When you first start your e-commerce business, there are so many different things to handle as you get your company up and running. Some business owners are overwhelmed because they have too much to think about, too much to do, and rarely have enough time to get everything on their plate completed.

Guess what? When this type of overwhelm sets in, e-commerce site owners often fail to focus on branding their business. You are different though. You recognize the value of building your brand from the beginning, even though you’re only operating with a small budget.

Now, you may be thinking, “It’s going to be impossible to build my brand with so little marketing capital at my disposal.” Honestly, there was a time when this was true during the brick-and-mortar business revolution. But things are different online. It’s possible to build a memorable e-commerce brand without breaking the bank or going over budget.

Are you ready to learn how? Stick around and keep reading to discover the best strategies to brand your e-commerce biz on a small budget.

1. Provide Impeccable Customer Service for your E-Commerce Brand

You’d be surprised how much impeccable your service plays into the overall branding experience. Your customers are going to have questions, concerns, and even problems from time to time. If your business isn’t properly equipped to handle them, you’ll develop a negative reputation in your niche.

Remember, your customers want an amazing experience every time they buy one of the e-commerce products on your website. But they do not expect everything to go perfectly every time. What they do expect, on the other hand, is a competent customer service representative willing to take their needs seriously who diligently works quickly to correct the problem and right the ship once again.

As an example, let’s say one of your customers was accidentally charged twice for the same order. Obviously they are going to freak out a little bit because nobody wants to pay double the regular price for something they need.

So this customer contacts a member of your customer service team and lets them know about their problem. If you handle this issue quickly and painlessly for your customer, they will sing your praises to high heavens and recommend your e-commerce business to everyone willing to listen to their recommendations.

So never underestimate the power of impeccable customer service as a business branding tool. If you ignore this aspect of your company, you’ll develop a negative reputation as a business unwilling to expeditiously handle customer problems. And that’s obviously a rep that you’d rather avoid like the plague.

2. Focus on Security and Compliance

When customers visit your website to purchase your e-commerce products, they will run for the hills and bounce from your site faster than Vanilla Ice’s career as a rapper came to an end if they feel like it’s unsafe and not secure. In truth, no one will buy anything from your website if they believe their credit card information is vulnerable or they are about to get caught up in some type of a scam.

That’s why cybersecurity is incredibly important for your website. Hackers are becoming more and more sophisticated every day. They know how to target and steal valuable information like credit card numbers, your customers’ personal information, Social Security numbers, and other valuable data that can make your customers’ lives a living hell if somebody were ever to get their hands on it.

So you obviously have to take steps to make sure your site is safe and secure from cyber crooks. This will keep your customers’ minds at ease and also help brand your e-commerce business as a trustworthy and reputable source of high quality products.

Compliance is also another potential issue that you must take serious when selling certain e-commerce products. In particular, if you’re selling food, beauty supplies, and/or supplements, your products must be FDA compliant if you’re ever going to win the hearts and minds of your e-commerce customers.

How do you guarantee your products are FDA compliant? A simple solution is to contact EMMA International for compliance consulting services. They’ll make sure your products are safe, sound, and 100% in line with FDA regulations. Or you can do things the hard way by researching FDA guidelines on your own and pray to God that you don’t make a foolish mistake and end up getting sued for everything you’ve got.

How does maintaining compliance fit into branding your e-commerce business? Obviously when you are FDA compliant, you can let your customers know on your product packaging. Tell them that your products meet the strictest standards and regulations by the FDA so they know your products are 100% safe and harmless.

3. Collaborate with Other Successful Brands

Collaborating with other successful brands is a quick, simple, and cost-effective way to successfully brand your e-commerce business and really make a big name for your company. They say that two heads are better than one. So collaborating with another like-minded, similar brand should create bigger and better opportunities for both organizations.

As an example, if two friendly competitors are looking to build and grow their audiences, they should definitely collaborate and work together. You’ll both have an opportunity to tap into each other’s customer bases, which will in turn give each organization a chance to reach many more potential customers with very little effort.

Big brands with similar customers collaborate all the time. Back in the day, Martha Stewart teamed up with Kmart to sell her Martha Stewart Living products throughout all of their stores. This was a huge promotion that lasted for many years as well as an effective collaboration for both organizations.

In 2013, Sherwin-Williams and Pottery Barn collaborated on their Color Your Room campaign. This co-branding collaboration exposed each business to a brand-new but similar audience. By creating an exclusive product line together, they were able to help customers choose the right paints that were completely complementary to the color furniture that they chose.

As you can imagine, this collaboration was a smashing success just like the collaboration between Martha Stewart and Kmart. To make this work for you, find a company with a similar audience and come up with a way to combine your brands to create something new, different, and innovative that your customers will love.

Final Thoughts

Believe it or not, it’s going to be easier than you imagine creating an amazing e-commerce brand. We’ve laid out the roadmap for you today in plain English. So take a moment to read and digest everything again. And most important of all, put this information into action and you will quickly begin to experience incredible results for your efforts.

The post 3 Techniques to Create a Great E-Commerce Brand on a Small Budget appeared first on ECN | E-Commerce Nation.