To run a successful dropshipping business, we need to generate interest so we can encourage sales. With this in mind, getting the right message in front of our target audience at the perfect time is key. Plus, we need to navigate through the intense competition and do our best to stand out.
With that said, the best way to achieve this is with dropshipping ads. In fact, dropshipping ads help us build a relationship with our target audience. So, this will not only increase sales but will also help us become recognizable. With the visibility we get from marketing, we can increase our brand recognition and grow our dropshipping business.
With that said, in this article, we will learn how to best market our business. Also, we will learn what to include in winning ads. And lastly, what to consider and what to avoid when marketing our business.
Important Information To Include In Dropshipping Ads
First and foremost, we need to ensure that our dropshipping ads include all the necessary information to convert a sale. So, we need to build creative ads that have a sense of urgency to drive sales.
Importantly, we need a solid product description that offers fresh and trendy solutions. Notably, the product description should include details about the product through text, images, and demonstration.
Then, we need to ensure we include any discounts we may be offering. In fact, including discounts in dropshipping ads further entices viewers to check out our website. Additionally, to grasp the attention of more viewers, we can emphasize free shipping or shipping discounts.
And finally, to optimize our ad, we need to focus on relevant keywords, a clear call-to-action (CTA) button, and good visuals. To explain, in our ad’s description and title, we should include as many relevant keywords as possible to drive interest. Additionally, with high-quality visuals, we can entice our customers to click on the CTA in our ad.
Factors To Consider When Creating Dropshipping Ads
Now that we understand the key elements of a dropshipping ad, we need to look at the crucial factors we need to consider. So, when creating an ad, we need to keep the following factors in mind:
Primarily, we need to define our business goals before we can start building an ad. In fact, we need to define our goal to adequately create a converting dropshipping ad. So, we need to ask ourselves: What is the objective of the dropshipping ad?
More specifically, there are various goals our ads can have. For example, our objectives can be higher conversion rates, driving traffic to our store, brand awareness, introducing new products, etc. With that said, only after the goal is identified can we begin to create a converting dropshipping ad.
Target Audience
Next, we need to customize the ad toward the audience segment we are targeting. For a dropshipping ad to be effective, it should reach and appeal to our target audience.
For instance, if our product ad is about women’s clothing, then we need our ad to be focused on women. Plus, we need to adjust our targeting on this demographic as well.
This way, both our targeting and our ad are optimized to maximize conversions. Simply put, we can get better results if our ads are more specific and targeted (especially when advertising niche products).
Selling Channel Rules
Interestingly, every selling channel has its own set of rules regarding what can or cannot be included in an ad. As a result, before we begin to create our dropshipping ad, we should familiarize ourselves with our selling channel’s rules.
As a matter of fact, it’s essential to follow copyright rules to avoid infringing on intellectual property. However, there are other rules unique to each channel we use. For example, Facebook does not allow before/after photos. Ultimately, following the rules is crucial to avoid getting our ad taken down as well as for running a successful marketing campaign.
Ad Budget
Undeniably, one of the most important factors to consider when creating a dropshipping ad is the ad budget. Our budget will determine where and how long we can run the ad for. On top of that, it can determine how many people we reach.
So, we need to define how much money we want to spend. In addition, we need to calculate our preferred potential profit margin from the ad. Also, our budget determines how we go about creating the ad. Do we need to hire someone to create the ad? Do we need to hire photographers/videographers? Moreover, we can create various types of ads, like Facebook Ads, Snapchat Ads, Influencer Story Ads, and more! As a result, this also determines our ad budget.
With all this in mind, it’s important for us to set an ad budget early on. As such, we can allocate it accordingly and cover anticipated expenses.
A/B Testing
To explain, A/B testing allows us to test two or more different versions of an ad to find the most optimal one. By running multiple versions of the ad, we can see which of them brings the most conversions. Thus, we can then shift to using only that ad version to maximize our return on investment (ROI).
Ultimately, just like we test our products when dropshipping, we need to test our ads when marketing.
Demand Of The Market
Finally, our ad needs to be relatable and fill a need in the market. In fact, without a demand in the market, our product would be obsolete, and we won’t be making many sales.
Plus, we need to make our ad relatable and cater to our target demographic’s pain points and needs. Thus, we can touch upon something our target customer cares about or relates to and pique their interest.
