Not sure how to take action right now? Or how to transition more of your business online? This post is here to help with ideas, inspiration and practical tips.
Host a giveaway
We want to support small-businesses right now! Let's make it easy. Giveaways are a great way for people to get involved and share your brand and feel good about it.
I suggest a giveaway that involves more than a social media follow. Make the most of your giveaway with letting participants sign up for your email list for an extra entry.
Tool needed: King Sumo
Host virtual "LIVE" sales/trunk shows instead of in-person markets
This can be really fun and a way for people to feel like they're still hanging out with a group. Try to invite as much participation as you can.
Tools needed: Facebook live, Zoom or Crowdcast. Zoom and Crowdcast have an advantage that they'll need to sign up for it and it's a less distracting place to be versus Facebook. Facebook is nice too since people are on it already.
Offer services and workshops virtually
What services could you offer online? Let's get creative. There's a lot more than you may initially think.
One-on-one: There are so many ways you could serve your audience with one-on-one sessions. Jewelry and clothing stores could offer Skype try on calls so customers can "interact" with a piece before buying it. Some could make the jump to offering paid styling services by helping customers pick out outfits or go through their entire closet.
Tools needed: Skype, Zoom or Facetime
One-to-many: If you normally have an in-person group at your business, take that group online. This could be with (free or paid) livestream classes. Even maker workshops could be hosted virtually. Attendees can have supplies shipped to them (or no-interaction pickup) and tune in for the class.
Tools needed: Zoom, Facebook Live or Crowdcast
Create content
Many product-based businesses don't spend much time on content. Now can be a great time to create a content plan and start producing more. You can not only provide something useful to your audience but get traction with SEO and list-building that can benefit you beyond the quarantines.
What type of content? That's up to you. You could start a podcast (yes, there are lots of great ecommerce brands doing podcasts!), write blog posts (they don't need to be long-form writing),
Resources and inspiration: So You Want to Start a Podcast (book), How to Establish a Successful Jewelry Brand (Unofficial Shopify Podcast episode) that addresses simple ways to use content marketing for ecommerce.
Sell products and gift cards online
Shopify makes it simple to start your ecommerce business. Start your free 14 day trial here.
Add your products
It's really easy to add new products in Shopify. Here's exactly how, step-by-step.
Pro Tip: Shopify's support is awesome. They have a great resource library plus 1-1 support 24/7. You can call, email or chat with them any time for help.
Sell gift cards
To support small businesses, there's been a lot of encouragement online to buy gift cards. With Shopify's basic plan, you can't sell gift cards. However, if you sign up for the free trial, you'll have the ability to sell gift cards for 2 weeks during your trial. Take advantage of this and get your store online and ready to share ASAP after you start your trial.
Tools needed: Shopify
