How to Promote Your Shopify Store: 11 Proven Tactics to Make Sales (with Examples)

Are you a store owner wondering how to promote your Shopify store? Look no further! In this post, we'll show you how to market your Shopify store like a pro using eleven creative and effective methods.

From recruiting micro-influencers to optimizing your SEO and email marketing, we've got all the tips and tricks you need to attract more customers and boost your sales. 

So whether you're a seasoned veteran or just starting out, read on to learn how to make the most of your Shopify store and take your business to the next level!

[fs-toc-omit]How to Choose the Best Strategy to Promote Your Shopify Store

When it comes to promoting your Shopify store, it all starts with your marketing strategy. 

That’s because while all of the marketing tactics in this post work, some may be far more effective in certain contexts compared to others.

For example, we all know that search engine optimization is a great way to drive qualified traffic to your store, right?

But if you’re starting a new store, and selling in a competitive industry (i.e. coffee machines), trying to rank for this specific keyword is going to be extremely difficult.

That’s because established websites like Costco, Nespresso and BestBuy have already invested huge resources to ensure they rank in the search engines for these terms.

Now, part of promoting your Shopify store is experimentation. You’ll need to test a few marketing tactics on this list and see what works for your audience and your products.

So when deciding how to market your store consider the following:

• What kind of products am I selling? How do people find those products?
• Where do my audience hang-out? (e.g. reddit, Instagram, trade shows)
• What do my audience care about? (e.g. price, the environment, convenience etc)
• What’s the best way to communicate with my audience? (email, paid ads etc)
• What are other similar brands already doing to promote their stores?

Now, part of promoting your Shopify store is experimentation. You’ll need to test a few marketing tactics on this list and see what works for your audience and your products.

But answering these questions will help you identify the biggest marketing opportunities. Especially the last one - we recommend that you sign-up to your competitors' emails, click on their ads and try to deconstruct exactly what they are doing.

Because if they’re a successful shopify store, chances are they’ve already experimented with lots of tactics and figured out a formula that works.

[fs-toc-omit]How to Promote Your Shopify Store: 11 Proven Tactics to Make Sales

Deciding how to promote your Shopify store can be daunting. So. the best approach is to pick a few strategies that make sense and give them a go. Once you find a strategy where you can quickly get wins, double down on it.

Without further ado, let’s jump in and learn how brands (big and small) have used the following tactics to launch and scale their store:

[fs-toc-h2]1. Create a Pre-Launch Viral Campaign

Pre-launch marketing campaigns can massively amplify your brand. Take men’s razor brand Harry’s for example. Harry's launched a pre-launch campaign with a simple ‘coming soon page’.

Once visitors signed-up, Harry’s thank you page encouraged sign-ups to unlock prizes by referring their friends (this is a replica page, but you get the idea!)

The kicker here is that the more friends they referred to, the more prizes they got. There were 4 milestones in total:

• Referred 5 friends = free shave cream
• Referred 10 friends = free razor
• Referred 25 friends = free premium razor
• Referred 50 friends = free shaving for a year

The messaging was super clear, and the prizes were attainable, which made the sharing count skyrocket. 

Plus, The campaign was designed to be share-friendly, with pre-populated tweets with irresistible copy.

The results? About 20K people referred around 65K friends, with an average of more than 3 friends per referrer!

Harry’s actually started the campaign by having all their employees share it with their friends and it spread like wildfire from there.

So, think about how you can recreate a similar viral campaign to promote your Shopify store. If you launched already, you can apply this strategy to new products you’re adding to your inventory.

[fs-toc-h2]2. Recruit a team of Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers are another great way to promote your Shopify store via other people. When we say micro-influencers we generally mean accounts with less than 20k followers. 

One brand using this approach is publishing company, Wonderbly.  Wonderbly works with a team of Instagram micro-influencers in the parenting niche to promote their products. Check out this sponsored post with account @princess_hazelnut which has just over 5,000+ followers

This is a powerful form of advertising because you not only get access to the influencer’s audience, but you also get to borrow their trust. And If you’re a new store, they’ll help add the social proof required for customers to trust in your products. 

