Are you strapped for Ideas of How to Promote Shopify Store? So you have a product and got your Shopify store up and running. The only thing you’re missing are customers. After all the work you’ve put in so far, you might think that all the heavy lifting is done and that marketing your store will be a breeze.
The problem with marketing though is that all your competitors are marketing their stores too. If you want to stand out, you’ll not only have to cover the main ways to promote your store, but also find creative ways to cut through the noise.
So to help you with marketing your store, here are 107 ideas of how to promote your Shopify store. Not all of these are going to be relevant for your store, obviously. The idea here is to give you some ideas and inspiration for you to build upon.
1) Instagram Influencers
Using Instagram influencers to promote products has become extremely popular over the past few years. This is because if you get the right influencer to promote your product, Instagram can be a very lucrative channel. So if you’re selling an Insta-worthy product, start reaching out to influencers.
2) Social Media Contests
Now that virtually every brand has a social media present, one way to stand out from the crowd and drive engagement is to run contests such as giveaways across your social channels.
3) Blogging
Writing blog posts on topics related to your product can be a great way to get qualified organic traffic to your site. Good blog posts can also become quite shareable on social media, which helps to spread the word about your store. Shopify also has a built-in blogging tool.
4) Start a Podcast
We’re currently seeing a resurgence of podcasts with many people now listening to them as a part of their daily routine. You can think of podcasts as the audio equivalent of a blog post – they’re both great ways to connect with potential customers and promote your products.
5) Create Infographics
If podcasts are the audio equivalent of a blog post, infographics are the visual equivalent. Being much easier and quicker to read and understand makes them very shareable. Well designed ones can spread quickly across the web making them ideal to promote your Shopify store.
6) Press Releases
A more traditional way to promote your business, press releases are great if you’ve got something newsworthy. This can be anything from an innovative product to a new sustainable business model or even something your or an employee has achieved.
7) YouTube Influencers
While not as popular as Instagram influencers, YouTube is still a decent platform for influencer marketing. If there’s even a small amount of video content around your product or service being produced by YouTubers, it’s worthwhile reaching out for some promotion.
8) Start a YouTube Channel
If you have a product that leads itself well to video but YouTube doesn’t currently have much content around it, uploading your own video could be something to consider. You don’t need to invest heavily in fancy video effects either, something as simple as an instructional video could be enough to get your store some exposure.
9) Cross Promotion with other Shopify Stores
Reaching out to other Shopify store owners for some cross promotion can be hugely beneficial to both of you. This can be as simple as promoting each other on social media or organizing something bigger together. Just make sure you’re not in direct competition with each other.
10) Cross Promotion with other Online Stores
Don’t limit yourself to just Shopify stores though, cross promotion with another online store can potentially drive traffic to your site, regardless of whether they’re with Shopify or not.
11) Round-Up Posts
Round-up posts are collections of insights from others in your industry. You can either try to get included in one yourself, or host your own round-up posts. Often people included in these posts are eager to share them which helps to get everybody involved increased visibility.
12) Facebook Marketing
Facebook is often the advertising platform of choice for Shopify stores, and this is because it’s proven itself as a profitable channel. Creating great Facebook ads will drive traffic to your website in addition to supporting your organic reach. You can also combine Facebook ads with email marketing to sell even more products.
13) Start a Facebook Page
If you don’t have the budget for Facebook ad campaigns just yet, there’s plenty of free ways to promote your Shopify store on Facebook. The first place you should start is with your own page. This will let you post updates to your fans and give them a way to interact with your brand.
14) Start a Facebook Group
In addition to a Facebook page, you should also consider running a Facebook group. While managing a group is much more intensive than a page, if there’s a community of users for your product, a group can be a great idea.
15) Friends and Family
If you’re truly struggling to get your Shopify store up and off the ground, why not get your friends and family to help you promote it? Word-of-mouth is extremely powerful.
16) Giveaways
Everybody loves a giveaway. Not only do they help spread the word about your store, but they also put your product in the hands of consumers. This can convince people of the quality of what you sell enticing them to buy more.
