based on dropshipping, requires inventiveness and an entrepreneur’s instinct.

Low margins
Strong competition often also means low margins. Thus, generating a reasonable profit requires obtaining good sales results. However, it is worth knowing that the amount of the margin largely depends on the type of goods offered. There are industries where it is quite high.

Problems with order fulfillment
It happens that cooperation with a wholesaler is not as smooth as you might want and expect. Sometimes the system fails and the goods shown in the store as available are in fact out of stock. Other times, the order fulfillment time may be longer due to the order queue. However, you can partially protect yourself against this by concluding an appropriate contract with the supplier.

Unclear return and complaint policy
If the company and warehouse data are different, this may mislead customers who want to make a complaint or legally return the goods. Therefore, you need to remember to put transparent information on the store’s website about where the unwanted product can be sent to. The problem can also be solved by adding ready-made returns forms to the packages.

Insufficient knowledge of the goods
The dropshipping model allows you to sell any goods. Which means that sometimes you can start operating in an industry that you don’t know well. This, in turn, can become a problem when you start getting detailed questions about specific goods or their parameters. Customers also often expect professional advice on the selection of a product from the store. The solution is to limit yourself to operating in the industry you know or to carefully read the elements of the offer, e.g. by ordering samples from the supplier.

Duplicate content
When running a dropshipping store, you can often become a victim of duplicate content, i.e. duplicate content, which results in a lower position of the store in Google search results. Therefore, never rely on copied product descriptions! Prepare your own and it will pay off for sure.

Dropshipping – how to start?

Nowadays, starting a business in the dropshipping model is quite easy, because there are many wholesalers serving customers in this way in the global market. First, however, you need to create your own trading platform. There are many solutions available that operate on a variety of principles. They differ primarily in the possibilities and costs of setting up and running a store. That is why it is worth carefully analyzing the available options to choose the right one right away.

You can create the store yourself, which is very easy, especially in the case of some platforms, or you can commission it to an external company. Note that the latter will usually produce a more professional effect, but will be more expensive. In each case, attention should be paid to the possibility and method of integrating the platform with solutions for dropshipping.

Choosing wholesalers for dropshipping

Subsequently, you can choose a key partner for your dropshipping business, i.e. wholesalers. There are currently many possibilities in this regard. However, be careful as not every wholesaler offers the same conditions to its partners. What to pay attention to? What to ask? The most important issues that should interest you are:

– shipping costs,
– available forms of delivery,
– the possibility of linking product categories between the wholesaler and the store,
– automatic updating of inventory and availability,
– additional fees for providing photos or product descriptions,
– method of packing goods for shipment,
– the ability to attach personalized extras to shipments – e.g. advertising materials, discount codes, gifts,
– minimum order amount,
– the company’s return and complaint policy (including the cost of returning the goods by the customer),
– first orders must be paid in advance (some wholesalers have to do so).

It’s a good idea to check the reviews of the company before deciding on their services or, if possible, try the advice of other shop owners on dropshipping. It is especially worth checking forums, blogs and groups on Facebook, where you can often find a lot of useful information.

When signing a contract with a wholesaler, make sure that all the previously discussed issues are included in it. If you use a special platform, read its terms and conditions. This is because creating an account means its acceptance.

Dropshipping – is it worth it?

Summarizing: is it worth “playing” in dropshipping? The answer, of course, is not clear cut. However, you should bear in mind that, contrary to what you may read in some articles or websites, this is certainly not a “golden deal” that will help you get rich effortlessly. Running a store is always a job that requires time, knowledge and often sacrifice. It should be remembered that due to the nature of the dropshipping model, obtaining high earnings is possible only if you achieve very good sales results. This, in turn, most often means the need to actively acquire customers, conduct advanced marketing activities and care for the highest level of service, including communication with consumers. You will probably need to invest in positioning (so that customers can reach your store at all), marketing or creating an attractive and functional website. It all takes resources.

It is worth noting, however, that dropshipping is an opportunity to create a business from almost nothing and helps to significantly minimize the risk of starting a store. The model also allows you to easily examine the demand for specific products. If used properly, it can turn out to be very effective, as proven by numerous stores operating in this way. Is this a solution for you? You have to judge for yourself!

First things first: don’t expect an instant return on investment from your online store. As in any business niche, e-commerce takes time to develop your business and guide your customers through the marketing funnel. However, if you think it is taking too long and your results have not flickered for a long time, you do need to do something about it. You cannot “add to business” endlessly. So what to do?

