General
What Is Dropshipping & How Do You Get Started?
Understanding dropshipping and steps to launch your own online business
May 2, 2024
16 min read
Web traffic is the bloodline of your dropshipping business. Without traffic, you will never get sales. Although online advertising is not the only way to get traffic, it is the fastest way to get people to your store.
Where should you advertise, and what are the ways by which you can get traffic without spending? In this article, we will discuss:
In the end, you should have the right foundation for marketing. We will even throw in some marketing tips on how to create effective ads.
If you are ready, let us begin!
Some dropshippers do not advocate paid advertising as part of their dropshipping marketing strategy. They say it is costly, and we agree that it can indeed be pricey. However, it is wrong to advise people to not advertise altogether.
The fastest way to get traffic to your store is to advertise, provided that you are not an influencer. If you are an influencer, then there is little to no need for paid advertising because you already have followers. All it takes is to tell your followers to visit your store and you will get sales.
Here are the benefits of advertising your dropshipping store:
Advertising works, but then there is the challenge of getting impressions and clicks—nothing that you cannot fix. All I am saying is that advertising has nuances. It is not as simple as slapping things together. There are proper techniques in advertising, techniques that you will only learn if you do the advertising yourself.
There is no secret to advertising, but there are things you need to prepare to get the most out of it. In essence, there is a way to do it right. In this section, I will provide some of the most important things you need to prepare before launching the ad.
This part is where many advertisers usually fail. Many dropshippers think that advertising is nothing more than picking an audience on Facebook or setting an interest, and then they are done. However, understanding your potential customers goes deeper than that.
What you need to do is to create an avatar or person from your target market. You need to create a character to fully define how your audience is.
Let us say that you are selling high-heeled shoes. In this case, it would be inappropriate to just target all women in your ad. The best thing to do is to create a more specific persona or avatar.
Here is an example:
As you can see from here, the target audience is more refined, and it is from this avatar that we can create an ad copy and creative that resonates with this person.
Now that you have nailed the first part, it is time to find out where these people are. Market research encompasses a wide spectrum. In dropshipping, you want to know:
One thing you want to do is a SWOT analysis for your business. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Once you have identified all these, you are now in a position to start working on your ad creative.
Most dropshippers take a photo of their product, and then they think that’s it. They are done. The next step is to upload the image or video on Facebook and launch the ad.
This process is not enough. Your ad creative must address the issues you discovered in the first two phases of preparing the ad to ensure your marketing efforts are effective.
There is a reason most TV ads for American products have a similar template—it works. The template I am talking about is this:
This is how you should present your ad. You do not need to make a video if you do not have the resources. Instead, you can use photos or words to drive your message across. However, our data indicates that video ads perform significantly better, so keep that in mind when creating content.
The key here is that the image or video must “speak” to the target market. In our case, the image must get the attention of “Jane,” meaning we need to ensure that if “Jane” sees the image, she will stop whatever she is doing and pay attention to the ad.
If you want to skip this process you can purchase pre-made creatives on Fiverr.com or Billo.app. Both can perform very well.
The last thing to do is to create the ad copy. The ad copy is the text that includes the following:
All these three should be fairly easy if you nail down the first two steps. The headline must be attractive enough to “Jane.” The body of the ad copy must tell “Jane” the benefits of buying the product, and the CTA or call-to-action must give “Jane” a reason to buy the product now or take action now.
Facebook is the default ad network for dropshippers and a key platform for paid advertising. As of the time of this writing, Facebook now has 3 billion monthly active users. It is impossible to think that your market is not on this platform.
Reasons to advertise on Facebook:
Facebook is the first place to go if you want to advertise and get traffic to your dropshipping store. The platform has enhanced its advertising algorithm so many times to make it perform better.
In addition, Facebook has a high conversion rate across all industries at 3.5%. Because of this, it is not too much to set a conversion rate target of 3.5%.
YouTube has more than 933 million active users a month. It is the best platform to advertise and get traffic if your product is better conveyed through videos.
Reasons to advertise on YouTube:
YouTube is the second most visited website in the world. Although it is a video platform, you must treat it as a search engine because it is a search engine.
However, there is something you need to be watchful of on this platform. Many times, YouTube will show your ads in channels that have no relevance to your niche, especially if you choose CPM as an ad model.
It means that YouTube will show your ads to kids’ channels even if your dropshipping products are not for kids. You are essentially paying for impressions that do not make sense because the people who see your ads are babies.
To fight this, you must review the channels where your ads were shown and then include them in the exclusion area of YouTube. You must tell YouTube not to show your ads on these channels.
Google Ads is the platform for advertising in the entire Google universe. It is the site you use to advertise on Google Search, YouTube, Google Play, inside Android apps like games, and on blogs that use Google AdSense.
