eCommerce Marketing

Probably the fastest and most effective method to increase the sales of your online shop is SEM (Search Engine Marketing). This includes SEA (Search Engine Advertising) on the one hand and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) on the other. SEO includes the technical and content-related optimisation of your B2C shop for search engines so that your shop achieves a high ranking and appears as high as possible in the organic search (on Google, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, etc.). SEA involves the display of paid ads that are shown at the top and bottom of the search results. These can be text ads as well as shopping ads.

On Google, shopping ads can be placed in the main search either via the Google price comparison platform itself (Google Shopping - the "Shopping" tab in the Google menu bar, managed by Google Shopping Europe (GSE)) or via other price comparison sites such as guenstiger.de, billiger.de, Adference, Smartketer, Shopping24 and many more. The Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) used to place an ad on the German Google site can be identified by the "Von ..." under the ad. The participating price comparison sites are Google CSS partners and - just like Google Shopping Europe itself - have to buy the ad spaces on the main page in an auction. This means: In order to place your products at the top of the general Google search results, you must list them in Google Shopping (meaning the Google Merchant Center) or with a Google CSS partner. However, there are also price comparison platforms that do not participate in the Google CSS partner programme, such as idealo or geizhals. Nevertheless, it can make sense to list your products on these sites.

When you book the SEM package with us, we will not only choose the right comparison shopping services for your online store, but also list your products there. In addition, we will run Google campaigns with shopping ads, text ads and display ads (including retargeting) so that your products appear at the top of Google Search and are visible in the extensive Google Display Network. Last but not least: We will optimise your eCommerce website according to all technical and content-related SEO guidelines so that you also achieve a high ranking in the organic Google search.

Without a doubt, creating long-term and effective customer loyalty is worth its weight in gold - the customer journey in your B2C shop should not end with the conclusion of the purchase! Of course, the first step is to provide customers with a smooth buying experience on the site. The likelihood that users will complete a purchase increases significantly if your online store has been optimised for all phases of the customer journey:

1) Arouse interest with stimulating design, special offers and playful elements/actions.
2) Support the shopping process with a comprehensible navigation structure, complete product information and no unnecessary distractions.
3) Ensure completion of the purchase by eliminating possible disruptive factors in the ordering process (surprisingly high shipping costs, unfavourable return policies or slow loading times during the payment process).

However, the journey is not over yet: a completed purchase first suggests a satisfied customer with whom contact should be maintained! Automated emails after the purchase with personal voucher codes and exclusive offers can help here. A regular newsletter - but please not too often - also intensifies customer loyalty. Or enclose a flyer with a price advantage, raffle ticket or invitation to join the product tester network with your packages. There are many ways to motivate customers to engage with your eCommerce website.

Our "Email and Online Shop Marketing" package consists of continuously featuring up-to-date content on your shop's homepage, including time-limited promotions (e.g. voucher codes, special offers) and/or playful elements (e.g. quiz games, etc.). This captures the user's attention, which reduces the bounce rate and increases the conversion rate. We also set up mailings that customers receive automatically at set intervals after a purchase was made to build customer loyalty. In addition to the automated emails, we regularly send out a newsletter with news and attractive offers. You can then also publish these offers on social media and affiliate networks for more reach. Or we will be happy to do this for you (see our range of services for social media and display/affiliate marketing). This also applies to the design of a package flyer (see our promotional materials offer).

Good public relations is still fundamental to strengthening a brand. You should promote your B2C shop - whether you are a manufacturer, reseller or marketplace - like a brand. Therefore, it is important to tell your story: What makes your shop or brand so special? What makes you stand out? Address your target group directly. And not only via your "About us" page, but with the help of mouthpieces who have a much wider reach: Influencers and Key Opinion Leaders (KOL). These can be bloggers, Instagrammers, Youtubers, Tiktokers, podcast hosts, celebrities or subject matter experts.

But it is also important to contact journalists in order to place your shop and your products in online magazines. From editorial articles (especially reviews) to classic banner advertising to in-app advertising - show your presence! Also in the form of your own social media channel (or several, depending on what is possible in terms of time and finances). Have a celebrity present your product in a video and post it. Create campaigns for your target group on Instagram and Facebook in the Facebook Ads Manager and try out different ad designs (video, image, product carousel). Or sponsor podcasts as well as live streams of events that your target group watches or listens to.

If you do not have the capacity yourself, you are welcome to commission us with brand and product PR, influencer/KOL marketing as well as social media ads and the management of your SM channels. Depending on the desired intensity, we guarantee you a certain number of:

1) Collaborations with influencers/KOL (reviews, sponsorships) per month.
2) Publications in online magazines or apps (editorial articles, banner ads) per month.
3) High quality content posts on your social media profiles (this of course includes daily maintenance of your channels (liking, replying, commenting) per month.
4) Facebook and Instagram Ads campaigns (incl. testing of target groups, creatives and retargeting) per month.

Everyone knows it: Discontinued models, B-goods, remaining stock - the stuff has to go because it’s taking up space in the warehouse! Of course, you can set up an outlet for this in your own B2C shop, but will you reach enough interested parties with it? If you have a special promotion running with a coupon code, is it enough to just communicate the coupon on your site and your social media channel? Do you have attractive deals to offer - due to stock clearance or simply to promote the brand - and want to generate more visibility and reach more potential customers?

