By: Joseph Heller, small businesses expert and CEO of SuppliedShop.com. Supplied makes it easier for small boutique owners worldwide to access high-quality, affordable wholesale boutique items, whether to stock their physical store or IG shop.

Choosing the clothes that’ll make your clientele squeal with delight and order one of everything may be the fun part of owning your online boutique – but it’s only half the battle. 

Let’s be honest. You didn’t get into this business to have a closet bursting with unsold inventory. If you want your boutique to continue growing, you need to sell!

For your boutique to succeed (and get paid), you have to get your online store in front of the right people—the kind of people already looking for everything you’re selling.

It might sound hard to believe, but marketing isn’t about convincing people to buy from you. More often than not, it’s about showing up in front of the people already poised to buy. (It’s easier than changing people’s minds; I’ llI’ll tell you that!)

Not a born marketer? No worries. Any online boutique owner can go from unknown to unmissable with the right tools and a push. Here are a few tips and tools EVERY boutique owner should be using to market their online store:

1. Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to increase engagement and conversion for your online store. It allows you to nurture your relationship with customers – and turn one-time customers into uber-loyal fans.

Try offering a one-time discount code for new email subscribers. It’ll help you build your list and make it easier to advertise directly to them.

Of course, building your list is only the first step. Once you have a handful of customers interested in hearing from you, give them what they want! Consider creating automated onboarding emails for new subscribers, outlining information on how to place an order, how to get in touch, and a highlight of your top-rated projects. Then, send regular emails informing your customer base about upcoming sales, product launches, and more.
 2. Run Promotions

Mobilize your audience to take action by running promotions every so often. Advertise sales regularly—but not so regularly that they’re unique! It’s a great way to boost sales and create buzz around your shop. (Especially if it’s a genuinely fantastic deal!).

Be thoughtful about what you’ll do during certain seasons and holidays. For example, many consumers expect some Black Friday deal—get in on it!

 3. Use Instagram

Boost your organic social presence. Create a separate account for your online boutique and post consistent content showcasing images of your products: post quality product photos and user-generated content of your wholesale boutique items in the wild. And make sure you always use relevant hashtags to help new customers find your shop!

Another great way to build your social media following (and potential customer base) is through Instagram giveaways. Encourage your followers to tag friends or share a post in exchange for shop credit. It works like a charm!

Consider partnering with Instagram influencers to advertise your online boutique in exchange for products or payment. (For best results, make sure their following is engaged and aligned with your brand!)
 

4. Run Paid Ads

If you play your cards right, a little money can go a long way. Investing in advertising is an excellent option if you’re looking to boost your sales and brand awareness. Run Google Adwords campaigns to push your boutique to the top when your customers search for online stores like yours. Run FB/IG campaigns to get your brand in front of the right people while they’re browsing through social media.

If you have the budget, consider hiring an expert to own this task. A great paid ad strategy can pay off in a big way. If not, that’s too – it doesn’t matter to play around independently and gradually see what works for you.

5. Use Pinterest

Did you know that 55% of users use Pinterest to find new products? That means Pinterest is FULL of people looking for things to buy. Pinterest can be a potent tool for driving traffic to your site and attracting new buyers. Start creating pins for blog articles and each of your products. Then, make sure you continuously post fresh content to keep users engaged.

6. Learn From Your Competitors

If it is for your competition, it will probably work for you. There’s a need to reinvent the wheel here. So many people have spent tons of time and energy figuring out the best marketing strategy for their online boutique – figure out what they’re thinking and try it out!

Identify your top 10 competitors. Then, do a little research to determine what marketing efforts they are. Peruse their social media accounts and see what influencers they partner with. Sign up for their mailing list and know the emails they send out. Try to figure out their keywords to help them rank on Google. Then, try doing the same!

Now that you’ve some great marketing ideas get out there and experiment! Sure, it might require some time and $$ upfront, but marketing dollars always have the potential to pay off big time.
I know we said that inventory isn’t everything… but that running a successful boutique is a lot easier when you can access a wide variety of high-quality, uber-trendy, crazy-affordable wholesale boutique items. (We’ll provide you with professional product photos to use in your marketing efforts so you can start advertising new products immediately!) 

Create a free Supplied account today to access over 25,000+ wholesale boutique items.