Look objectively at your e-shop activity

What aspects are worth taking into account?

The quality of customer service
What was the process of servicing customers who so far decided to use the services of your store? Was everything smooth and without problems? The ordered products reached the addressees on time, and the buyers received the goods as described? Or maybe there are some reservations and complaints? If so, how did you react to them?

There is a lot of competition in the e-commerce world. Today, you win not only with the lowest price, but also with the highest quality of customer service. If there are clashes and negative reviews follow, the chances of staying in business with a good result decrease.

If you notice that the sales process can be improved and streamlined – be sure to implement these changes! The more satisfied the customer with the cooperation, the greater the probability that they will recommend your store to their friends. The power of such recommendations can be very long!

Communication channels used
To increase the visibility of your e-shop, you need to be where your customers are. Is your e-shop present on social media, e.g. on Facebook? If so, is your profile active there? How often do new posts appear on it? Do you answer customer questions? What are you posting? Are there other customer reviews? These elements may be important because activity in social media builds awareness of your brand and creates its image.

Also remember that social media is a great place to promote e-shops. More about it in a moment.

Ranges
Take a look at how many people visit your e-shop each month. Combine this information with competition data. Why is the number of visits important? Because the number of transactions also depends to a large extent on it. Although it is obvious that not everyone who visits your e-store will automatically become its customer, each visit brings you closer to conversion, and the better the targeted group, the greater the probability.

In addition, the larger the ranges, the more valuable the page becomes in the eyes of Google’s algorithms, and thus – the higher its position in search results.

Take a closer look at your advertising strategy

Advertising is a trade lever – this well-known saying is more than just an empty phrase. It works very well for an e-commerce niche. With a huge number of online stores, you have to advertise. A well-thought-out, coherent and well-implemented campaign is the foundation of success.

So how have you advertised yourself so far? Did you only use free tools, e.g. ran a Facebook shop profile without even investing in advertising on this website? Or maybe you spent a lot of money on marketing, but it did not translate into return on investment?

In the latter situation, there may be many reasons for the failure of the campaign – from the wrong selection of the target group, through an inadequately formulated message, to incorrect setting of campaign parameters. This could happen, for example, if you did all these tasks yourself, and you are not an expert in digital marketing.

In theory, setting up an advertising campaign is simple. Exactly. In theory. In practice, not necessarily. Without a good action plan and its precise implementation, the advertising budget may go away, not even increasing the number of visits to the store, let alone conversions. Therefore, it is extremely important to optimize the campaign, i.e. target it so that it invests funds in groups where it is most profitable.

Does this mean you need to cut your advertising budget and focus on other aspects of your business? On the contrary! Money well spent on marketing will translate into the expected results and will allow you to finally spread your wings.

Effective advertising in e-commerce, which is what?

Marketing in the world of e-commerce can go two ways: outbound and inbound.

Outbound marketing is all tools that focus on actively looking for customers and convincing them to take advantage of the offer. Inbound marketing is based on inbound traffic – that is, conducting activities in such a way that the customers come to the company themselves.

A good strategy for an online store should include tools in the area of both of these strategies – so that you can achieve short-term goals (e.g. quick increase in sales in connection with a promotional campaign) and long-term (i.e. acquiring customers who will come back more than once, and even promote your business). The question is, what exactly to do?

There are tons of advertising tools you can use. One thing is certain: it is worth focusing on direct advertising, PR activities and SEO tools. Let us discuss them one by one.

Online store advertising

There are many advertising tools on the web. And so, e-commerce campaigns can be conducted, for example, using:
– Google Ads, such as product ads – it is worth making sure that products from the store appear in the advertising section in Google search results. Currently, the search engine presents a “carousel” of products above advertising links and from organic results. This is where you want to be!
– banner advertising – advertising banners, presenting, for example, the latest promotional campaigns and discounts, should go to, for example, portals whose content is identical to your offer.
– remarketing advertising – it can take many forms, but the rule is simple: if the customer has already visited your online store, the ads displayed on the banners will directly relate to his visit. For example, he will see specific products he has been browsing with a proposal to reduce their prices. This strategy works very effectively!
– ads in social media – on Facebook, these are ads redirecting to the store, placed in the news feed, as well as in the side panels of the website.