Voucher sites, bargain/deal sites and closed bonus systems can help you with this. The advantage of closed bonus/loyalty communities (e.g. studentbeans.com, mitarbeitervorteile.de) is that the offer price does not show up in the history of price search engines like idealo. The offers are actually only visible in the members' area of the portal. On the other hand, if you want to spread an offer as widely as possible, you can use voucher sites (e.g. coupons.de, sparwelt.de) and bargain/deal sites (e.g. mydealz.de, dealbunny.de). Many blogs also have bargain categories.

Every sale generated through one of these price advantage sites accrues a commission. At least, this is how it works in most cases. This also applies to cashback sites (e.g. shoop.de, getmore.de). Your shop is listed there and all users who come to your shop via a cashback portal receive a portion of your order value back when they make a purchase. This is financed by the commission you pay to the cashback provider.

But how do you establish contact with all these sites and portals? And how is tracking implemented so that the sources are traceable? And how is the commission paid out? This is where display/affiliate networks come into play, bringing advertisers and publishers (also called affiliates) together. With the emphasis on networks, because there is not only the Google Display Network (see Adcell, Awin, Yieldkit, Digidip and many more). Tracking is set up once through the network and you set the commission level for your publishers. You provide the publishers with various advertising material (banners, deep links, voucher codes, product feed CSV) that they can embed on their pages to link to your shop.

However, display networks do not only consist of price advantage sites, but also content sites such as blogs. Many bloggers prefer to work with merchants who offer an affiliate programme. Retargeting experts, SEM professionals and the price comparison portals mentioned above also participate in affiliate programmes to promote merchants' products. In the meantime, performance-based billing models such as cost per sale (CPS), cost per click (CPC) or cost per lead (CPL) are common in display advertising - as already mentioned. Sometimes, however, the cost per mile (CPM) is also used, which is charged per 1,000 ad impressions.

Apart from the already mentioned smart shopper classics, there are also new exciting bonus systems such as the app lifepoints, in which users can collect points by watching product videos and convert them into product rewards. In this app, you can present your products in videos and also offer them as rewards.

And that brings us to our services in this marketing package: We set up one affiliate programme for you (also more if desired), upload the advertising material, set up the tracking, define the commission models and acquire at least three publishers per category in six categories (more upon request). Afterwards, we will be happy to take over the management of the programme (advertising material control, advertising material supplementation and commission release) for you, if needed. In addition, we publish two offers per month in closed bonus systems and place one offer per month on popular bargain/deal sites.

You have also listed your products on marketplaces and now want to advertise them? On Amazon in particular, you have many advertising options from ad campaigns (Product Ads, Brand Ads, Video Ads and Display Ads) to coupons and sales prices to flash offers. You can also register your brand and set up a brand store. Many of these measures are very effective and actually indispensable for your Amazon business. In our experience, this is less true for other marketplaces, which is why our Market Place Advertising package primarily includes measures on Amazon. The exact scope depends on the size of your range, the margin of your products and the size of your marketing budget, among other things. Therefore, simply enquire and we will send you an individual offer.

How well are you positioned in the area of advertising materials and promotional content? Product data sheets, product catalogue, product flyers, package inserts, brand/company presentation, product images, product videos, banners, business cards and giveaways, etc. – whether digital or analogue, our media design team is happy to support you! In our in-house photo studio we can create high-quality images. For video shoots we work with various partners but video editing again takes place in-house.

Now you have product flyers and parcel inserts - but where to put them? You can either enclose the parcel inserts in your own package boxes or send them as third-party inserts in the boxes of other large online stores. For local businesses, it also makes sense to send product flyers by letter in certain regions. You can also publish your shop/brand/products in print media such as magazines, journals and newspapers - from editorial articles to advertorials to classic ads. Or present it in public on posters and screens. Or place it at events such as raffles, trade fairs, competitions. Radio adverts are also a good way to reach your customers. Act as a sponsor with your shop/brand by making a financial contribution or handing out free product samples.
Whatever you decide on, all advertising material should be tailored to your target market. But don't worry, we will work with you to develop a localisation strategy and will also be happy to take care of content localisation if required. We will translate and localise your marketing texts so that they have the desired effect in German-speaking countries. This means that we will not only translate your website, emails, social media posts, product flyers, product packaging, instructions and other content, but also place it in the necessary cultural context. To do this, we choose words and phrases that are familiar to the target group and encourage them to interact. We also make sure that all texts fit in with the local SEO strategy.
Good, target group-orientated content is the be-all and end-all of content marketing. You don't just want to annoy your target group with intrusive advertising, you want to convince them with content with added value; regardless of which of the channels offered here you use to distribute and promote your content (web shop, website, social media, magazines, blogs, display networks, online marketplaces or offline).

Contact us if you are interested in our offer in the field of advertising materials, promotional content and offline advertising. As soon as we know your portfolio and your target group, we can suggest the right events and suitable advertising measures (incl. advertising media).