Running a small business means wearing a lot of hats—you're the creator, customer service rep, and marketer all rolled into one. While perfecting your products and taking care of customers comes naturally, marketing your shop online can feel overwhelming.
The good news? You don't need a huge budget or a marketing degree to drive traffic and boost sales. With the right mix of content creation, social media presence, and smart SEO practices, you can effectively promote your brand and grow your business.
Here's a practical marketing checklist to help you build the tools and strategies you need to succeed.
Heads up! Several features outlined in our marketing checklist require a platinum or diamond paid plan. If you haven't upgraded yet, you can do so on the Billing page in your account’s admin section.
1. Establish your brand and cultivate a following
The first step in marketing your online shop, is to establish a strong and recognizable brand. Your brand is more than just your business name and logo. It’s the colors you use, the fonts and imagery, and the way you communicate with your customers.
Set up a custom domain name
With your online shop, you’ll want to create a custom domain name rather than using a generic domain name.
- Custom domain: myawesomeshop.com
- Generic domain: myawesomeshop.bigcartel.com
A custom domain name is unique to your brand. It leads customers directly to your online store when they type it into the address bar. This custom domain name helps boost brand visibility, brand recognition, and shows that you’re serious about your online shop.
If you don't have a custom domain name yet, no worries. You can purchase your domain name directly through BigCartel or any other domain registrar online. Expect to pay $6-20 annually each year for your custom domain name.
If you’ve already purchased a custom domain name, you’ll want to connect your custom domain to your shop.
Build your brand on social media
The best way to expand your brand presence is through social media. You can use these platforms to engage with fans, fellow creatives, and potential customers by posting product photos, behind-the-scenes content, and educational content to showcase your online shop. One thing to consider with social media—don’t try to be on every single platform. Choose 1 or 2 where your ideal customers hang out and focus on those.
For more information on how to build your brand on social media, check out:
2. Set up your email marketing and/or newsletters
Email marketing remains the best way to contact your customers once they’ve subscribed to your mailing list. You’re not dealing with althorithm changes, or social media trends change over time, email usage remains consistent.
When getting started with a newsletter, you’ll want to consider:
- Email frequency: Start with 1-2 emails per month to stay top of mind but not overwhelm subscribers or yourself
- Email design: Simple is best as most people check email on their phones
What to include: Every email should offer something of value—exclusive discounts, new product announcements, helpful tips, or early access to sales.
Pro Tip: Create curated product bundles using the Shareable Carts feature to share them on social media or in your email campaigns. This enhances engagement and attracts new customers by showcasing popular product combinations.
3. Ask for customer reviews
Reviews from happy customers are one of the best ways to gain the trust of potential customers who are also interested in purchasing from you. These reviews not only provide valuable social proof that your products are legit and well-made, but they can also boost your SEO performance.
The best time to ask for a review:
- After a positive interaction
- Through a post-purchase email
- After opening your packaging
- After an engagement on social media
Big Cartel offers an integration with Fera, the perfect tool to collect, display, and enhance customer reviews, photos, and videos for your Big Cartel shop.
4. Craft compelling content to drive sales
Having clear and vibrant content on your site is not only helpful when showcasing your products, but it’s important to help educate your potential customers and relay any important information about your shop. With the right content on your store’s website, you’ll not only create a more engaging experience for your customers, but it also helps your site get found in search engines.
Keep your product titles unique and descriptive
Product titles are one of the first things a potential customer sees when viewing your shop. Your product titles should be descriptive without being too lengthy—think of them as mini advertisements that help shoppers quickly understand what you're selling.
Consider titles such as:
- Sterling silver moon phase earrings
- Hand-knit wool beanie charcoal gray
- Reclaimed wood floating shelf 24-inch
Avoid these types of product titles:
- Art
- Super cute organic fair trade sustainable eco-friendly cotton canvas tote shopping bag with flowers
- Professional business jewelry accessory
Product descriptions
Your product descriptions are where you get to tell the story behind each piece you've created. They help shoppers understand not just what they're buying, but why it's special—from the materials you chose to the inspiration behind the design. Clear, detailed descriptions also build trust with potential customers who can't touch or try your products in person. When you paint a vivid picture with your words, you're giving shoppers the confidence to hit that buy button.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Potential customers have questions, and your Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page is the perfect place to answer some of the questions you’re asked most often.
Some common questions to get you started are:
- How long does shipping take?
- Do you ship internationally?
- Do you accept custom orders?
- What’s your return/exchange policy?
- How do I care for this item?
- How do I get in touch if there’s a problem with my order?
Shop policies pages
Clear shop policies built trust with your customers and protect your business by setting expectations up front. While they might seem like boring legal stuff, well-written policies make the shopping experience smoother for everyone involved.
Policy pages to consider:
- Privacy Policy
- Terms of Service or Terms & Conditions
- Shipping Policy
- Return & Exchange Policy
- Cookie Policy
5. Enhance your online presence with SEO
Customers can’t buy from you if they can’t find you in the search results. While with the rise in AI tools are changing the way search works, it’s still important to improve your search ranking through SEO.
Common best practices include:
- Descriptive product titles and descriptions
- Creating engaging, helpful content
- Using alt text to describe your photos
Search Engine Optimization is never a one-time task, but something that you need to constantly tweak, monitor, and review.
6. Track your shop's performance
In order to make well-informed decisions about how your shop is doing, you’ll want to look at your analytics data. Your Big Cartel shop already comes with tracking information on order revenue, visitors, and product stats, but you can take that information a step further by setting up Google Analytics tracking in your Platinum or Diamond plan.
If you choose to do any paid advertising, you’ll also want to set up additional tracking for the different social media platforms.
In your Big Cartel admin, you’ll be able to add tracking code for:
When you pay attention to your data, you’ll be able to make better decisions around your marketing strategies and advertising campaigns. You’ll also be able to gain insights into yoru customers’ preferences.
7. Reward loyal customers with discounts
Offering discount codes is a simple way to show appreciation for your customers and encourage repeat purchases. Strategic discounts can help you clear out seasonal inventory, celebrate milestones, or simply thank the folks who support your creative work. The key is using them thoughtfully so they feel special rather than expected.
Common types of discount codes:
- Percentage off - 15% off entire order, 20% off select items
- Dollar amount off - $10 off orders over $50, $5 off first purchase
- Free shipping - Remove shipping costs for orders over a certain amount
8. Boost Your Sales with Abandoned Cart Emails!
Abandoned cart emails are automated reminders sent to customers who added items to their cart but didn't complete their purchase. These friendly follow-ups can help recover lost sales by gently nudging customers to return and finish what they started. With over 65% of online shopping carts being abandoned, these emails are a valuable tool for recapturing interested buyers who may have simply gotten distracted.
Available exclusively to our Diamond plan sellers, these emails are a powerful tool to recover lost sales, enhance customer experience, and boost your revenue.
Marketing your shop: next steps
Building a successful marketing strategy takes time, but you don't have to tackle everything at once. Start with the basics—set up your custom domain, choose one or two social media platforms to focus on, and create compelling product descriptions. As you get comfortable with these fundamentals, gradually add more advanced tactics like email marketing, SEO optimization, and paid advertising.
Remember, the best marketing strategy is the one you can consistently execute. Pick a few tactics that align with your goals and audience, then commit to doing them well rather than spreading yourself too thin across every possible channel.
Your creative work deserves to be seen, and with these tools in your marketing toolkit, you're well-equipped to grow your audience, build customer loyalty, and turn your passion into a thriving business.