Large online stores also advertise in traditional media – on the radio and even on television. However, you can only afford it if you plan very large ranges and are sure that you can handle them logistically.

Remember: advertising, especially the banner one, is primarily used to achieve short-term sales goals. It is aimed especially at consumers who are already potentially interested in your offer and need an impulse to take action.

Image is important

Take care of it especially in the world of e-commerce. How to do it?

– Run profiles on social media – be where your potential customers are and interact with them. Which social media should you choose? Of course, Facebook is a must, also when you operate in the B2B area. Instagram and LinkedIn can also be useful.
– Join consumer feedback programs – give customers the opportunity to review your store and try to get as many authentic, positive recommendations as possible. Such an opinion may be encouraged by, for example, an additional discount on subsequent purchases.
– Think about working with influencers – especially if you want to sell on a large scale.

Increase your visibility

The reason why an online store may not be profitable may be that… it is invisible to Google’s algorithms. And if it’s not there, it may be harder for the customer to reach it. How to change it?

– optimize the content on the e-shop website – if you use product descriptions from their manufacturer, get rid of them. Such plagiarisms are poorly received by search engine robots and lower your rating. However, unique texts on the home page, as well as those containing categories, subcategories and specific products will strengthen your position;
– think about sponsored articles that will combine SEO and image functions. Thanks to them, you will gain valuable linking and engage customers at the same time,
– make sure that the e-store meets the applicable standards – it is, among others, o responsiveness of the website, as well as the loading time of the start page or smooth operation of the entire store,
– consider running a shop blog – it will serve as a guide for a potential customer, and will also be a great tool for long tail positioning.

Acquire valuable leads

When does a client become a client? Once he knows your brand, trusts it, is aware of your products and the need to purchase them. However, in order for him to be able to go all the way through the marketing funnel, you must first get in touch with him – so that you can stay in it for a long time.

The best way? Acquiring e-shop newsletter recipients. It’s quite a simple task – especially if you offer a 10% discount on purchases for entering your address. It’s worth it!

A long mailing list with the addresses of potentially interested people is a real gold mine. In well-matched e-mails in terms of content and graphics, you can:
– recommend new texts on the company blog,
– inform about current promotions and discounts,
– remind you about the products you offer.

This way you will stay in touch with the client and build a long-term relationship. And what next? Conversion is on the horizon!

There may be more reasons why your store “does not sell” – for example, a terrible website layout, difficulty in making a purchase (generally bad UX), or, for example, poorly selected payment or shipping options. It is worth auditing such a store to gain a holistic knowledge of what can be better in it.

What to look for when choosing shared hosting?

Shared hosting is the most popular form of using a server that allows you to create your website at low cost. In this case, the resources we use are shared with other users within one very efficient server. This keeps prices affordable. The server is fully administered by the hosting company, and users can conveniently use all functions via an easy-to-use panel.

If you are creating your own website for the first time, shared hosting will probably be the most suitable for you – it allows you to create a corporate website, portfolio, blog or medium-sized online store. Unless you develop complex solutions that require custom solutions, or host sites visited by hundreds of thousands of users a day, most likely shared hosting will be right for you.

When analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of individual hosting services, it is worth noting that there is no one best solution for everyone. For a photographer who wants to put all his photos and videos online, the most important aspect may be the available disk space, while an entrepreneur who runs a small business and just wants to create his “business card” online does not want to pay for unused gigabytes, while would like to use more e-mail accounts. A solution recommended by your friend may not work for you. For this reason, I cannot answer the question of which hosting is the best. Instead, we indicate issues that should always be checked before choosing.

Uptime – time trouble-free operation

This term stands for uptime, which is simply the reliability of hosting. When you set up a website, you want it to be always available. Imagine that you are starting a long-planned promotion in your online store or providing potential customers with links to your portfolio … and due to server failure the website is currently unavailable. There is no doubt that even if the breakdown is short, it can mean very serious financial losses for the entrepreneur.

Until a few years ago, interruptions in the operation of servers were commonplace, which is why the best providers introduced the concept of uptime to stand out from the competition. This value is expressed as a percentage and is often referred to as SLA. For example, an uptime / SLA of 99% means that servers are running smoothly 99% of the time. Currently, reputable hosting companies already offer uptime / SLA usually at the level of 99.7 – 99.9%. However, we do not always find this information at all – in some cases, hosting service providers are confident in the reliability of the technologies offered and prepared to pay compensation in rare emergencies.

