As the business world gets more and more competitive, marketing becomes one of the biggest challenges. How do you get people through your door or onto your website? How can you encourage loyalty, get them talking and make every email matter?

Feed marketing is a relatively new term. It incorporates product availability and traceability in the appropriate product search and price comparison websites, affiliate networks and selling channels. 40% of all online audiences visit online marketplaces and so small businesses without a feed marketing strategy are missing out big time. 

Jerome Laredo, Lightspeed POS’s VP EMEA & Asia, shares his top tips for start-ups that want to flex their marketing muscle.

Good feed marketing

Consumers today shop for products across various online marketplaces – just under half will visit online marketplaces. Businesses need to ensure they present their products in as many relevant selling channels as possible. Popping up on search engines result pages that appear due to search terms and not advertising is the most beneficial, especially when some users prevent ads in search results and list only organic search results.

Your feed marketing strategy needs to focus on significantly improving organic search results which will increase the likelihood of acquiring new customers.

Feed marketing VS Pay-per-click

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) is a way of advertising that is used to direct traffic to websites. Advertisers only pay the website owner when the ad is clicked. Whereas feed marketing is a way to market your products in search and price comparison websites, affiliate networks and selling channels, PPC advertising will enable your chosen wording to appear to a target audience. It is more expensive than Field Marketing but it brings results faster. It can be used to drive a spike of activity for a special offer, event or launch. In comparison to feed marketing the ROI is lower so should be used in conjunction within a more sustainable long-term strategy.

How to avoid bottlenecks in feed marketing

Most marketplaces state in their user guides that sellers must provide accurate and up-to-date information in the files they send to the website. Not doing so can result in a seller’s account being suspended. Taking this into consideration, it can be challenging for retailers to connect their e-stores to various product aggregators, affiliate networks and selling channels as each selling platform has a different means of integration.

Small and medium-sized businesses can get around this by using feed marketing tools such as Koongo – which streamlines the process of integration with e-stores, price comparison websites, selling channels and affiliate networks across 40 countries. Koongo automates product feeds export and keeps feeds up-to-date and increased retailers visibility. In addition, Koongo doesn’t require any programming skills and allows online retailers and merchants to reach hundreds of marketing channels.

Take advantage of affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing refers to the integrations of e-stores with affiliate networks which connect content providers with online merchants. In this instance a content provider is essentially a website – from personal blogs to websites with specific content where the site displays highly targeted ads. Through this channel online retailers can acquire new customers. For example, an online retailer that sells beauty products and equipment would promote their products on beauty blogs. The website is likely to advertise products that appeal to their audience and also is a way for the site to make money from their blog or website.

Some say that it’s not what you know it’s who you know. But in marketing terms the key is who knows you. Take time to get your brand to a wide audience through Feed Marketing. It’s worth the effort.