by: Atikah Hanafi

Note: This is the fourth part of A Comprehensive Guide for Cross Border E-Commerce Marketing & Branding Strategy series. To read on the previous post, click here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

The cross border e-commerce business is becoming highly saturated and competitive. As online seller, you definitely need to take extra mile to ensure your brand stand out among the flock. According to a research by Nielsen, 59% of consumers buy new products based on familiar brands and another 21% from brands they like. Hence, developing a strong brand is vital to a successful cross border e-commerce store. Here, we would like to share 8 tips to establish a successful e-commerce brand.

Determine your brand’s target audience

Customer is the heart of your marketing strategy. Thus, it is important to know who are your customer so that you can plan your marketing plan effectively. Find out the basic profile, such as age range, gender and their geographic location. Also, know their browsing preferences, online buying habits and sites they frequently visit can also provide clear insights on their needs and wants.

Establish your brand identity – inspiring story, attractive logo & catchy tagline

Story and mission statement

• Sharing your brand story can be helpful for your brand. It can support in forming impactful and emotional bond with your customers. Emotional success and even failure may establish emotional bond with your readers and it will last for a long time.

Logo

• Logo can be synonymous to your brand. It is the first thing that catches your customers’ eyes. Customers can easily identify your brand by just looking at your logo. In fact, big brands – Apple, McDonald’s and Coca Cola to name a few – have such memorable logos. Hence, create an attractive logo with unique and enticing colour palette that your customers can easily remember for years to come.

Tagline/Slogan

• A slogan or tagline provides your audience a snippet of your company’s vision. From McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” to KFC’s “Finger-Lickin’ Good”, having a catchy slogan will makes your brand more appealing to the audience. A good slogan should be memorable and concise. Ensure that it attracts your customers to your product and compel them into making a purchase.

Note: It is important to trademark your brand including your logo, tagline, business name to avoid competitors from taking advantage of them. Build the brand and own it!

Outline your brand’s strength & quality

The best way to establish your brand is by highlighting your key strengths and quality that stand out from your other competitors. Therefore, research brands within your industry closely to study their strengths and weaknesses. For example, it might be shipping speed or personalised packaging. Hence, use these elements to your advantage and offer something better than you competitors. By promoting your brand’s advantage and highlighting how your products or service can serve as the solutions to their problems; you are giving your audience more reasons to choose you over the others.

Personalised packaging

Packaging might look like a small element in marketing your business but it is the first impression that your customers will have of your brand. The unboxing trend is something that e-commerce business owner need to pay attention to since 34% of customers said that packaging influence their perception of the brand and 40% will more likely recommended a product due to its personalised packaging. A personalised packaging can make your customers feel special and affect the way they look at your brand.

Brand Voice

Your brand voice refers to how you communicate with your customers and it must be aligned with your company’s audience and industry. You can choose to be friendly, technical, professional or conversational. It all depends on how well it suits your target customers. A brand voice that resonates with your customers will certainly help you to connect with them.

Develop Accessible Web Presence

Your website can also make and break your business. The first thing that you must note when creating a domain name for your website is to ensure it is memorable and meaningful. For example, having www.hgsyujs.com can be confusing to your customer compared to www.perfectperfume.com.

According to Statista, mobile traffic made up over 52.2% of web traffic worldwide in 2018. Since mobile traffic are gaining more traffic than desktop ones, it is essential for you to build a mobile- friendly website. Nowadays, customers want everything to be instant – slow loading site will frustrate them. Choose a UI-friendly design for website where customers can easily navigate around and place order. You must also ensure that your site’s layout is logical and the font is clear even for sleeping eyes.

Establish Social Media Presence

Establishing a strong social media presence can also help building your brand. Social media takes up a huge percentage of internet usage daily. In fact, according to Davidson, an average person spends around 1 hour and 40 minutes per day browsing through social media. Thus, if you still did not utilize them yet to establish connection with your customers, you should start doing it today! Create social media profiles, engage with your followers and continuously communicate your brand via these channels.

Personalised Customer Experience

No one like a bad customer support, especially when things go wrong. On the other hand, if your webstore managed to serve with quality customer service, your customers will surely back to you always. Therefore, always ensure your customer support team is engaging, helpful and fulfilling customer enquiries.

From logistics perspective, you can also impress your buyer with amazing delivery speed by offering same-day delivery and/or next-day delivery. Making it easy to return and exchange their purchase can also be a killer feature that compels buyers to choose you over other competitors. Ensuring a superb and memorable buying experience for your customers will definitely make them loyal to your brand.

It is undeniable that building an amazing brand might require a comprehensive planning. It  can be the strongest factor that makes your business stands out.

Stay tuned and happy selling!

AllSome Fulfillment, we provide cross border ecommerce fulfillment services for modern online sellers. From China to Worldwide. From Malaysia to worldwide. Your branding is important and let’s grow it together.

AllSome Fulfillment, we are your dedicated fulfillment team!