Disk space available

One of the most important factors that we should pay attention to when choosing hosting is also the available disk space – the amount of space on the server that we will have to store all kinds of files necessary for the functioning of the website.

In case you already have your website and just want to transfer it to another server, you can easily see how much disk space you used. There should be no problem accessing historical data. However, it will be more difficult to assess your needs if you are just setting up your first website.

Remember that the place is taken by:
– website template files and software – PHP, HTML, JavaScript scripts – WordPress installation without template and plugins is 50-60 MB, PrestaShop software for creating online stores – 70-80 MB;
– graphic files, photos, videos. – a typical photo from a smartphone is 1.5 – 6 MB – due to the thumbnails, this number should be multiplied by two, a 10-minute video in the quality of 480 pixels may take up to 150 MB.
– databases – they will contain all the content that you publish on your website in text form, for example blog entries, as well as data on the configuration of themes or plugins.
– e-mail accounts – remember that each message takes up space on your server. This applies to both sent and received messages as well as unsolicited correspondence from the SPAM folder. Especially in a situation where you massively send and receive large amounts of e-mails from customers or you have many mailboxes, this can translate into a large consumption of disk space.
– logs and own backups – can also take up additional disk space.

Data transfer

In addition to the space for your files on disks, also pay attention to the available transfer. This is information from which we will find out what amounts of data we can download and send to the server each month. This number includes all page views by both users and bots.

In this case, too, it may be difficult to estimate future needs if we cannot rely on past information. However, there are sites that allow you to ‘weigh’ existing websites in this respect, such as tools.pingdom.com. For example, you can check a competitor’s page and try to estimate your needs by multiplying the page’s “weight” by the number of views per month.

Some hosting companies offer unlimited bandwidth with no limit. However, remember that such unlimited hosting applies only to websites and materials that are on these websites. Usually, in the regulations, you will find provisions that prohibit the abuse of unlimited transfer.

Hosting speed

The vast majority of users leave the website if it fails to load within a few seconds. Only the most determined wait longer. For this reason, loading speed is fundamental when choosing your hosting.

Slow page loading or problems with displaying some elements will discourage potential elements. For this reason, it is worth paying attention, among others on the type of disks used.

As part of the hosting service, you can meet the following types of disks:
– standard HDD drives – Hard Disc Drive – classic disc drives,
– fast SSD drives – Solid State Drive – semiconductor drives,
– super-fast NVMe SSDs – state-of-the-art drives up to 10 times faster than SDD drives.

And you probably already know which one will be the best choice, right? Yes. It is worth to bet on SSD or SSD NVMe.

In addition, it is worth paying attention to IOPS – this abbreviation stands for the number of operations performed per second. Some hosting plans, despite using SSD (or SSD NVMe) disks, limit the speed of reading and writing to the disk (given in MB / s) or IOPS. It’s worth being careful about that. The same as avoiding companies that have SSDs, but only for some data (e.g. for MySQL databases, while all the rest is on plate, slow HDDs).

When comparing the hosting speed, you cannot forget about parameters such as the number of PHP processes that can be run simultaneously and the available CPU and RAM power. A simple rule applies here – the more, the better. A good minimum is 10 processes, 1 CPU core (1 GHz) and min. 1 GB RAM.

When looking for fast hosting, it is also worth checking what software it is running on (LiteSpeed is faster than nginx, and this one is faster than Apache). It is also worth making sure that your hosting supports the latest available PHP version and the HTTP / 2 protocol – both of these factors affect the speed of your website.

Mail and e-mail accounts

Each hosting service also offers the option of creating company mailboxes with an address in your own domain. It will be a good idea to create a separate mailbox and e-mail address for each of your colleagues / department in the company. For this reason, it is worth checking how many e-mail accounts can be set up as part of the hosting service. It is always worth being able to create additional ones in the future when the company grows and new people are hired.

It will also be a good idea to check what types of spam and phishing protection are in place in your mail service. These should be solutions such as SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records. It is best if they have already been implemented automatically, otherwise you should do it yourself.

Data security – backups and SSL certificate

One final point worth discussing is security issues. Of course, you will have to keep your data safe by taking care of a backup – it can save your site in the event of a breakdown or hack. Most hosting companies provide automatic data backups, but you will need to check how often it is backed up and how long your site backups are kept. Ideally, copies are made at least once a day (every 24 hours) and stored for at least 7 days.

