A documented marketing strategy directly impacts your success as a business owner, whether you’re a scrappy startup or established business. But when you’re developing your strategy, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by conflicting advice and endless tactics.
This guide simplifies the process, with insights from top marketing experts to help you focus on what you need to know to create an effective marketing strategy.
What is a marketing strategy?
A marketing strategy is your action plan for reaching potential customers and turning them into loyal buyers. An effective strategy includes:
- Your goals and objectives
- Your unique value proposition
- Market research findings
- Target market details
- Key messaging
- Most effective marketing channels
Your strategy should address the 7 Ps of marketing:
The 7 Ps framework helps you create a comprehensive marketing strategy that covers not just what you’ll sell and to whom, but how you’ll implement your plan.
1. Product
Your products are the foundation of your marketing strategy. For each item you sell, clearly define its:
- Design elements
- Key features
- Use cases
- Problems it solves
Use these details to connect with your target customers and show them why your products matter.
2. Price
How much will you sell your products for? Choose a pricing strategy that fits your market position:
- Cost-plus pricing: Add a markup to production costs
- Competitive pricing: Use competitor prices as benchmarks
- Penetration pricing: Set lower prices to enter new markets
- Value-based pricing: Price based on perceived value
Consider how promotions and discounts fit into your strategy, but calculate profit margins first to ensure discounts don’t hurt your bottom line.
3. Promotion
Promotion covers how you’ll reach your target market. This includes all your marketing channels, from social media and SEO to email campaigns and TV commercials.
4. Place
Your main sales channel will likely be your ecommerce website, but consider other options like:
- Online marketplaces
- Social media shops (like TikTok Shop)
- Retail locations
5. People
Define who will execute your marketing strategy, including marketing team members, customer service representatives, and sales staff.
You can also work with freelancers or agencies to access expertise without committing to full-time salaries. This gives you flexibility to scale your marketing efforts up or down as needed.
6. Packaging
Your product’s packaging is a marketing tool that works even when you’re not actively promoting. Make sure it:
- Displays your brand logo
- Follows your brand identity (colors, fonts, typography)
- Communicates your unique selling proposition
- Explains product benefits
Pro tip: Consider shipping costs when designing packaging. Attractive, oversized boxes might appeal to customers but can eat into profits if they cost extra to ship.
7. Process
Create efficient systems for promoting and delivering products to customers. Use business automation tools to handle routine tasks like:
- Sending order confirmation emails
- Managing customer support through Shopify Inbox
- Directing orders to nearby fulfillment centers
- Reordering inventory when stock runs low
Why you need a marketing strategy
Without a business marketing strategy, you might waste time and money tactics that don’t work together or bring in new customers.
A cohesive marketing strategy helps you:
Connect with your target audience
With more than 26 million online stores catering to every preference and price point, customers have more choices than ever. A marketing strategy helps you identify your ideal customers and capture their attention effectively.
Stand out from competitors
Your marketing strategy shows how you’ll gain and maintain competitive advantages. Without one, you risk trying random tactics that don’t work together, wasting time and money on ineffective campaigns, and losing customers to better-positioned competitors.
Build a strong brand
A strong brand lets you charge premium prices for comparable products. This happens only with a marketing strategy that helps customers connect with your identity, products, and values.
Take Peloton, for example. While thousands of retailers sell exercise bikes for much less, Peloton can charge over $1,000 for its equipment because it’s built a premium brand in the fitness space. Its customers see it as the best in its category, making the higher price point acceptable.
How to create an effective marketing strategy
Ready to create your marketing strategy? These steps help you understand your audience, clarify your value, and set achievable goals.
- Conduct market research
- Define product-market fit
- Set measurable marketing goals
- Choose your marketing channels
- Focus on customer retention
- Plan your marketing budget
- Measure and adjust
1. Conduct market research
Your target market includes the customers you want to sell to. “If you understand who this group of people is and what set of experiences they have, you can relate to them through shared experiences,” says marketing expert Ezra Firestone.
To identify your target audience, use both qualitative and quantitative research:
- Analyze competitors: Study their social media presence, brand voice, and how they talk about their products. Look at which audiences engage with them most.
- Check analytics: Use tools like Shopify Analytics and Google Analytics to learn about your audience’s demographics.
- Interview potential customers: Talk to people who follow or buy from your competitors. Ask them about their purchase decisions and what they’d improve about the products.
- Create surveys: Use tools like Survey Monkey to learn about interests, hobbies, location, income, and occupation.
- Meet customers in person: Set up at farmers markets or street fairs to have casual conversations with potential customers about what they’re looking for.
- Study industry trends: Review reports from Nielsen, Forrester, or Pew Research. Use Google Trends to track product popularity since 2004.
- Review sales data: Once you have sales, analyze spending patterns, customer locations, and popular products.
Use this research to create a buyer persona—a detailed profile of your ideal customer that includes their demographics, interests, challenges, and goals. This persona will guide your marketing decisions and help you build an audience that converts.
2. Define product-market fit
Once customers visit your website, they should quickly understand how your product solves their problems. Shopify expert Ben Zettler suggests asking:
- What’s the “why?” behind your products?
