ECommerce has grown exponentially into a half-trillion-dollar industry over the last two decades. Just like a traditional brick-and-mortar store, your eCommerce store can only profit if you have the right marketing campaign pushing it forward. If you're an aspiring entrepreneur looking to start an online store or an existing one looking to improve his/her sales, here are five ways to ensure an effective marketing campaign.

Identify Your Target Consumer

If your marketing campaigns are going nowhere, it might be because you're targeting the wrong audience. Finding a market to serve is the most important step in building a business. You need to find people who could potentially benefit from the product/service you're selling. If you go out and sell just anything to anyone, you'll fail to convert people into paying customers.

You can get an idea of your ideal customer's profile by looking at your current sales. What's your bestselling product? How much does your average customer spend at checkout? Answers to these questions will give you an idea of what your site visitors are really looking at and how much their budget is. If you're selling a luxury item worth $50,000 to someone making less than that in a year, you simply won't close the deal regardless of how clever your marketing is.

Consider IP Targeting

If you're using a direct mail campaign for your online store, IP targeting is an upgrade you should consider. IP targeting is a method of targeting web-based advertisements to specific locations based on their IP address, a set of numbers assigned to a network connection by an ISP.

One benefit of IP targeting is its ability to target with direct mail without the need for printing or mailing, both of which cost money. With IP targeting, you can also reach a household multiple times in a week or month without having to manually do the mailing. You can input any data set, whether it's a list you purchased or built over time. Aside from households, you can also target events, conferences, trade shows, and offices.

Create a Blog

If you don't have one yet, create a blog or website and connect it with your online store. This will help you rank higher in search engine results pages and passively boost site traffic to your online store. Focus your blog on a specific topic or space. The more specific your content is, the better. Use tools, like Google Trends, to find keywords/phrases to include on your articles or blog posts.

Add a feed to your blog's home page. This simple feature tells your visitors that you are updating your site with new content. That being said, avoid adding content on a daily basis. This has the tendency to lower the quality of content being posted on your blog.

Hire an Actual Marketing Expert

If your marketing campaigns have been mostly done by you or an amateur whose services come cheap, you should consider shelling some cash for a real marketing expert. Thanks to technology, you can find experts in every industry with a few clicks of the mouse button.

To vet your prospects, look at their portfolio. Experienced marketers will gladly showcase their portfolio of past projects. Look for someone who's worked in your industry and has knowledge of the type of customers that you're trying to reach.

Use Social Media

Many online stores nowadays have their chatbots to greet customers. This is a huge turn-off for many customers, especially those who are in need of help. Have real people answering inquiries on your online store. If someone emails you, reply directly and immediately.

You should also be engaged with users on social media who follow your page. Listen to customers, promote your store and content, and try to be helpful as much as you can. While on social media, you should also consider contacting influencers. These people already have a follower base who you can tap into if you partner up with them.

Improving your online store's marketing campaign is all about being patient, researching meticulously, and working tirelessly to put your brand out there. Any costs you incur while upgrading your online marketing can be offset by the potential gains in customer leads and sales.