I see what you mean! Since we want stores to have the opportunity to market their store the way that they want to we don't have any tradeshows or places for customers to essentially "Shop on Shopify". Shopify isn't a marketplace like some other services out there, like Ebay or Amazon - we're more about supporting individual merchants with their standalone, branded shops.
With that said, it sounds like you could dealing with some underlying stress towards how you are going to market your store. Would I be correct in assuming this? I would be happy to help you find some ways that might work for you in regards to bringing more customers to your store.
I did some digging through some Shopify resources to find some articles that I think might help you out when it comes to figuring out the best way to market and bring sales to your store. Some worthy mentions are:
You're also going to want to make sure that you make a solid marketing plan. I have a link here that will help you work through the steps to get that setup, but some of the big questions to take note of are the WHO/WHAT/WHY trilogy:
- Who are you trying to sell to
- What is the goal with your store? What are you trying to accomplish?
- Why would your customers by from you
If you can answer those in great detail then you're going to be well on the way of understanding your business and your customers. That will in turn help you to create more sales.
1. Who are you trying to sell to:
It is important to know your customer base because then you'll be able to create targeted ads geared to them, create a website that would be appealing to them, and much much more. I suggest you create at least 3 avatars of your customer base that answer these questions
If I was to give you these questions would you be able to answer them all?
Location - Where do people from this persona live?
Excluding Location - Where do people from this persona not live?
Age - What is the age range of this persona?
Gender - What is the gender of people in this persona?
Interests - What are the interests of people in this persona?
Education Level - What is the education level of this persona?
Job Title - What field of work do your customers work in and what types of job titles do they carry?
Income Level - What is the income range of this buyer persona?
Relationship Status - What is the relationship status of this buyer persona?
Language - What languages do people in this persona speak?
Favorite Websites - Why type of websites do people in this persona frequent?
Buying Motivation - What is this personas reasons for buying your product?
Buying Concerns - What is this personas concerns when buying your product?
If you can answer those questions they will help you so much. I can't stress that enough. Honestly, the more you know your customer the more you know your business.
I completely understand how hard that can be at first so don't be afraid to change this as time goes on. You know how many times I have had to change mine for my business... a lot 😉 If you're not sure where to start just guess. Then as time goes on you'll be able to start seeing trends and you can add bit by bit until you have a solid grasp.
2. What is the goal with your store? What are you trying to accomplish?
Businesses are not just about the customer, they are also about you as the business owner. What are you trying to achieve with your business? Do you have any goals? Are looking for this to be a full-time business or a side hobby/business?
This doesn't directly relate to bringing in customers, but the more that you understand about what you want, the more that you'll be able to figure out the steps that you want to take with your business and with your marketing.
3. Why would your customers buy from you
This is going to be helpful because it is the question that will help you stand apart from the crowd. In this day and age, people are bombarded with different stores, products, brands, etc. all asking for their money. In that case, you need to find a way to make sure that your store wins that battle. You want to be the one who grabs the customer's attention the most. So how do you want to do that?
In order to figure that out, you need to think about what it is that you're trying to sell and how you can make yours better than any other store out there. This question brings in the answers from the first two questions. In order to properly answer why your customers should buy from you, you need to understand who's attention it is that you're trying to capture. Then you need to understand what it is that you want. Once you have the answers to both of those you can work to make your store stand out and rise above other stores in your niche.
By following steps like this to really understand your marketing process you won't even need a Shopify tradeshow because you'll know exactly what it is that you want to do and how you're going to do it.
Another great resource is the Shopify Compass for some more resources in Marketing and much more! Please let me know if you have any other questions!