- What problem does your product solve?
- Why should customers choose you over competitors?
Your answers will shape your website messaging, from your homepage to product pages and landing pages.
For example, Equator Coffees found its market fit by combining exceptional coffee and with positive impact on the coffee community. As California’s first certified B Corporation coffee roaster since 2011, Equator clearly communicates its values across its website, including a dedicated impact page.
3. Set measurable marketing goals
Clear goals prevent you from chasing vanity metrics and help you create campaigns that support your business objectives. Use the SMART goal framework to set goals that are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
For example, instead of “increase sales,” set a SMART goal like “increase sales by 25% over the next six months.” This goal is trackable, has a deadline, and feels achievable—which helps keep you motivated rather than discouraged.
4. Choose your marketing channels
Marketing happens across many channels, from social media to email to word of mouth. Focus on channels where you can build meaningful connections with your audience, not just broadcast sales messages.
“Rather than focusing on simply making sales, think about who you’re talking to, why you’re talking to them, and what you have to say that’s meaningful,” says Ezra. Your marketing content—from social media posts to emails to blog posts—should reflect your understanding of your customers’ needs and how you solve their problems.
Social media marketing
Social media marketing helps you reach and engage with customers where they already spend time. You can use both organic (free) and paid tactics to market your products on platforms like:
- TikTok
- Snapchat
- X
The best social media strategy goes beyond broadcasting your brand—it’s about understanding and engaging with your audience and their world. “What’s going to create conversation?” asks Ben Zettler. “The thing that creates conversation is what, in every social algorithm, is going to get more people to see your content.”
Search engine marketing
Most of your website traffic will come from search engines like Google. While SEO takes time, it often becomes more cost-effective than paid advertising in the long run. Optimizing your store for search doesn’t have to be complicated—start with these resources:
- What Is SEO Marketing? Definition, Importance, and Types
- 30 Free SEO Tools: Boost Your Optimization Efforts
- The Complete SEO Checklist
Email marketing
Email marketing offers an average return of $42 for every dollar spent. Build your email list with valuable incentives like:
- Free shipping
- Percentage discounts
- Early access to sales
- Exclusive product access
- Free gifts with purchase
Regular, compelling emails are a great way to market your ecommerce store, helping you stay connected with customers and encourage repeat purchases.
Advertising
You can advertise both online and offline through:
- Facebook ads
- Google Ads
- Billboards
- Radio ads
- TV commercials
Don’t assume advertising always means paying. Free advertising tactics like directory listings, customer reviews, and business awards can help raise awareness on a minimal budget.
Word-of-mouth marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing turns your current customers into brand advocates. It’s particularly powerful since 92% of people trust recommendations from friends over traditional ads.
You can create a referral program easily using referral apps from the Shopify App Store—just download an app, choose your incentives, and promote your program.
Take silicone wedding ring company QALO, for example. They built their early success through community connections, meeting potential customers at fire stations and Crossfit gyms. This led to a valuable partnership with the Firefighter Wives blog.
“It’s your friends, it’s the people that you’ve followed for a long time that have a voice that you’ve seen consistently deliver valuable information to you,” says co-owner Taylor Holiday. “That’s who you want to hear from.”
5. Focus on customer retention
Keeping existing customers costs much less than finding new ones. Build long-term trust through community engagement, personalized communication, and reward programs.
Email marketing for retention
Once a new customer makes their first purchase, add them to a post-purchase email flow to:
- Offer coupon codes for future purchases
- Request product feedback and reviews
- Collect user-generated content
Use these types of automated email marketing campaigns:
- Transactional emails: Send order and shipping updates during checkout
- Promotional emails: Share new products and special offers, like Black Friday deals
- Lifecycle emails: Trigger messages based on customer actions, like abandoned cart reminders
Loyalty programs
A great example of an effective loyalty program comes from a specialty grocery store in a small surf town near San Diego. The market has built a devoted following, known especially for its burgundy tri-tip—a cut of meat locals love to serve on tacos and sliders. With a prepared food section that rivals major chains, it’s become a popular lunch spot.
The market created a simple but effective loyalty program that rewards regular shoppers with cash back on their groceries. Here’s how it works:
- Spend $1–$300 monthly: Earn 1% back
- Spend $301–$500 monthly: Earn 2% back
- Spend $501+ monthly: Earn 3% back
The store mails reward checks twice yearly when the balance exceeds $10. This straightforward system gives customers two good reasons to return: great products and cash rewards.
6. Plan your marketing budget
A marketing budget helps prevent overspending and measure your return on investment. While the average business spends around 7% to 10% of annual revenue on marketing, your budget can vary based on your goals and strategy.
Divide your budget across your chosen marketing channels. Many platforms offer budgeting tools to show potential reach. For example, Facebook Ads Manager shows estimated audience reach based on your daily spend.
“You’re better off starting with an organic approach rather than paid,” says Taylor Holiday, managing partner of Common Thread Collective. “If you start with paid, you’ll spend money to produce non-predictable outcomes. The good work of your first hundred to a thousand customers has to come from organic efforts. This builds a foundation that will help you effectively use paid media later.”