Reasons to advertise on Google Ads:
Google is far-reaching, and it is best used by dropshippers who already have previous ad experiences. It can be too overwhelming to advertise on this platform because of the sheer number of options. In addition, Google has really strict rules when it comes to ad sizes, text character count, the words you use, and many more factors.
Instagram is best for dropshipping products that have something to do with health and beauty. Why? It is because Instagram is best known as a platform for celebrities. Its main type of content is photos and videos, and the users of the platform mainly follow those who are pretty and healthy.
Reasons to advertise on Instagram
An Instagram ad will work best if you have a model. Instagram users consume content that is eye candy. You may want to set aside a budget for this—hire an influencer who can showcase your product. Ensure that this influencer will show your product to his/her followers.
Next, you need to agree with the influencer that you will use his/her photo for advertising. This will prevent you from facing legal issues later. If an influencer is too costly for your budget right now, you can work with so-called “micro-influencers.” They have a smaller reach, but when done correctly, can still result in a lot of sales. Alternatively you can also use artificial intelligence to create images for you.
TikTok is a phenomenon that changed social media forever. While a lot of people are skeptical about TikTok’s users, content, and its owners’ political agenda, one cannot deny that it is a goldmine when it comes to advertising and sales.
Reasons to advertise on TikTok:
TikTok has over one billion active users monthly. The way it works is based on trends—trends that you can capitalize on. If people are doing the ice bucket challenge, you can do the same for your brand.
In addition to all these, TikTok has a higher engagement rate; it can reach up to 17%. You do not even need to find a superstar on the platform—you can easily work with micro-influencers and get satisfactory results.
Pinterest is not as popular as other platforms, but it is steadily growing. Right now, the platform has 400 monthly active users, most of which are females.
Pinterest is great if you are dropshipping luxury items like watches and gift items. It is not the best place for tech stuff like drones or electronic accessories.
Reasons to advertise on Pinterest:
The largest demographic on Pinterest is women between 25 and 34, as they comprise roughly 30% of all Pinterest users. One thing that you can leverage on Pinterest is the mindset of its users. 96% of the searches done on the platform are unbranded. Because of this, you will not be competing against big names.
Snapchat is a huge social media platform with over 400 million daily active users. Snapchat users have a cumulative $4.4 trillion in spending power, and many dropshippers tend to ignore this platform.
Reasons to advertise on Snapchat:
Snapchat is the best platform to use if you want to target impulsive buyers. Millennials are known for their “itchy fingers” when it comes to online shopping.
Snapchat offers only four ad formats. The first one is a video ad that is less than 10 seconds. The second one is a sponsored geofilter. Next is the sponsored lens. The last is a dynamic product ad that people can click on.
A geofilter means you are allowing people to use your photo if they are located in the same geographical area as that photo. A lens means you are allowing people to use your brand icon in their photos—they can use your brand icon as a “filter” or photo style.
As of the time of this writing, Twitter or X is at the cusp of a major business fallout. A lot of advertisers are leaving the platform because of Elon Musk’s political views.
Should you do the same? No, you should not. As the big advertisers leave Twitter, you get more bang for your buck because you are no longer competing against giants for eyeballs.
Reasons to advertise on Twitter:
Twitter is an excellent advertising platform for print-on-demand dropshippers. Since Twitter is a place where people talk, it is where you will find people with ideals and people fighting for their principles. As such, coffee mugs and shirts that carry a message and some of the best items to advertise here.
Influencer marketing means working with someone who has followers. There are several platforms you can choose from, but the best ones are YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and TikTok.
There are several ways by which you can do this:
Influencer marketing is a tad expensive because many influencers tend to overvalue themselves. Exercise caution when dealing with influencers. If you work with one, be sure that this influencer provides value to his followers and that this influencer covers a topic that is in your niche.
For example, it does not make sense to work with a make-up artist influencer if you are dropshipping baby toys; instead, work with a parenting influencer whose channel is about raising children.
In addition, look at the influencer’s posts. Make sure that the influencer has high engagement—that his followers are responsive and that his posts are getting likes organically. Do not be fooled by follower count because this can be bought.
Social media is the most effective FREE way to drive traffic to your online store. However, it is easier said than done. It is not enough that you post images of your products because it would look too “salesy.” What you need to do instead is build a community.
Social media marketing is expensive. At the very least, social media marketers charge $3,000 a month for 10 posts. This is too extravagant a price for dropshippers, and that money is better spent on ads.
Here are some tips to help you drive traffic to your dropshipping store from social media posts:
Use social media to generate leads. Your intent here is to become a credible source of either entertainment or education. Do not attempt to market too early—instead focus on giving value and the customers will begin to trust you.
Contrary to what others say, blogging is not dead. It just got harder to make it work. So, why should you blog?