17) Reddit Marketing
Reddit is a truly unique social media site, which makes advertising there unlike any other advertising you’ve already likely done or will do. Get it right though and it can pay off multiple times over.
18) Posting on Reddit
Just like with Facebook, don’t limit yourself to paid options. Find the right subreddit and post your product in it if you think it’ll do well. Just make sure you’re up-to-date with your Reddiquette first though.
19) Commenting on Blog Posts
A well placed, thoughtful comment on the right blog post can drive sales to your Shopify store. Make sure there’s a good overlap with your audience and readers of the blog and be careful not to be too spammy.
20) Posting in Forums
Same logic here as with commenting on blog posts. Just make sure you’re offering something of value in your post and not just trying to get free publicity.
21) YouTube Community Tab
YouTube has recently expanded their platform to become a more fully-fledged social network. With the introduction of the community tab, you can now interact with subscribers beyond just posting videos.
22) Answering Questions on Quora
Thousands of questions are asked on Quora everyday. Should any questions come up related to your product, you have a chance to grab a bit of extra visibility. Again, just make sure you’re offering value in your answer and don’t come across as a spammer.
23) Quora Advertising
In addition to answering questions, you could also look into running ads on Quora. Depending on what you’re selling, Quora ads might be worthwhile.
24) Email Marketing
Email marketing is the most profitable marketing channel for e-commerce stores. This means you should absolutely be using email marketing to promote your Shopify store. If you haven’t started with email marketing yet, we’d recommend you give SmartrMail a try. We’ve built the app with the sole focus on getting stores just like your Shopfiy one more sales.
25) Facebook Live Videos
Going live on Facebook is a great way to drive engagement and promote your brand on Facebook. Especially if you’ve already built up a decent following.
26) Instagram TV
Instagram TV is a new way of sharing and viewing video. Unlike on Instagram, videos can by a lot longer in duration and have an emphasis on thought out content. Being a new video sharing service, it gives you an opportunity to join a platform during its early stages of growth.
27) Use Hashtags
If you’re promoting your products on social media (which you absolutely should be), make sure you’re using appropriate hashtags, especially on Instagram and Twitter. Don’t go overboard though and remember than some platforms (like Facebook) don’t really utilize hashtags.
28) Guest Posting
If you don’t currently have a blog, you can still take advantage of the benefits blogs have by trying to get an article you write accepted on someone else’s blog. If you already have a blog, you can also do blog post swaps as a form of cross-promotion.
29) Attend Conferences
Attending conferences related to your product are a great way to promote your Shopify store and product.
30) Integrate with Pinterest
Make it easy for people visiting your website you pin your product to their Pinterest boards by embedding a ‘Pin’ button on your product pages. Depending on your product, this extra visibility on the social network can prove extremely beneficial.
31) Tumblr
Tumblr is an old and unique social network and micro-blogging platform. While it’s not suited for every Shopify store, it’s worth checking out to see if your product could be promoted there.
32) Google Shopping
Having your products listed within Google Shopping massively increases their visibility within Google search results. There’s also an integration with Shopify that makes syncing your products quick and easy.
33) Google Places
If your Shopify store has a physical present where customers can find you, you need to get it listed on Google Maps. That way people will find your business as they search on Google Maps.
34) Create an App
If you have the budget and looking to step up your promotional efforts, creating an app might be the way to go.
35) Sponsored Product Reviews
If you’re just starting out, paying for a product review on a reputable site can drive massive amounts of new traffic to your Shopify store. Depending something worth considering.
36) Create a Viral Video
There’s no sure fire way of creating a viral video, but there’s plenty you can make it more likely that your video will take off and earn you visibility right across the web.
37) Banner Ads
Display ads appear all over the internet, so why not run some yourself? You can use them to promote your Shopify store to people who haven’t heard of you before, or use them to retarget your visitors and previous shoppers.
38) GoogleAds
GoogleAds, formerly known as Adwords, involves running ads based on what people type into Google. This is a great way to target people searching for the product you’re selling and drive them to your website.