As a matter of fact, the ad should have a compelling hook, showcasing the dropshipping brand’s story. It should also persuade viewers to click on the CTA button/link to continue to the product page. Alternatively, if the ad doesn’t clearly answer the question or fill the market gap, then the audience will simply continue scrolling.
13 Ways To Advertise Your Dropshipping Store
Alright! Now that we’ve covered the logistics, let’s explore the dropshipping ads we can use for our business.Importantly, we need a marketing method that also fits our budget and needs. To that end, we have both paid ads and free marketing methods we can choose from.
Paid Dropshipping Ad Methods
Notably, pay-per-click ads (PPC) or paid dropshipping ads are a great way to actively target our audience. Uniquely, it allows us to define the parameters to target our ideal customers.
Interestingly, we pay each time someone clicks on our ad for PPC ads. However, the cost per click varies depending on the platform and ad type. Otherwise, we have the option to pay for the ad in advance or afterward. In essence, it depends on us and how we want to run and budget our PPC marketing.
Thus, we can put the right message in front of the right people at the ideal time. Consequently, we can maximize our reach and return on investment (ROI).
With that said, let’s dive into the paid dropshipping methods we can use to grow our dropshipping business:
Let’s begin with Facebook ads. Recently, Facebook has become a favorite among dropshippers for marketing. Naturally, this is due to its huge and diverse user base. With that in mind, dropshippers can easily reach their ideal customers.
In fact, Facebook allows us to alter our targeting to great detail. We can alter demographics, locations, Facebook activity and groups, occupations, and more. As such, we will be able to reach the people that would most likely have an interest or demand for our product.
Furthermore, we can advertise almost any product on Facebook, meaning that it’s a great outlet for all. However, we should note that the best way to ensure maximum success is to A/B test multiple ad versions. This way, we can find the version that gives us the most conversions and ROI.
On a different note, creating and running a Facebook ad can be summed up in a few steps. After creating an account and Facebook page, we’ll set up our key details. Then, we can access the Facebook ads manager, where we can upload, run, and monitor our ads.
YouTube Ads
Without a doubt, YouTube is one of the best places for our paid dropshipping ads. First, YouTube has a massive active user base which allows us to reach a large audience. With approximately 2.6 billion users, we can reach a massive audience and convert viewers into buyers.
Second, video ads perform better than other formats. This is due to the fact that people retain more of the ad information when it’s watched rather than read.
Uniquely, on YouTube, we can get results from our dropshipping ad compared to other platforms. This is because many people will see and interact with our ad from the get-go. On top of that, it’s super easy to measure campaign results and analyze them. Because of this, we can learn and optimize our ads to increase engagement and sales.
Plus, YouTube makes it easy for us to define our targeting and set parameters. Notably, YouTube uses demographics and user interests to structure its targeting. As such, we can take a more granular approach to define our ideal customer.
Finally, YouTube has various ad formats for us to choose from. This enables us to find a format that will best fit our dropshipping marketing needs. Actually, we can choose from six different types of ads depending on our goal.
To elaborate, we can choose to run bumper instream ads, overlay ads, skippable in-stream ads, display ads, non-skippable in-stream ads, or sponsored card ads. All in all, YouTube is a great platform for us to increase our dropshipping sales.
Google Ads
Finally, we made it to the holy grail of the internet! Google is the single most used platform on the internet, making it an optimal place to engage with a large number of potential customers. In fact, Google ads can drive a lot of traffic to our store and help us gain recognition.
Interestingly, we allow our customers to discover our products on Google. To explain, a Google ad appears when triggered by our set keywords. So, when a customer is searching for sunglasses, our ad for sunglasses directly appeals to their interest and demand.
Thus, when our customer’s search term matches any of our set keywords, our ad will appear for them. That’s why it’s integral we optimize our ad with proper keywords that have a high search volume for that product.
Moreover, Google ads are highly customizable based on the user’s demographics, interests, past behavior, and location. As a result, we can optimize both our targeting and messaging for ultimate results.
Lastly, Google has different types of ad campaigns we can run to increase conversions. The most relevant ones for dropshippers are shopping, search, product, display, branded, and remarketing ads.
Instagram Advertising
Next, we have Instagram advertising as a great way to get our product out there. Notably, we can use different Instagram advertising strategies for the best results. Consequently, this will allow us to find the format that increases our sales.