Undoubtedly, an SSL certificate should also be implemented, which enables data encryption by users. This is an absolute must, especially when it comes to online stores. If you do not have it, the user will see a message that the site is unsecured – it will definitely scare potential customers away.

For this reason, it is worth choosing a hosting service that supports a free SSL certificate (e.g. Let’s Encrypt), which in practice is no different from paid certificates offered by many hosting companies and domain providers.

Advertising on the Internet has many names

Banal statement? Perhaps. Nevertheless, many people equate online promotion primarily with paid banners and sponsored links. It is impossible to hide: they are a very important part of on-line communication. Measurable, effective, with fair settlements. Nevertheless, the possibilities offered by the Internet are much, much more.

Think for a second: how do you use the internet? On the one hand, you are looking for information in it (including those helpful in shopping). On the other hand, you contact your friends and acquaintances and share information about yourself with them on social media. On the next one: you draw a handful of entertainment. On-line games, streaming services, YouTube … can be exchanged like this endlessly. Behind the enormous possibilities offered by the internet, there is also a very wide range of marketing tools that you can use. One thing is certain: they all have the same ultimate goal – to motivate and encourage the consumer to make a purchase decision.

That is why, when writing about advertising, we will take into account both direct promotion strategies and those that fit into the so-called inbound marketing.

Internet advertising – what are the most important types of advertising?

Before we move on to the rules of selecting advertising tools or creating a campaign, let’s answer one more important question: what forms of promotion can you use? There are many of them. Get to know the key ones.

PPC / PPV advertising

Pay-per-click and pay-per-view are the two most popular systems for the settlement of classic online advertisements. These are those that are direct promotional messages and are displayed to users in a typical context. So it is mainly about:
– advertising banners – appearing mainly on websites, e.g. information or industry portals,
– Google Ads text ads – displayed to Google users over the so-called with organic results.

It is worth knowing that a very modern and effective form of PPC or PPV advertising is contextual advertising, especially displayed as part of remarketing. What is going on? That the content appearing in the form of advertisements is related to the interests and activity of each recipient.

Today it is possible – all thanks to cookies, which you are asked to accept after entering each page. Special algorithms process them when any ad site that works with this ad system is accessed. As a result, the user is shown banners referring to the content of previously visited pages.

For example, if you have recently browsed the Wi-Fi router offer, banners of this type will appear more often, which may eventually push you to make a purchase.

It is worth knowing that Google Ads / AdWords ads are billed in the system per click or per pageview – which means that you pay only for certain effects.

The advantages of PPC advertising are:
– easy accessibility,
– relatively low cost,
– simplicity of preparation,
– the possibility of detailed monitoring of the results.

Ads on social media

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn – these are social networking sites that are used by millions or even BILLIONS of users around the world every day. For many people, they are a source of information, contact with loved ones, but also with brands they value and like.

It is worth knowing that in social media you can conduct advertising activity in many ways – not only by creating a company profile. Yes, it is the primary source of communication. Nevertheless, such a fanpage will largely play a PR role, and therefore it will be:

– built brand awareness,
– encouraged interaction / leaving a lead,
– it allows your current and potential customers to stay up to date with your offer.

Yes, strictly advertising content can also appear on it – for example, encouraging people to take advantage of a specific promotion or presenting new products. However, in order for them to reach a sufficiently large number of users, they must be properly promoted. This is the purpose of advertising systems on social networks.

For example, on Facebook you can use e.g. with:
– paid post promotion – so that it is displayed also to people who did not like your page, and at the same time meet the criteria of your target group created according to strict assumptions.
– banner ads – both in the main part of the website and in a dozen or so other, secondary locations

Ads can direct both to your fan page and directly to the website, e.g. to specific products.

The advantages of advertising in social media are:
– the ability to reach a very wide audience,
– the possibility of taking full control over the budget (you control the limits),
– possibility of precise profiling of target groups of messages,
– the ability to adjust the specificity of the advertisement to the purpose of the promotional campaign.

Content marketing

Is content marketing also a form of advertising? Yes, although the promotional message is more subtle and less direct than in the above-described promotion methods. Tools that also function as advertising are mainly internal and external articles, as well as guides, trendbooks or – recently popular podcasts.