39) Promote your Tweets
If you don’t have the time to run a full Twitter ads campaign, you can instead just opt to promote your tweets. All you have to do is signup for the promoted tweets and then just tweet like usual. Your tweets will then reach more people on Twitter than before.
40) Attend Trade Shows
If there’s any trade shows related to your industry in your area, you should definitely be attending them. Larger trade shows farther away can still give your store plenty of exposure, so travelling to these is still worthwhile in most cases.
41) Print Flyers
By printing flyers you are able to distribute them however you see fit. Whether you place them in people’s letterboxes or hand them out on the street, they can spread the word about your store.
42) Sponsor an Event
Sponsoring an event can give you plenty of publicity. There’s also a range of different options depending on your budget and who you want to reach.
43) Door Knocking
If you have the confidence to go around and knock on people’s doors, this can be a great free way to let people know about your Shopify store.
44) Craigslist
Doesn’t just have to be Craigslist, any classifieds site offers great potential when it comes to promoting your Shopify store.
45) Give Out Coupon Codes
Handing out discount codes is a great way to get more people to visit your Shopify store and make a purchase. You can give them out anywhere too, within emails, in ads, or even in person on the street.
46) Bing Ads
Google isn’t the only search engine. While Bing is much, much smaller in terms of users, running search engine marketing on the platform still has potential. Why not test it if you have the budget?
47) Newspaper Ads
Sometimes going back to basics can pay off. Newspaper ads and Shopify stores are a combination you don’t come across often, but that doesn’t mean they won’t work for you.
48) Billboards
An expensive option, but billboards get plenty of visibility, making them an ideal means of promoting your Shopify store to people as they pass-by.
49) Facebook Stories
Facebook stories gives you yet another way to interact with your fans on Facebook and grow your audience. In doing so, you’re promoting your Shopify store too.
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50) Buyable Pins on Pinterest
If you have the kind of product that people like to pin on Pinterest, then you should explore paid advertising options on the platform.
51) Grow Your Email List
Growing your email list is essential to get the most out of email marketing. Just be sure to be collecting email addresses of people who agree to be on your list and are interested in hearing from you. Never buy an email list.
52) Product Recommendation Emails
Once you have started growing your email list, one of the best types of emails you can send are product recommendation emails. This are personalized emails that recommend the products your subscribers are most likely to buy based on factors such as past purchase history. It’s the highly targeted and personalized nature of these emails that make them so useful.
53) Free Samples
Giving out free samples of your product, if you can, is one of the best ways to get people to end up buying what you’re selling.
54) Go to Markets
Farmer’s markets, flea markets, pretty much any kind of market is a great opportunity to get your product more exposure. Stalls are often affordably priced too.
55) Take Advantage of Holidays
You should be taking advantage of any holiday where you can promote your product, but as you’re using Shopify, you should definitely be taking advantage of e-commerce holidays. These include Black Friday and Cyber Monday where millions of people will be looking for great deals online.
56) Cross-Sell Products
Cross-selling is when you recommend a similar product to one someone has already purchased in the hope that they will also buy it. The classic example is when restaurants ask diners whether they also want a side and drink with their meal. Taking the same approach to your Shopify store can easily earn you more sales.
57) Up-Sell Products
Up-selling is similar to cross-selling, except instead of recommending a similar product, you recommend a larger or better version of the same product.
58) Create a Referral Program
Referral programs encourage your existing customers to do the work of promoting your store for you. The reward you give them for doing so can even be a discount on your store, encouraging them to make even more purchases.
59) Customize your Email Signature
Instead of just signing off your emails with a pleasantry and your name, be sure to expand it to include a link to your store. If you have any employees, make sure they do the same with their work emails too.
60) Send Free Samples to Bloggers
Sending free samples to bloggers is a great way to get them to start talking about your product.
61) Groupon
Groupon is a worldwide marketplace that connects would-be customers with merchants offering discounts and special deals. This makes is a great way to promote your Shopify store.
62) Hold an Event
If there’s no events being held related to your product or its use cases, and you think people would benefit from one, why not host one yourself? The event will likely attract a lot of potential buyers and expose them to your product.