Now, some great ways to advertise on Instagram (IG) are:
Influencer Shoutouts
Boosted Posts
Story Ads
Video & Image Ads
Carousel Ads
Reels
IG Paid Ads
Importantly, one thing we should emphasize is influencer shoutouts. As a matter of fact, they work similarly to influencer marketing. To explain, an influencer shoutout is when one user promotes another user on their own IG account.
This has become a massive trend that has more than doubled in the past couple of years. So, since influencers are personalities people listen to and follow, influencer shoutouts can increase our brand awareness. Usually, we pay the influencer for a post or story to ‘shoutout’ our business or product. Ultimately, the goal is to get people to go and buy our products.
TikTok Ads
Undoubtedly,TikTok marketing is a newer method to advertise our store, but it has already made a big bang. With the insane amount of traction it has seen, it’s a great platform to market our business.
In essence, TikTok ads are similar to Facebook ads, with the chance to reach new audiences, especially Gen Z. On that note, we should avoid marketing products that don’t appeal to a younger demographic. In fact, we can lose money on paid TikTok ads if we don’t adjust to the predominant demographic.
Furthermore, we can adjust our advertising objective to optimize our paid ads. Some examples of objectives include conversions, traffic, increased reach, and more. On top of that, we can also choose the best ad format from their various offers. Some TikTok ad formats are in-feed ads, brand takeover, branded hashtag challenges, topview, and branded effects.
Additionally, with its many features, we can maximize engagement with our audience on this platform. Consequently, we can become more recognizable and boost conversion.
Pinterest Advertising
Next on the list, we have Pinterest advertising. Specifically, on Pinterest, ‘Pinners’ (Pinterest users) are often looking to shop. So, they’re more likely to appreciate a good ad and act on it. In fact, users oftentimes go on Pinterest to look for inspiration for products for specific categories like fashion or home decor.
Notably, on Pinterest, we can adjust our targeting based on demographics, location, interests, keywords, and customer lists. This allows us to target people that are most likely to be interested and buy our products.
In addition, we can create our ads on the go. On Pinterest, we can turn organic Pins into ads from our phones. But, what we need to emphasize is these paid ads on Pinterest are known as promoted pins. In essence, these promoted pins work like any other PPC ads.
Moreover, our promoted pins appear on the Pinterest feed. Now, the advantage of this is that it adapts to what the users are already interested in. As a result, it blends in nicely with the rest of the feed and prompts the users to click on the ad.
To note, we should utilize the platform’s largest demographic. Coming in with 75% of all users, women make up the bulk of Pinterest’s user base. So, when trying to increase sales, we should focus our dropshipping ads on women-centric products and aesthetics.
Snapchat Ads
Now, we already know that video ads are more effective than image or text ads. So, we can take that to the next level with Snapchat dropshipping ads. To clarify, Snapchat ads are vertical full-screen mobile ads that can last up to 10 seconds.
With that said, these ads appear between ‘snap’ stories. This means that we must ensure to create captivating content to capitalize on the user’s attention. Plus, the platform has about 347 million users per day, which gives us the chance to appeal to a massive amount of active users.
But, we should run dropshipping ads of products that appeal to the largest Snapchat demographic. Considering that most of its users are millennials or Gen Z, our products and ads should appeal to and target them.
Undeniably, Snapchat’s low daily minimum spend requirement of $5 gives us the freedom to test, learn and optimize our ads. Actually, testing and optimizing our dropshipping ad campaigns are the cornerstones for success. So, being able to do that on a budget is a godsend.
Twitter Ads
Twitter ads are an excellent option for marketing our dropshipping business. Depending on our objective, we can run various ad types. For example, we can run display, video, mobile, and native ads. Thus, we can either redirect our audience to our website, or we can focus on growing our follower base before redirecting them.
With that said, based on our objectives, we can run ad types based on awareness, consideration, or conversion. Additionally, within these ad types, there are various ad formats centered around our end goal.
With that in mind, we can find the optimal ad type and format that will maximize our objective. Uniquely, Twitter only bills us for the actions made by the audience that align with our set objective.
Plus, Twitter offers unique targeting options to expand and optimize our reach. We can target by conversations, by followers, and by events. This allows us to appeal to high-converting users with interests similar to what we are marketing.