If at this moment you think of advertising articles from years ago – those that constituted a “laurel” for the company – you know that modern content marketing has nothing to do with them. Brand information is skillfully woven into expert text that has practical value for the user. Thanks to this, the text is a fairly effective form of direct promotion, and at the same time supports SEO activities.

Video advertising

Contrary to appearances, television or cinema is not the only place where they can be displayed. For their publication, you can use:

– Internet portals that provide such technical possibilities – many of them, especially informational ones, publish their own video materials, so there is an opportunity to place their own advertising message in them,
– YouTube service – ads are displayed here both before the actual recording starts and during it.

The video advertising system was also proposed by Facebook. Importantly, these commercials differ in formula from standard videos prepared for television. On the one hand, short formats of a few seconds are desirable. On the other hand, especially on YouTube, you can afford longer content. If they catch the user’s attention, it can last for several minutes.

Email Marketing

This is another form of communication that belongs more to the inbound format than outbound. Although it may seem ineffective, in fact … it works very well, and at different stages of the customer’s journey towards finalizing the transaction. For that to be the case:

– gain a group of customers interested in the newsletter (and thus obtain valuable leads),
– prepare interesting content, prompting you to take specific, desired actions.

A properly created e-mail message may encourage, for example, to read the content on a company blog, but also directly to purchase, if it informs about a short-term sale or the introduction of a new collection of products.

Of course, this is not the end of promotional tools that can be used on the Internet. There are many more.

Does internet advertising have to take all of the above forms?

Simply put: no. Above, we have presented the most important forms of presenting advertising messages on the web. However, you as an advertiser don’t have to use all of them. On the contrary: it is worth choosing those that suit the specifics of your business. So what?

Think: Will an e-shop that sells pet food need more contextual advertising on LinkedIn, or a promotion on Facebook or through sponsored links? And what will be useful for a company that implements firmware? She can make more profits by reaching for ads on LinkedIn or by using content marketing on industry websites.

So we go back to the basic rule: advertise where your target group is.

How to choose advertising channels on the Internet?

Before you start thinking about having an online ad published, you have a long way to go. You should and even have to go through it if you don’t want to risk financial losses. Although online promotion is relatively cheaper than that on television or on outdoor media, it still carries considerable costs if you operate in a competitive industry. And if so, you need to be well prepared for it. How?

A. Define the purpose for which you want to promote
The ultimate one is obvious: maximizing your sales. However, for the conversion to take place, the consumer has to go through many steps along the way. What do you care most about right now? On building brand awareness? Arousing consumer curiosity? Achieving a quick sales effect, or maybe long-term results?
Each of the answers to the above questions is good. Each of them also entails the necessity to take other actions.

B. Define your target audience
In a word: answer the question to whom you are targeting your products and services. It is not just about a few-sentence definition. Comprehensive personas are prepared in modern marketing. It is about:

– specifying representatives of all target groups of people interested in your products – for example, the aforementioned food may be bought by both a student – owner of a domestic cat, and a wealthy businessman who looks after purebred dogs,
– precise definition of their features – both their character and needs as well as the problems they struggle with,
– giving them a “face”.

The more accurate the visualization, the easier it is to translate theoretical assumptions into specific promotional messages.

C. Determine the budget for the campaign
Yes, it cannot be done 100% precisely, but you need to know in advance how much money you can spend on advertising on the Internet. This will allow you to diversify your resources and control your budget.

Advertising on the Internet: on its own or with the support of a digital agency?

In theory, you can plan and implement online advertising yourself – various tools are available at your fingertips. However, in practice, the correct configuration of a campaign – so that it brings the desired results – requires in-depth knowledge and broad skills. It is not a formula at all, but … a hard reality. The point is to spend your money as efficiently as possible. In the era of growing competition, it is more and more difficult not to simply burn through the budget for ineffective activities. The care of an agency or a freelancer will save you time and, paradoxically, your budget – many times it turns out that optimization brings much greater savings than the commission for service.

Therefore, if you want to know how to use the potential of online advertising in order to achieve maximum business goals, contact the experts.

Lateral Marketing: Definition

Lateral marketing involves the creation of an innovative product (or service) that will have a certain feature different from other products or services offered by the competition. The difference, however, is not in the features related to design or price, but in the specific added value that will satisfy the consumer’s additional need, making the new product completely different from the competition, even incomparable.