Plus, micro-influencers like this are typically much more affordable than their larger counterparts - and you can re-use their content on your social feeds and paid advertising channels.

 You can work with influencers in several ways. Some examples are:

• Sending them a free product for review
• Paying them to shout out your product
• Offering them equity or a profit-share in your business
• Giving them an affiliate link

Remember, finding influencers is a numbers game, so you might have to message many accounts to get a single positive response. However once the post goes live, sit back and watch the sales roll in!

🔥Pro Tip: Not sure what to message Influencers? No worries, Use our free template to approach influencers as your starting point.

[fs-toc-h2]3. Create a Referral Program

Once you’re acquiring customers, you need to now turn them into advocates of your brand - that’s where a referral program comes in.

For example, we know that people referred by a friend are 400% more likely to purchase from you than if they stumbled upon your store on their own. That's some serious power!

The key to a successful referral program is to incentivize your customers to spread the word about your brand. Take a page out of Cole Haan's book - they offer $25 to both the referrer and the referred friend. That's a win-win situation if we've ever heard one!

Just imagine, the next time your customer's friend compliments their purchase from your store, they'll immediately start telling them about the sweet deal they could get by joining your referral program.

Add a similar offer to your store and start turning customers into people who’ll help you promote your store on auto-pilot.

[fs-toc-h2]4. Create Viral TikTok Content

Growing an organic audience in this day and age is tough - but it’s not impossible. If you want to pursue the organic route and your audience demographic skews younger - TikTok is the place to get the most organic reach (Instagram is worth a shot if your audience is a little older in the millennial bracket)

One business that does this extremely well is quirky footwear brand Crocs:

Flicking through crocs account, here’s some of the principles they’re following:

1. Be Authentic: TikTok is all about being real and relatable, so don't be afraid to show your brand's personality and share behind-the-scenes glimpses of your business. For example, you could showcase your product creation process or share fun team moments.

2. Use Trending Sounds and Hashtags: Keep an eye on trending sounds and hashtags on TikTok and incorporate them into your content when relevant. This can help your content reach a wider audience and increase engagement.

3. Show Off Your Products: Create visually appealing videos showcasing your products in action. For example, if you sell clothing, you could create a "before and after" video showing a transformation using your clothes.

4. Run Contests and Giveaways: Engage your audience by running contests and giveaways on your TikTok account. For example, you could ask followers to share your video and tag a friend to enter a giveaway for one of your products.

5. Collaborate with TikTok Influencers: Partner with relevant influencers on TikTok to reach their followers and increase your brand's visibility. For example, you could work with a fashion influencer to create a video showcasing your clothing line.

Remember, the key to success on TikTok is to have fun and be creative! Organic growth can take a lot of time to produce - but on the upside, it typically requires very little financial input. Here's a solid video that covers a nice strategy you could experiment with:

[fs-toc-h2]5. Market Your Shopify Store With Meta Ads

One of the fastest ways to promote your Shopify store is by using Meta Ads (formerly Facebook ads, before Zuck’s questionable rebrand). 

Facebook ads are awesome for a three main reasons:

• Precise Targeting: Facebook allows you to target your ads to specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. This means you can show your ads to people who are most likely to be interested in your products.

• Cost-Effective: Facebook ads can be cost-effective, especially compared to other forms of advertising. You can set a budget and only pay for the clicks or impressions your ad receives.

• Scale Quickly: Once you’ve figured out what’s working you can essentially print money. If you know you’re getting back $100 in sales for every $30 you spend, you can keep increasing your budget to reach more and more customers.

Facebook has lots of ad formats to choose from such as carousel ads, video ads and collections to help you showcase your products and brand in a visually appealing way. 