Influencer Marketing
Finally, we made it to the last paid marketing method, influencer marketing. To explain, an influencer is someone in a niche or industry with sway over our target audience. Influencers have specialized knowledge, authority, or insight into a specific subject. Undeniably, their pre-existing presence in a niche makes them a useful launching pad for our dropshipping business.
What’s more, each Influencer is followed by a niche-specific audience who engage with their posts, helping to promote brand awareness. With that said, by using influencer marketing, we can capitalize on an audience that already has an interest in our product.
Of course, we can use Instagram to find and reach out to influencers. However, there are numerous other influencer marketing platforms we can utilize to do that.
All in all, influencer marketing is a goldmine for great ROI on our dropshipping marketing efforts. This is because it leverages an existing interest in a specific niche by using an influential persona to drive sales.
Free Dropshipping Promotion Methods
Alternatively to the paid marketing methods, there are a number of free marketing methods. This sort of advertising for our dropshipping business is called organic traffic. Essentially, organic traffic is those visitors that land on our website from unpaid sources. Basically, it’s a great way to earn free exposure for our business.
Now, when it comes to free dropshipping promotion, it’s all about content creation. Anything from a blog, videos, email marketing, and posting in FB groups helps us increase our organic traffic.
In essence, instead of running paid ads, we create content and scale our reach. Consequently, having interesting and relevant content brings more views to our page, which can redirect to our website.
With that said, let’s look at the different free marketing methods we can take advantage of:
Generally, for social media posting, we share images and videos of our product to promote it. We can utilize many different platforms where we can build a social media presence. With that said, some platforms where we can post are Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, etc.
However, these are not paid ads that appear in front of a targeted audience. In fact, these are just our regular posts that appear on our page and are visible to our follower base. And, the types of posts we can create are reels, regular images, video posts, stories, etc. What’s more, these product posts can also appear on the explore page for many people if they have the right hashtags.
Moreover, there is always the chance that a post can have so much engagement that it goes viral. Thus, we can build our recognition through the popularity of a piece of content. And as mentioned above, we can use hashtags to increase exposure and engagement among regular posts.
Additionally, we can increase our post engagement and our audience by optimizing our posts. So, we can add music and trending effects to our videos, share user-generated content, create a challenge, etc. This way, we can generate organic traffic for our brand and encourage conversions.
Blog Articles
Remember when we said that it was all about the content? Well, indeed, it is! Undoubtedly, running a blog for our dropshipping business is a great way to generate organic traffic. Importantly, this is relevant for customizable selling channels such as Shopify and Wix. On another note, we can take full advantage of search engine optimization (SEO) to rank better in the search results.
To explain, when writing a blog, we need to include relevant keywords about our product. So, when a customer searches using a specific keyword, we can organically appear in their results.
In addition, by sharing relevant, engaging, and helpful content, we offer value to our customers even before they buy. As such, we are generating interest in our brand. Plus, if we engage through our blog, we are already taking the customer to our website. Then, they can easily transition from the blog to our product page and make a purchase.
Facebook Groups
Now, a great way to have a little more targeted organic traffic is through relevant Facebook groups. To start, we can either create or join a Facebook group relevant to what we’re selling and post there.
For example, we are joining a group of teachers and offering school supply products. In this way, we’re tapping into an existing need to help us convert.
One way we can go about this is to share images or videos of our product within a group that may have an interest. As a result, this will appeal more to our audience and increase conversions.
Another way we can do this is by sharing our blog posts within the group to drive traffic to our selling channel. Ultimately, this will boost sales and build recognition.
Email Marketing
Last but not least, we can use email marketing to promote our brand and offer deals. Email marketing is a method in which we collect customer email addresses and send relevant content (i.e. restaurant-focused email marketing). On top of that, it’s a great way to promote sales and discounts to attract customers.
So, we don’t have to spend money to reach our target audience, as we already have them in our email database. To elaborate, we need to offer the viewers value in return for their email addresses. Perhaps we can offer personal discounts for any new subscribers in our store. Or, after a customer checks out, we’ll receive their email for shipping information.
All in all, marketing is incremental for growing our dropshipping brand and increasing sales. So, we can pick and choose which dropshipping ad method best fits our business needs.
What To Avoid When Running Dropshipping Ads
Alternatively, there are definitely some things we need to avoid when running dropshipping ads. These are just a few aspects that may hurt our marketing efforts. On top of that, they may also create a negative perception of our brand as a whole.
