Examples of Sales Channels
Many sales channels exist, such as your website, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Selling your products through an e-commerce outlet such as Amazon provides a sales channel, while opening your own Shopify store does, too.
Some channels provide more traffic than others. Targeting at least three of the five most common options can net you greater sales. These include:
- Online stores
- Traditional online marketplaces
- Social media
- Retail (both temporary and permanent)
- Wholesale
Your sales channel strategy will differ depending on the channel, so your business should create a sales funnel for each channel to increase success. Some messaging collateral may carry over. However, each channel works differently, so you may need to change your strategy when working with different channels.
For example, you can use a drip campaign that includes abandoned cart messages via email for your business’s website, but this same strategy wouldn’t work with general social media, such as Facebook, unless you set up a store on Facebook. On Twitter, on the other hand, a drip campaign wouldn’t work at all.
Tips to Perfect Your Sales Channel Strategy
Research Your Channel
So, your first step in setting up a sales channel is to do some research. Ask questions such as How does each potential channel help a business attract, land, and retain customers? What role will the sales channel fill in your overall marketing campaign strategy? Some channels only create added value, while others, such as your e-commerce website, lead the channels.
Assign Distinct Roles
Assign each channel a distinct role with no crossover. Each channel needs to add value to your brand either as a direct-to-customer (D2C) channel or by exposing your brand to a new segment. The goal is to grow your target audience. Marketplaces such as Amazon and Facebook Marketplace expose brands to a new segment. However, you want to ensure your channel adds value instead of taking away sales from your main sales funnel, typically your e-commerce website.
In-Depth Market Mapping
Conduct an in-depth market mapping exercise using each segment of your business’s target audience separately. Forget about using channels that don’t exhibit a clear value proposition.
Identify Partners
Identify the partners with which you would work in each sales channel. This might include third-party retailers or an online marketplace like Etsy or Amazon. You need to only target the sales channels that offer a clean and optimal route to successful sales for your business. The idea is to create a positive long-term impact that opens up multiple streams of sales for your products within your existing target audience.
This means if you sell luxury items, you do not target a channel with only low- or middle-income users. Those individuals won’t purchase your million-dollar real estate or a Tesla Roadster. Make sure you pursue sales channels that suit your sales goals.
Establishing Your Brand While Making Sales
Sales channels do more than just help you sell your products. They help you build your brand. You can leverage the power of online marketplaces like Shopify and Amazon to introduce your products to a larger audience that has never heard of your products.
You build your brand through the sales funnel you build and your drip campaign, as well as the sales, catalog, and pages you build on the marketplace. You can include photos, product information, links to your existing website, and much more on these sales channels. Consider starting a shop on eBay, Amazon, and Facebook if your target audience shops in each location.
Implementing Your Sales Message on a Sales Channel
There’s no one-size-fits-all for your sales message. Each channel needs its own marketing campaign strategy. Every shop designs its own cart and as carts differ, so does the strategy to build a campaign for them.
Answering Why
Each shopping cart design used in website design works differently. The shopping cart for Etsy doesn’t use the same methodology or design as the one that eBay uses. Some of the marketplaces bundle in the messaging needed for addressing an abandoned cart.
This means that the marketplace you use may allow you to set up drip campaigns and abandoned cart messages within its interface and automate all actions. Otherwise, you need to set up your own website to do this in conjunction with the marketplace site. That’s why most of the carts use an open API. The open API allows the web designer of each company’s website to reach the cart for the business.
Integrating these sales channels into your main marketing plan can take time. It is best to do them one at a time. Trying to write the computer code for all the sales channels to link to your website to the channels can overwhelm a web designer. Therefore, set up each channel separately.
How Do You Know a Sales Channel Works?
You’ll see a significant change in your sales and website traffic. Clients’ buying behavior will change in a positive manner, and your business’s sales will increase. The tracking methods you implemented, and the analytics will illustrate a clear and optimal route from the sales channel’s first contact with a potential customer to their first purchase from your business. Finally, a truly successful sales channel will usually develop repeat customers.
Creating your own sales channels is not always easy. It takes a lot of time and effort. If you are short on time or would rather spend your time effectively running your business, let the experts at SocialJack Media help! We’ll create a sales channel strategy that can help your e-commerce store take off. For help marketing your New Jersey business, contact us today!
There are a lot of techniques you can use to increase growth and revenue for your online store, but one important strategy is knowing how to use your sales channel effectively. The term sales channel might seem new, but it’s simply the platform through which you market your business using your sales funnel. Your sales funnel is essentially the method and messages by which you reach customers to sell products to them.
