Make no mistake: just because your Amazon business operates through the internet doesn’t mean you won’t need to invest in a good marketing team. In fact, research has found that 90 percent of online businesses fail within the first 120 days – mainly due to “Poor online marketing performance coupled with an overall lack of search engine visibility.”
With hundreds of thousands of eCommerce businesses out there, many of which operate on Amazon, it’s even more important for you to pay attention to your marketing strategy. At the core of this: a strong marketing team with individuals that understand your needs and have the capacity to help you achieve your goals.
The importance of a strong marketing professional across every industry and organization cannot be denied. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that demand for advertising, promotions, and marketing managers will increase by 6 percent between 2019 and 2029. Thankfully, there are many who have taken on the mantle.
In recent years, thanks in part to the increasing accessibility of education, many people have begun switching to marketing fields and taking marketing courses and certifications online. Many universities have also begun offering online marketing degrees, which train students in the areas of search engine marketing (SEM), content management, social media engagement, data analytics, multimedia, and basic user experience (UX) design. However, most marketing professionals will have specific fields of specialization, and hiring a single person to run your entire marketing team can only be disastrous.
Instead, create a strong marketing team for your Amazon store: one in which roles are clearly defined and tasks do not overlap. You’ll want at least one of the following:
Marketing Manager
No team can function without a manager, and to ensure that your Amazon business runs smoothly, you’ll need a capable marketing manager. This manager will assist in the recruitment of other key players in the marketing team, set budgets, and manage all projects.
By having a dedicated marketing manager, you free up some resources to focus on other things, such as creating quality products. It may be tempting to simply play the role of the marketing manager yourself, but be forewarned: managing an Amazon marketing team will require a good grasp of all marketing concepts as well.
Technical SEO Expert
We’ve established that one of the reasons why many online businesses fail is that they lack search engine visibility. This is due to a simple truth: the greatest products and services can’t sell if nobody knows they exist.
If your business fails to rank in Amazon’s search results, it’s unlikely that anybody will ever find your products – unless they search for you directly. As such, you’ll need a marketing professional who is well versed in the technicalities of SEO.
Your SEO expert should be able to improve your listings to make it easier for customers to find you on Amazon. They should work closely with other members of the team and have a strong understanding of on-page SEO and keyword tracking. Of course, the field of SEO is constantly shifting, and it’s important that your SEO expert take online SEO courses to stay up to date on the latest trends.
Content Marketer
We’ve heard it said time and again: “Content is king.” It’s true across every industry – even in eCommerce. Even if you feel nobody will actually read your content, it’s still important to have engaging, well-written content on your listings.
Your content marketer must be able to understand your core audience and develop a content strategy that will help you reach your goals. Not only do they need to be able to create good content, but they also need a keen eye for design.
Your content marketer will need to communicate with other members of the team often – most especially your SEO expert. SEO and online content creation go hand-in-hand: your SEO expert should be able to work with your content marketer to develop a strategy that works for your business. This way, you can have engaging content that readers will enjoy, and content that search engines can easily crawl and index.
Community Manager
Whether it be through social media or through email marketing, you’ll need an expert who can manage the many demands of a growing community. Every brand aims to develop relationships with its customers, and a community manager is necessary to be able to do this.
Community marketing has grown in importance in recent years, particularly as the gap between businesses and consumers has narrowed due to social media. Customers – satisfied or otherwise – can easily reach out to brands and discuss experiences with peers. A dedicated community manager can keep an eye out to gauge user satisfaction, influencing many of your marketing campaigns.
These are just some of the key roles needed in an effective marketing team. It may be difficult to build out a team when your eCommerce business is just starting out, but there are many agencies that can carry the load for you. Our team can help! Reach out to us about different opportunities for you and your Amazon business today.
Submitted solely for turnkeyproductmanagement.com by Casey Pierpoint