63) Create Video Tutorials
If you’re selling a product that requires several steps to set up or use, then your customers would probably appreciate a video tutorial. Uploading these videos to a platform like YouTube can also earn your videos some organic traffic.
64) Direct Mail Marketing
The analogue equivalent to email marketing, using snail mail to reach potential customers can prove useful if it’s done right. This can be particularly powerful if you want to target people in a particular area. At the very least, it’s something worth exploring.
65) Sell Wholesale to Other Retailers
Getting other retailers to stock your product not only helps you make more sales, but also gets your brand more exposure. If successful, people will then start looking you up online and start landing on your Shopify store.
66) Network on LinkedIn
Networking is essential to success in business and when it comes to networking online, the most popular platform by far is LinkedIn. Search for other people in your industry and see if there’s any cross collaboration opportunities.
67) Create Controversy
A high risk strategy, but there’s a saying: there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Just take Nando’s old approach to their ads:
68) Run Competitions
Whether online or offline, competitions are a great way to get more people to your Shopify store.
69) TV Ads
If you can afford it, running ads on TV will get your product and website in front of a large audience.
70) Super Bowl Ad
A super expensive option, with the average Super Bowl ad costing around $5 million. If that’s in your budget though, it’s one of the best ways to promote your business.
71) Movie Ads
Ads that play in cinemas before the movie begins aren’t as expensive as you might think. They’re also more targeted than TV ads in terms of the location of the viewers, so if you want to target a small area of potential buyers, they might be worthwhile for you.
72) Wear Your Product
If you’re selling apparel, why not wear it in public? That way your products get free publicity as you walk down the street.
73) Go Local – Newspapers, Local Stores, etc.
Shopify stores are global in their nature, but don’t forget that your local community.
74) Welcome Emails
As people sign up to your emails as you grow your list, you will want to be sending them a welcome email. But don’t limit yourself to just thanking your new subscriber for signing up, take advantage of the opportunity to promote your products by offering a discount or recommending a product.
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75) Pull a PR Stunt
Pull the right publicity stunt and you’ll receive plenty of free press. Get it wrong though and your brand might be in the news for all the wrong reasons. This is another high risk strategy, so proceed with caution.
76) LinkedIn Marketing
If your product is corporate in nature or you’re dealing mostly with B2B, then you should consider paid advertising on LinkedIn.
77) Focus on SEO
There’s plenty of ways you can improve your site’s SEO, all of which helps your Shopify store improve its ranking in search engines bringing more people in organically.
78) Business Cards
Get some business cards printed and carry them with you where-ever you go. You never know when you might meet someone interested in what you’re selling and when you do, you’ll want to have something to hand them.
79) HARO
HARO, short for help a reporter out, is a free service that connects journalists and experts. Sign up to the service and reach out if there’s any report looking for an expert in your field and you might get you and your Shopify store some free publicity.
80) Be a Guest Speaker
Search for opportunities to speak at any event related to your business or product. You can even be proactive and ask to speak at these events.
81) Offer Free Consultations
If buying your product is a fairly involved process, potential customers can respond well to being offer free consultations so they’re fully informed before making a purchase. This can also set your store apart from competitors if they’re not offering this service.
82) Winback Emails
If you’ve been in the email marketing game for a while, you’ll know that eventually subscribers lose interest in your emails and stop purchasing from your store. This is where winback emails come in. They entice people to come back to your Shopify store and generate more sales for you.
83) SMS Marketing
Cold SMS marketing is the domain of spammers, but remarketing with SMS, if done well, could help get more sales for your Shopify store.
84) Radio Ads
Radio has been around for a long time, but that doesn’t mean that it’s no longer effective. Depending on your customers, it might be worthwhile experimenting with a few radio ads.
85) Run Regular Webinars
Just like with Podcasts, running regular webinars is a great way to gain better engagement among your existing customers and to promote your store to potential ones.
86) Ask for Reviews
Having reviews of your store and products is a form of social proof that increases trust with potential customers. A few good reviews can make the difference between someone deciding to checkout their cart or not.