But if you want the biggest bang for your buck, set up eCommerce retargeting ads right away. You can use retargeting ads to show ads to people who have visited your website before but haven't made a purchase.

For example, Meller’s sunglasses have been following me around the internet (and social media) ever since I clicked on an ad a few days ago. Even with a small budget of $5-10 per day, you’ll be able to keep showing your products to potential customers who you know are interested in your products.

🔥Pro Tip: Running meta ads can be a little overwhelming when you start. Thankfully, Facebook has created a free course called Blueprint to help you learn the fundamentals and start running your first ad. 

[fs-toc-h2]6. Launch a Google Ads Campaign

Sticking with the theme of paid ads, next up we have Google Ads. Google ads can help you appear in the search results for specific search terms that your customers might be using.

For example, let’s suppose you run a home decor store. If someone searches for ‘home decor’ you’ll be able to show up like this:

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Google lets you choose several types of ads such as search ads, display ads and shopping ads. As with Meta ads, Google ads can seem intimidating at first, but they’ve made the process as easy as possible for new advertisers. 

Some best practices for promoting your Shopify store are:

1. Use Keyword Targeting: Use relevant keywords to target people who are actively searching for products like yours on Google. Make sure to choose keywords that are specific to your products and avoid using broad keywords that could result in irrelevant clicks.
   
   
2. Set Up Ad Groups: Organize your ads into specific ad groups based on your product categories or themes. This can help you create targeted ads and improve the relevance of your ads to the searcher's query.
   
   
3. Use Ad Extensions: Ad extensions allow you to add additional information to your ads, such as your store's location, phone number, or links to specific product pages. This can help improve the click-through rate and drive more traffic to your Shopify store.
   
   
4. Focus on High-Quality Landing Pages: Make sure your landing pages are high-quality, relevant, and optimized for conversions. This can help improve the user experience and increase the chances of people making a purchase on your website.
   
   
5. Test and Optimize Your Ads: Continuously test and optimize your ads to improve their performance. Try different ad formats, targeting options, and ad copy to see what works best for your Shopify store.

Here's a video from Shopify entrepreneur Dave Fogarty (founder of the Oodie) to give you a good overview of the proces:

🔥Pro Tip: If you’re struggling with Google Ads, don’t fret. Google created a free course to show you the ropes that you can take at your own pace as part of their Skillshop resource.

[fs-toc-h2]7. Optimize for the Search Engines

Just like you can drive traffic to your store with organic social media posts, you can also attract customers via organic search. This means you appear in Google (or other search engines) without paying.

For example, here’s three eCommerce sites ranking for the search term ‘men’s running shoes’

The good news is that Shopify comes with built-in SEO features, such as an auto generated sitemap, that all merchants can use. However, these features may not be enough to outrank your competitors. To get ahead, you should implement additional strategies.

One basic strategy to start with is keyword research and optimization. Identify the keywords your potential customers use when searching for products, and include them in strategic parts of your Shopify store. This includes product titles, descriptions, URLs, title tags, and meta descriptions.

The second piece of the puzzle is building quality backlinks. These help establish trust and authority in the eyes of Google. Reach out to suppliers, manufacturers, influencers, and reputable thought leaders for backlinks. You can also use content marketing to drive more qualified traffic to your website and generate sales (more on that in a minute).

Keep in mind that SEO is a long-term strategy that takes time to produce results. Utilize these tactics in combination with each other and as part of a comprehensive SEO plan. For additional guidelines, checkout our SEO checklist to ensure all your bases are covered. 

[fs-toc-h2]8. Start Blogging to Promote Your Shopify Store

Blogging is a powerful tool that you can use to drive free traffic to your Shopify store.

But most brands go about it incorrectly. To blog, and actually generate traffic, you need to identify topics that you rank for, that your audience are also searching for.

For example, here’s a post from athleisure brand Gymshark that attracts visitors who are looking for products similar to the ones that they sell:

Every good blogging strategy starts with keyword research. Finding low competition keywords that have buyer intent is the aim of the game. You can use a tool like Ahrefs to help you find these topics and then create content that gives searchers the answer they want.