You need to blog if you want to drive traffic from Google users through search engine optimization. The kind of people you will get here are those who have a “search intent.” The goal of blogging is to rank your blog articles so that search engines will show your pages at the top of search results.
If your blog posts are articles at the top of search results, you get clicks. If you get clicks, you get traffic, and then you can do what you need to make a sale.
Here are some tips to succeed in blogging:
What you want here is to build authority and credibility. You want to establish that trust, and it is from this level of trust that you can convince your site visitor to buy from you.
In this type of marketing, you will join Facebook groups or create a group yourself. You should not spam these groups, or you will be banned.
Between these two, it is better to create a group for your business. Your goal as the group creator is to provide users a space to talk about the same interest—your niche.
So, if you are selling drones, you have to create a group where you talk about the best batteries, best cameras, etc. Establish your dependability when it comes to giving advice. Prioritize how you can help your user, not how you can make a sale. Eventually, your members will begin to trust you and buy what you sell.
Email marketing is also free, and it is a marketing strategy you use to nurture your audience. Once you have a blog, you can give something away for free in exchange of the user’s email address. From here, you can send this user emails that contain:
As much as possible, refrain from sending too much sales offer because it is spammy. Instead, send them emails that will take them to your dropshipping website where they can get value, like tutorials or entertaining posts on YouTube.
You need an email marketing tool like MailChimp or Brevo to do this. Many of these email platforms are free, with a limit of typically about 500 subscribers. Pay for a subscription only if you have already gone past their limits.
There is no guarantee that an ad is going to bring in sales, but there are best practices and marketing strategies that you must consider to improve your impression rate, click-through rate, and conversion rates.
These best practices are:
Now, let us discuss them one by one.
Your ads will not work if they are not geared toward the right audience. It is so simple to launch an ad because it only takes a few clicks to do so. The reality is that most people will only scroll past your ad.
Why? Because they are seeing something they have no interest in seeing. As such, you may have thousands of impressions, and yet have a dismal click-through rate of 0.5% or 1%.
On the other hand, you would get more value for your money if you targeted the right people. If you showed your ad to the right audience, you could stop them on their tracks and make them click your ad, resulting in higher CTR and more traffic.
The headline must immediately give the viewer a reason to click your ad. The headline is where you either address the problem or make a promise.
Here are some tips on how to write the best headlines:
It is difficult to write a headline. One thing I suggest is that you write several versions of it, and then choose two final headlines that you can run in your ad. See which of these two versions is driving the traffic, and then scale the budget for that ad.
A unique value proposition, or USP, entails the very reason why the viewer even has to check your ad. It is the text telling the reader what it is about your product that makes it different from the others.
A USP is what makes you special. It is the very thing that tells people why they should even bother looking at your products.
Here are some examples:
Do not confuse USP with a tagline or a slogan. These are different things. Your USP has to be a message that cuts through barriers or walls that prevent an ad viewer from clicking.
Do not write long-form copy on an ad. You want the reader or ad viewer to go to your website. Save the details of your product on the website, not the ad.
People who use social media have short attention spans. You do not want them to read. What you want to happen is to get their attention as quickly as possible, and then make them decide, in as little as a few seconds, to click your ad and go to your dropshipping store.
Do not limit yourself to images of your products. If possible, use models or images of human beings. How?
You can hire people to pose for your products, and you can do this by reaching out to social media influencers If this is too costly for your marketing budget right now, use artificial intelligence. There are programs out there where you simply write a prompt, and the AI will create an image for you.
The other option is to use a person (copyright-free images) and add your product’s image. In this type of graphics, you can, for example, show a photo of a happy kid and then add your product, like a toy drone, in the mix. This gives the viewer the notion that this kid is happy because of the toy, even if the kid is not using the toy in the picture.
How do you drive traffic to a dropshipping store?
There are many ways to drive traffic to a dropshipping store, but the fastest is through advertising.
You can get free traffic to your dropshipping store in three ways: blogging, creating and managing social media pages, and being active on forum sites.
Clients will come to your store once you successfully bring traffic. By this time, your product pages will do the work for you. As such, ensure that your landing pages and product pages have great copy.
You can grow your dropshipping store by creating a community around it, which is essential for building a successful dropshipping business. The most common method is to build a social media page about it, and then provide your audiences with value or entertainment. Eventually, they will come to your store to buy your products.
Advertising is indeed costly, but then you should be able to recover this cost if you do it the right way. The better you become at advertising, the less it will take you to get clicks and sales. As such you will observe that effective ads also entail lower customer acquisition costs.
To improve your success rate, it would help if you used a tool like Tradelle, a dropshipping supplier and product research tool. In this tool, you will find winning products or products that already have a demand. In addition, Tradelle can show you the interest groups that you can target for a specific product.
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