87) Write Long Form Content
Long form content is essentially a longer blog post which has had a lot more effort and research gone into it. This makes it much more shareable online and gives a better chance of getting your store more exposure than a typical blog post.
88) Pop Up Shops
If you aren’t really to commit to a permanent bricks-and-mortar store just yet, a pop up shop lets you test the waters while promoting your products at the same time.
89) Apple Maps
In addition to getting listed on Google Maps, don’t forget that there’s other online maps out there. Apple Maps is the default option on millions of iPhones and iPads, making it the second most popular after Google.
90) Bing Maps
Same goes for Bing Maps. While even fewer people use Bing Maps than Apple Maps, getting your business listed on the service is still something you should explore.
91) University O-Weeks
If your product’s target audience includes college students, then promoting it during orientation weeks can be a great way to gain some exposure.
92) Use Your Vehicle
Did you know that advertising on a single vehicle can generate between 30,000 and 70,000 impressions each day? If you’re willing to wrap your car in an ad for your Shopify store, this is a very cheap form of advertising.
93) Answer Questions on WikiHow
Just like with Quora, see if there’s any questions related to your product on WikiHow that you can answer.
94) Get Backlinks
Getting links to your Shopify store on other websites will not only get people clicking on those links to your store, but also helps with your SEO. This means that your site will rank better in search engines, which in turn brings even more people to your site.
95) UGC
UGC, or user generated content, is a way to get your existing customers to promote your Shopify store by essentially generating ads for you. This can be as simple as encouraging people to post images of your product with your hashtag to enter a competition.
96) Take Advantage of “International Day of …”
There’s International Beer Day, Chocolate Day, Bicycle Day. See if there’s a day related to your product and use it to your advantage if there is.
97) Go International
Shopify makes it easy to sell your product to people all over the world. If you’ve just been focusing on your local area or country with your product, expanding your horizons can bring plenty of extra customers and sales to your store.
98) Get People to Wear your Product
In addition to wearing your product yourself if you’re selling apparel, you can also get other people to wear it. This gives your clothing increased visibility which can be greatly beneficial if its unique enough to attract attention.
99) Have a Sale
Having a sale is definitely an example of going back to basics. Even though it might seem like a lazy idea, the fact is that it’s one of the best ways to promote your Shopify store in the short term.
100) Get your Products in Gift Guides
Many people will use gift guides when search for what to buy. Getting your product included in them is a great way to promote your Shopify store.
101) Facebook Custom Audiences
Instead of using interested based targeting with Facebook ads, get more results with more targeted advertising by uploading your own custom lists. This lets you target exactly who you want, such as previous purchasers or visitors who never made a purchase.
102) Facebook Store
The Facebook Store app enables you to start selling products right within Facebook itself. You can also integrate this feature with Shopify to make it super easy to set up and manage.
103) Uncrate
Uncrate is a website focused on finding the best products across a range of different categories for men. If you think your product would make a good fit, you can try to get it recommended by the site.
104) Open a Bricks-and-Mortar Store
If you’re ready to take this next step, opening a physical store can also drive more traffic to your Shopify store just through brand exposure. It also gives you another opportunity to make sales.
105) Product Hunt
Product Hunt lets its users share and discover new products. Users can upvote or downvote products in a similar manner to Reddit. If your product has an aspect of originality or innovation to it, try to get it on Product Hunt.
106) Get Department Stores to Stock your Product
Department stores stock a huge range of brands within their stores. Getting your products accepted gives them a massive amount of exposure and gets your brand name into the minds of thousands of consumers.
107) Turn Your Bike into a Billboard
It’s not just your car that you use to advertise your Shopify store. You can turn your bike into a mobile billboard. Unlike with cars, you can also park you bike in a high foot traffic area to maximize visibility. It’s also a lot cheaper than advertising on a car.
There you have it, 107 different ways you can promote your Shopify store.
Again, not all of these are appropriate for every Shopify store, and you should really only be focussing on a few at any one time. So pick the ones you think will generate the best results for your store and focus on them.
For more help with promoting your store, check out our other Shopify blog posts or even consider signing up to a few Shopify courses.