Once you’ve got visitors to your blog, use a lead magnet or pop-up to capture their email address so you can re-market to them for free. If you’ve also set-up retargeting ads, you can show customers (who we know are interested in your products) ads that showcase your goods.

If you want more in-depth information checkout our post on how to blog for Shopify that shows you in-depth how to generate sales from content marketing

[fs-toc-h2]9. Build Mutual Partnerships with Other Brands

Partnerships can be an amazing way to spread the word about your products to new audiences. If you can partner with the right brands, you'll get fantastic exposure to a bunch of potential customers.

The key to forming partnerships is to make sure that they're beneficial for both parties. You don't want to leave feeling like one party got the short end of the stick. Take a page out of Shopify-based store Allbirds' book, for example. They've created a bunch of partnerships with other brands throughout the years.

Their collaboration with Staple Pigeon resulted in some awesome limited edition products that appealed to both of their audiences.

Now, you might be thinking, "How do I even get started with something like that?" Well, my friend, you don't have to aim too high just yet. If you're just starting out, it might be a good idea to look for partnerships with other small businesses.

Let's say you're selling yoga mats or athleisure. Why not reach out to your local gym and see if you can offer their members a special discount on your products? This way, you can introduce your products to a new group of potential customers.

Or, if you're selling barware, why not throw an event at the newest cocktail bar in town and promote it to both of your audiences? This way, you can attract new customers who are likely interested in your products.

The key to forming partnerships is to get creative and work with brands that have an audience that's likely interested in your product. Don't be afraid to put yourself out there and collaborate with others!

[fs-toc-h2]10. Deploy Email Marketing 

Across the board, email marketing consistently offers the highest return on investment of any marketing channel. So implementing an email marketing strategy on your store is a must.

Start off with these basic automations:

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• Write an amazing abandoned cart email sequence to recapture unrealized sales
• Create a welcome email to say hello to new shoppers
• Add a lapsed customer email to re-engage past customers
• Design a birthday email flow to boost retention
• Send a review request email to increase social proof

Then use email to announce seasonal sales, new product launches, company milestones and everything in between. We’ve already written about the 14 emails that every Shopify store needs to send - so check that out if you’d like a more in-depth strategy with tips for each campaign.

[fs-toc-h2]11. Promote Offers to Customers Who Just Purchased

One of the simplest ways to to promote more sales is to post-purchase upsells. That’s because customers who just bought from you are highly likely to do it again, if you give them the option.

Data from ReConvert shows that many stores get an instant boost in total revenue of up to 10-15% just by adding a couple of simple post-purchase offers. 

However, despite this, it’s shocking how many retailers don’t take advantage of the post-purchase opportunity. Seriously, if the likes of Amazon and eBay are doing it - you have to ask why you’re not, right?

For example, check out these simple, non-intrusive thank you page offers:

Creating offers like these, that are triggered based on items in your customer’s cart or shopping history generates extra sales in the background. And the best part is that as you promote your Shopify store more and get more sales, your post-purchase offers scale with you. All you have to do is set it and forget it.

[fs-toc-omit]How to Promote Your Shopify Store: Wrap Up

In summary, promoting your Shopify store requires a strategic approach and a willingness to experiment with different methods to find what works best for your business. 

Whether it's leveraging the power of micro-influencers, investing in paid advertising, or fine-tuning your SEO and email marketing strategies, there are countless ways to drive traffic and sales to your store.

One thing to keep in mind is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to promoting a Shopify store. The key is to identify the tactics that align with your brand, audience, and budget, and then test, iterate, and refine your approach as you go.

Remember, promoting your store is an ongoing process that requires time, effort, and a willingness to adapt to changes in the market. By staying up-to-date on the latest trends and tools, and by staying engaged with your audience, you can create a thriving online business that stands out from the competition. 

So get out there and start promoting your Shopify store today!