Examples of Sales Channels
Many sales channels exist, such as your website, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, etc. Selling your products through an e-commerce outlet such as Amazon provides a sales channel, while opening your own Shopify store does, too.
Some channels provide more traffic than others. Targeting at least three of the five most common options can net you greater sales. These include:
- Online stores
- Traditional online marketplaces
- Social media
- Retail (both temporary and permanent)
- Wholesale
Your sales channel strategy will differ depending on the channel, so your business should create a sales funnel for each channel to increase success. Some messaging collateral may carry over. However, each channel works differently, so you may need to change your strategy when working with different channels.
For example, you can use a drip campaign that includes abandoned cart messages via email for your business’s website, but this same strategy wouldn’t work with general social media, such as Facebook, unless you set up a store on Facebook. On Twitter, on the other hand, a drip campaign wouldn’t work at all.
Tips to Perfect Your Sales Channel Strategy
Research Your Channel
So, your first step in setting up a sales channel is to do some research. Ask questions such as How does each potential channel help a business attract, land, and retain customers? What role will the sales channel fill in your overall marketing campaign strategy? Some channels only create added value, while others, such as your e-commerce website, lead the channels.
Assign Distinct Roles
Assign each channel a distinct role with no crossover. Each channel needs to add value to your brand either as a direct-to-customer (D2C) channel or by exposing your brand to a new segment. The goal is to grow your target audience. Marketplaces such as Amazon and Facebook Marketplace expose brands to a new segment. However, you want to ensure your channel adds value instead of taking away sales from your main sales funnel, typically your e-commerce website.
In-Depth Market Mapping
Conduct an in-depth market mapping exercise using each segment of your business’s target audience separately. Forget about using channels that don’t exhibit a clear value proposition.
Identify Partners
Identify the partners with which you would work in each sales channel. This might include third-party retailers or an online marketplace like Etsy or Amazon. You need to only target the sales channels that offer a clean and optimal route to successful sales for your business. The idea is to create a positive long-term impact that opens up multiple streams of sales for your products within your existing target audience.
This means if you sell luxury items, you do not target a channel with only low- or middle-income users. Those individuals won’t purchase your million-dollar real estate or a Tesla Roadster. Make sure you pursue sales channels that suit your sales goals.
Establishing Your Brand While Making Sales
Sales channels do more than just help you sell your products. They help you build your brand. You can leverage the power of online marketplaces like Shopify and Amazon to introduce your products to a larger audience that has never heard of your products.
You build your brand through the sales funnel you build and your drip campaign, as well as the sales, catalog, and pages you build on the marketplace. You can include photos, product information, links to your existing website, and much more on these sales channels. Consider starting a shop on eBay, Amazon, and Facebook if your target audience shops in each location.
Implementing Your Sales Message on a Sales Channel
There’s no one-size-fits-all for your sales message. Each channel needs its own marketing campaign strategy. Every shop designs its own cart and as carts differ, so does the strategy to build a campaign for them.
Answering Why
Each shopping cart design used in website design works differently. The shopping cart for Etsy doesn’t use the same methodology or design as the one that eBay uses. Some of the marketplaces bundle in the messaging needed for addressing an abandoned cart.
This means that the marketplace you use may allow you to set up drip campaigns and abandoned cart messages within its interface and automate all actions. Otherwise, you need to set up your own website to do this in conjunction with the marketplace site. That’s why most of the carts use an open API. The open API allows the web designer of each company’s website to reach the cart for the business.
Integrating these sales channels into your main marketing plan can take time. It is best to do them one at a time. Trying to write the computer code for all the sales channels to link to your website to the channels can overwhelm a web designer. Therefore, set up each channel separately.
How Do You Know a Sales Channel Works?
You’ll see a significant change in your sales and website traffic. Clients’ buying behavior will change in a positive manner, and your business’s sales will increase. The tracking methods you implemented, and the analytics will illustrate a clear and optimal route from the sales channel’s first contact with a potential customer to their first purchase from your business. Finally, a truly successful sales channel will usually develop repeat customers.
Creating your own sales channels is not always easy. It takes a lot of time and effort. If you are short on time or would rather spend your time effectively running your business, let the experts at SocialJack Media help! We’ll create a sales channel strategy that can help your e-commerce store take off. For help marketing your New Jersey business, contact us today!