Taking into account the life cycle of a product (or service), the use of lateral marketing causes a given product to “regress” to a position of growth, and thus gives the company a chance to extend the life of a given product and the related financial and branding benefits.

Nowadays, consumers are inundated with various offers of the same products. For many, it is a real challenge to choose a product, without thinking about it and spending time reaching for new products from the shelf and reading labels, and finally putting something into the basket. Or, as is the case with online shopping, spending time scrolling through store websites to choose your target product.

The same challenge faces entrepreneurs who try to differentiate themselves from the competition. Although the products they offer seem to be different, for example, have a different color, smell, more or less premium price, they are advertised differently – they ultimately satisfy the same need or set of needs. And when it comes to meeting the needs of consumers, then the concept of lateral marketing comes in, according to which the company should seek new opportunities for products / services so that they can also meet other needs that were not previously taken into account, and thus differ from competition.

The areas of application of Lateral Marketing

It can be said that Lateral Marketing is about “reinventing the wheel”, ie adding to a product (or service) a certain characteristic that will make it meet new consumer needs (previously undiscovered). The issue of positioning an offer in lateral marketing can be divided into three levels:
– market level – elements such as needs, target customers, new situations or applications;
– product level – an innovation introduced in the product itself, application, packaging, brand attribute or in terms of purchase;
– the level of marketing tools – i.e. innovation at the level of price, promotion and distribution.

Relatively simple ideas can guarantee a strong competitive advantage and a leadership position in a given market. The goal of Lateral Marketing is innovation on one of the above-mentioned levels. So it is enough for the company, based on research and analysis of consumer needs and insights, to implement an innovative idea, thereby changing the product / service itself and surprising the competition.

Lateral Marketing – application examples

The best known examples of the use of lateral marketing are those at the product level. The introduced innovation involves changes to the properties, functions or features of the product, thanks to which it will stand out from the competition’s products. And so, for example, from the point of view of the need, the new product will satisfy the “old need” (that is, the one for which it was ultimately created) and the new one, for which it was updated, thus becoming a completely new product, such as e.g. Kinder chocolate egg, to which a toy was added inside – thus changing the chocolate for children into a surprise egg, in which, apart from chocolate, you can find a toy – usually the one on the top that every child wants to have.

In the case of innovation in the use of the product itself, we will meet an example for slightly “larger children”, which can be an inflatable beach ring, previously used only for swimming, and when enriched with additional space for a beer – it becomes an inseparable gadget of many beach goers. Innovations introduced in line with lateral marketing do not have to be that crazy and complicated. An example are the product modifications themselves, such as yoghurts, muesli or other “sugar free” or “vegan” products.

Examples of lateral marketing in services may be the method of providing the service itself, e.g. adding additional time to provide the service – “we also deliver packages at weekends”, “we are also open at night”, etc. Moreover, adding a distinguishing feature to the basic offer, such as . a dedicated supervisor, the ability to refer to the price, if there is a cheaper product somewhere on the market, etc. are also examples of lateral marketing.

Examples of the use of lateral marketing at the level of marketing tools include, for example, the method of distribution (change or a new place where the customer can purchase the product or use the service), eg “now professional hair dye also in your home!”.

Other lateral marketing techniques are:

– substitution – consisting in changing or removing several elements and replacing them with others, or imitating some elements with another.
– elimination – complete removal of several elements in a given product,
– combination – adding one or more new elements to the basic product while keeping the other elements unchanged,
– inversion – adding “no” to one or more elements – that is, often eliminating a disturbing element, such as earphone cables, making them wireless,
– exaggeration – consists in enlarging or reducing an element in the product so that it differs from the standard version,
– switching – consists in changing the order, e.g. in services, to the benefit of the client.

Lateral Marketing – how to apply in a company?

The use of an innovative approach to the product itself, market or marketing tools is one of the best ideas that a company can come up with and it is a slightly different approach from SEO or SEM advertising that works in a very competitive market. It is worth noting that this innovation does not have to be spectacular, but should rather work for the benefit of the client and meet his needs. Introducing such innovation requires, first of all, an analysis of the market, customer needs and its path, both offline and online. It is worth supporting such a quantitative analysis with a qualitative analysis and then tackling it at meetings with the communication department. Carrying out innovations according to lateral marketing is a long process, but its effects can be very positively surprising!