7. Measure and adjust
Digital marketing makes tracking results easier than ever—a far cry from advertiser John Wanamaker’s quote, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”
While digital marketing doesn’t guarantee perfect measurement, it gives you access to valuable data about:
- Conversion rates
- Customer acquisition costs
- Payback periods
- User behavior—digital marketing offers a deluge of data that savvy business owners can sift through to uncover insight
This wealth of information helps you make smarter marketing decisions. You can test campaigns with minimal budgets and clear cut-off points, keeping costs low until you find what works. Once you identify successful strategies, you can scale them quickly and confidently.
For underperforming campaigns, monitor marketing analytics to find opportunities for improvement before turning them off. For instance, if your data shows that Facebook ads containing social proof have high click-through rates, try adding customer reviews or user-generated content to campaigns that lack them.
Marketing strategy vs. marketing plan
A marketing strategy is the long-term blueprint for your entire marketing department. It details your business’s overall goals, as well as the channels you’ll use to reach your target audience and achieve those ambitions.
A marketing plan, on the other hand, is a condensed version of your strategy. Plans are usually used for short-term campaigns. If you were to launch a Facebook ads campaign, for example, you’d have a marketing plan that details the types of creatives you’ll use, your campaign goals, and how it plays into your wider marketing strategy.
Examples of successful marketing strategies
Learn how three brands developed effective marketing strategies by focusing on their unique strengths and audience connections.
Caraway Cookware: Design-first approach
Caraway’s success proves that effective marketing starts with a strong product focus. Founder Jordan Nathan spotted a gap in the cookware market: no other brand emphasized stylish design and home décor.
“We saw a big gap in the market to focus on design, color, and home décor, because no other brand was thinking about [cookware] this way,” Jordan said in a Shopify Masters interview.
Rather than using standard product photos on white backgrounds, Caraway showcased its cookware in real kitchens. This authentic approach caught the attention of major publications like Vogue and Architectural Digest.
The Honey Pot: Authentic influencer partnerships
The Honey Pot, a feminine care products brand, built its marketing strategy around influencer partnerships and humor to make their category more approachable.
“It minimizes the potential shame or discomfort that comes from the educational topics that we cover,” explains Giovanna Alfieri, VP of marketing. “For us, it’s about finding people who can reflect our values back at us whilst producing meaningful, creative content.”
Heyday Canning: Creative risk-taking
Heyday Canning proved that even “boring” products can create buzz. Instead of spreading its marketing budget thin, founder Kat Kavner in a single, creative campaign: a bean swap pop-up shop promoted on TikTok.
“We wanted to … focus all the money on one thing that had the potential to cut through the noise and grow brand awareness,” Kat said in an interview with Shopify Masters.
The risk paid off. Heyday’s TikTok videos reached more than 230,000 views, and influencers and creators organically promoted the brand—exposure that would have cost thousands through traditional sponsorships.
Improve your marketing strategy
Marketing isn’t always straightforward, and finding what works takes time and testing.
If your current strategy isn’t delivering results, go back to basics. Talk to your early customers, and ask what excited them about your brand. Learn what they want to see from you, and use their insights to refocus your marketing.
Remember: The stronger your foundation, the better prepared your brand is for long-term growth.
Read more
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- 26 Ecommerce Marketing Tactics: Everything You Need To Know
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- How To Source Products To Sell Online
- How to Craft an Authentic Social Media Presence That Benefits Your Brand
- 12 Powerful Google Ads Examples From Ecommerce Brands
Marketing strategies FAQ
What are the 7 Ps of marketing strategy?
Today’s marketers use an expanded framework of seven Ps to determine how they’ll promote their products, reach their target audience, and increase sales:
- Product: What you sell and its unique benefits
- Price: Your pricing strategy and value proposition
- Place: Where customers can buy your products
- Promotion: How you reach and engage customers
- People: Who implements your marketing strategy
- Packaging: How you present your products
- Process: Systems for delivering products to customers
Why is a marketing strategy important?
A marketing strategy helps you connect with your target audience through focused campaigns. Instead of chasing vanity metrics, you’ll invest your budget in activities that turn potential customers into buyers.
What are the 3 Cs of marketing?
The three Cs provide key insights for your strategy:
- Company: Your unique strengths and offerings
- Customer: Your target market’s needs and wants
- Competition: How other brands serve your market
These three Cs help you connect with your target market, stand out from the competition, and build a consistent brand.
What are the latest marketing strategies?
- Social media marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Advertising
- Referral and loyalty programs
- Search engine optimization
- Email marketing
- Podcasts
- Content marketing
- Digital PR
How do I define my target audience?
Look at who already buys your products or study your competitors’ customers. Consider:
- Demographics: Age, location
- Psychographics: Values, interests
- Behaviors: Shopping habits
- Pain points: Problems they need to solve
How can I measure my marketing strategy?
Track these key metrics to understand your marketing performance:
- Website traffic
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Cost per click (CPC)
- Conversion rate
- Revenue generated
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Customer lifetime value
- Customer retention rate