So, let’s see what we need to avoid in our dropshipping ads:
For starters, we need to avoid adding before/after pictures to our product posts. This is because they are not allowed on platforms like Facebook. In fact, they are not allowed on marketing posts, Facebook ads, and even landing pages.
To explain, Facebook considers this a “misleading or false claim.” As such, it goes against their guidelines and is therefore not allowed on the platform. Plus, it pushes us to be creative when trying to build trust with our customers.
Poor Quality Images/Videos
Notably, in order to have a successful and converting ad, we need it to look good. And the first way to ensure our ad is catching the attention of our viewers is by having beautiful, high-quality visuals.
As mentioned, it’s incremental for our ad to be good-looking; however, that may be out of our scope. Alternatively, if we can’t manage that on our own, we can always hire a professional to do it for us. A great place to find a pro that will create great visuals is Fiverr. Thus, if we lack a skillset, we can put aside part of our dropshipping ad budget for freelancers!
Forceful Language
Obviously, we want to work on elegantly advertising our product. On the other hand, if we push our customers too much or put too much pressure, then they won’t be enticed to buy. Furthermore, they will have a negative association with our brand and may avoid our store altogether.
So, instead of telling them to buy our product, we need to show them why they should buy from us. And the best way to do that is with creative copywriting and proper images and/or videos. Therefore, by portraying the benefits of the product, we can increase our conversion rates.
Too Much Text
Undeniably, people don’t like to have to read through a lot of text, especially in dropshipping ads. As a result, we need to work on limiting our text and staying within the recommended character count.
Most platforms have a recommended character count to provide a reference for an optimized text box. Consequently, we need to be concise and quickly explain what it is we are advertising. But, we need to ensure we are providing value within that limited text so as to maximize interest.
Over-Advertising
Lastly, we should be wary of over-advertising. Over-advertising will definitely create a bad image around our dropshipping business. In addition, we will lose tons of money in the process. And, while we are consistently creating new ads and continuously posting all of them, we are at risk of spamming our viewers.
So, to avoid this, we need to test our dropshipping ads and find which version or ad performs best. Then, we can continue to optimize and run a high-converting ad without spamming our audience.
All in all, these are great pointers that will help us run a successful marketing campaign. Plus, it will help us avoid any issues and help us avoid losing money.
Step Up Your Dropshipping Game With Automation
We already know how much work it takes to advertise a store. However, dropshipping ads are necessary to scale our success. But to keep up the pace, we need to eliminate our daily repetitive tasks. And the best way to do so is with automation software.
Luckily, we have an all-in-one dropshipping automation tool that automates our entire dropshipping process. As a matter of fact, AutoDS covers the work for usfrom A-Z.
By automating these processes, we’ll be able to save a ton of time and effort. As such, we can utilize its various tools tooptimize our business.
Let’s take a look at some of AutoDS’ dropshipping automation tools:
Product Research
Product Imports
Complete Order Fulfillment
Price/Stock Monitoring
Automatic Price Optimization
…and more!
With a dropshipping automation tool, we can save hours in our day. In fact, AutoDS helps to reduce errors in importing products and fulfillment. What’s more, the automation software does the work for us while we focus on our marketing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which Ads Are Best For Dropshipping?
Facebook ads and google ads are both one of the best ways to market your dropshipping store. However, free methods like social media posts and blogs are also great choices.
Do I Need To Advertise My Dropshipping Business?
Yes! Advertising your dropshipping business can make a significant difference in increasing sales. Not only do ads make your products more visible, but they allow you to target a very specific audience of potential customers.
How Can I Create A Dropshipping Ad?
To create a dropshipping ad, we can either use tools to help us, do it ourselves, buy ad templates, or hire a professional.
How Much Does It Cost To Run Dropshipping Ads?
You can set your own budget on most platforms. However, the cost-per-click can range between $0.38 to $5.26 per ad, depending on the platform.
Conclusion
We made it! We’ve collected all the necessary information to help us market our dropshipping business. All in all, dropshipping ads are a great way to gain exposure, and recognition, encourage sales and reach the ideal customers.
With that said, we need to find the marketing method that benefits our dropshipping business the most. And we can also combine different methods, both paid and free, for maximum results.
Additionally, we can check out the following articles to learn more about dropshipping marketing:
