What is Organic Dropshipping: How to Make Sales with Organic Dropshipping

Organic dropshipping refers to organic marketing. No paid ads at all. It is similar to organic growth in YouTube where you do not advertise your videos. 

I have done both organic marketing and paid ads. I can tell that organic dropshipping is much more sustainable. 

To help you, I will discuss:

• Different ways to do organic marketing 
• How organic dropshipping works
• Tips to succeed with organic dropshipping
• Whether organic dropshipping is worth your time or not

Key Takeaways

• Organic dropshipping is hard but financially reasonable
• You need to provide information, entertainment, or education to succeed in your marketing efforts
• Organic dropshipping has a positive impact on market penetration and credibility

In the end, I am hoping you can choose one type of organic marketing and execute it with consistency. 

Let us dig deeper! 

What is organic dropshipping and why is it important?

Organic dropshipping is a marketing strategy where you do not pay for ads. It is important because it saves you a ton of money. 

While advertising is the fastest way to get sales, it is also the most expensive marketing strategy. Truth be told, the average conversion rate on Google Ads is 4.8% [1]. That, however, will only happen if you know what you are doing. 

I have had my rodeo with advertising in the past, and I can say that it is more difficult than you think. Here are some of the most common challenges you will face if you advertise:

• Impressions – if your bid is too low, the advertising platform will not show your ads often. If no one sees your ads, no one will buy.
• Saturation – people are tired of ads. They just skim through ads and do nothing. Expect to have low click-through rates. The only way you can get past this challenge is if you have a unique product, something that will “wow” the viewer.
• Conversion – after clicking your ads, the viewer now has to decide if he will buy or not. The problem is that your dropshipping store is relatively unknown. At this point, you have not built any credibility yet, so it is natural for any site visitor not to buy anything. 

You will spend thousands of dollars in advertising before you get it right. This expense does not include the money you use to produce the ad. 

Because of this expense, dropshippers throw in the towel. They give up and close their stores. You do not need to do this. Organic dropshipping is the answer! 

Later, we will have a section where I will show you the different ways to do organic dropshipping. Be forewarned, you must do all the work. It does not make sense to pass the job to people and pay them a salary. 

The main purpose of organic dropshipping is to cut your marketing expenses, and instead use your time and effort to make sales.  

Who is organic dropshipping for? 

Organic dropshipping is for people who do not want to spend money on ads. Most of us dropshippers do not have a lot of money to burn. 

When should you do organic dropshipping? Below are the situations where organic dropshipping is best used. 

1. You have no funds for ads

Most dropshippers are people who financially struggle. They have a job, and they want to get out of the rat race. Because of this, one cannot expect dropshippers to have a lot of money to allocate for ads. 

Ads are expensive, especially if you target North American countries. The United States, in particular, has a high advertising rate. 

Most dropshippers may allocate $100 for ads. The sad reality is that:

• $100 is not enough to compete against the giants in marketing 
• Even if you spend $100, you are not likely to make that back from your gross profits.
• You will never get a lot of impressions from that budget.

So, instead of spending $100 and not getting sales, you are better off keeping that money or using it to pay your bills. Organic dropshipping is a better option—you do not spend anything but your time and effort. 

2. You have used all your funds for ads

Let us say that you began dropshipping with a budget of $500. You paid a year’s worth of Shopify, which means you spent $228. You still have $272. 

Even if you do not spend money on any application, you will use up that $272 for your ads. It is not surprising if you do not make enough sales to cover your total capital. Now, you have no money left. 

It is a situation like this where you have no other choice but to consider organic dropshipping. You now have to focus your marketing efforts outside the boundaries of advertising. 

Some common mistakes I see that dropshippers make are:

• Funding the same ads with little to no conversion
• Creating new ads and spending more money
• Increasing the budget for ads, thinking it will make a difference

I am not saying that it is wrong to do these things. All I am saying is that it requires a degree of expertise to make them work. 

3. You want to long-term credibility 

Finally, I recommend organic dropshipping if you want long-term presence and credibility. It will take a long while and a lot of effort to do this, but it is all worth it. 

How? 

The main goal of organic dropshipping is to build a community. You want to become an authority in your niche. As such, you do not only intend to sell but also to educate. 

To make organic dropshipping work, your priority is to teach or add value, to your audience’s lives. Once you do this, it will be easier for you to convince people to buy your products.  

No community or sphere of influence is built overnight. It will take time. I would say that you must be consistent for at least six months to a year. Only then will people begin to recognize who you are, and also realize your worth as an influencer.

Does organic dropshipping really work?

Yes, organic dropshipping works but it takes time. The two things that make it work are consistency and value. 

If you think about it, the psychology of buyers has now shifted. Even big corporations use what we call user-generated content, or UGC, as a way to advertise.

Credibility and trustworthiness are the two things that buyers look for nowadays. You would be hard-pressed to make sales if you relied on traditional advertising methods. 

Below are some of the reasons why organic dropshipping works. 

1. You build trust

Organic dropshipping is all about building credibility. You want to show people that they can trust you and your products. 

If your core audience trusts you, you can expect to have better conversion rates. It is not any different from what an affiliate marketer does—you publish content, gain credibility, and your followers will buy what you recommend. 

For example, there is this fishing enthusiast I once saw on Instagram. He teaches people how to choose fishing rods and reels, how to fish, what bait to use, etc. 

Then, he tells his viewers to visit his online store where they can buy the very same tools he used in the video. This guy has lots of sales. The reason for his success is that he shows people what his dropshipping products can do. 

2. Low-cost marketing

Organic dropshipping means you will produce content and publish it. Some examples are:

• Social media images
• Videos on YouTube and TikTok
• Blog posts

You will still spend money, and more importantly, a lot of time and effort.  The good news is that you do not have to buy a lot of your dropshipping products for demonstration. 

Let us say you sell drones. What you must do is buy one drone, the best one in your product line-up, and then shoot many videos about it.  Make the videos either fun, educational, or both. 

3. Organic traffic 

The beauty of organic dropshipping is you do not have to spend to reach an audience. It will come naturally. In traditional advertising, you get viewers and eyeballs only if you spend money.

Once your ad stops running, you no longer get views or traffic. With organic dropshipping, traffic will come to your store again and again. 

The volume of traffic depends on how popular you get. If you are only getting a few hundred views on YouTube or TikTok, then you cannot expect thousands of people to come to your store. 

However, if you keep at it, you will eventually have hundreds of thousands of views or even millions. From here, you should be able to get a lot of inbound traffic.

Organic traffic does not come right away. You may have to spend a few months and produce lots of free consumable content before you become viral.

Summary: Organic dropshipping is much better than paid ads. However, it takes a while to see positive results. You need an extreme level of patience to succeed in organic dropshipping. Creativity and consistency are also key elements for success.

Ways to do organic dropshipping

There are many ways to do organic dropshipping. However, in my experience, the four most 

• Blog Posts
• User-Generated Content
• YouTube and TikTok
• Social Media Communities

Let us go through each one. 

1. Blog Posts

Blog posts are the most effective sources of organic traffic. Once your post makes it to the first page of Google Search, you can tell yourself that you made it. 

In my opinion, every dropshipping store must have a blog section. Your blog is where you provide support for your target audience. 

Here are some of my tips:

• Publish articles that answer questions
• Post listicles, or articles made of lists, such as “best drones to buy,” or “best lipstick tips,” or things like that
• Be consistent
• Use search engine optimization 

Many people think that blogging is dead, but I disagree. There are still many people who merely want to read and skim through things—they do not want to listen to minutes of talking on videos. 

These are your target viewers or audiences—the ones looking for quick answers to their questions. With blog posts, you should be able to educate and inform your target market about your products. 

2. User-Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) is any content made by the common person. They are “amateur” videos. A good example is a person showing something he bought online and is happy about it.

UGC is popular because they are trustworthy. Since it is a common person who uploaded a video about his experience, viewers naturally think that it is not staged. 

The thing is that big companies use the same tactic now. They post videos that appear as UGC. However, these videos are professionally made.  

In your case as a dropshipper, I suggest that you post content in the same manner. If you dropship drones, below are some recommendations: 

• Videos where you send a love letter to someone using a drone
• Show a drone flying fast and falling off (this happens all the time to people)
• Aerial shots of the drone you sell (without trying to sound like you are selling)

Keep in mind that UGC only works if it does not look like it is marketing material. Avoid attempting to make a sale. Just link your products in the video description. 

3. YouTube and TikTok

These two platforms are the two biggest video platforms in the world. The thing is that there is a difference between the audiences of YouTube and TikTok. My suggestion is to use only one in the beginning phase of organic dropshipping. 

Here is an example of a YouTube video that compares products: 

YouTube is great for:

• Information, entertainment, and education
• Long-form videos 
• Videos where you want to build credibility as a product source or provider

TikTok is best for:

• Short-form videos
• Entertainment videos

While it is easy to build a following on TikTok compared to YouTube, your videos will also get easily buried under the millions of new ones. TikTok is great for videos that people can easily consume—less than a minute.

YouTube is great for creating educational videos, like how-tos and product comparisons. You can link your dropshipping store on both platforms.

Sales on TikTok are harder because you need celebrity status for people to buy. On YouTube, you need to build credibility, but there is no need to become a celebrity. 

4. Social Media Communities

Finally, you can build a social media community or presence. Here is an example: 

These videos are from a YouTube channel called Dumb Club. They are dropshippers, and they use print-on-demand as a business model. 

What they do is ask random people questions about geography, math, etc. If the participant gets the right answer, he gets a free Dumb Club hoodie. 

You can do the same. It takes time and work to produce videos like this, but they will easily go viral. If you do it right, the public will know you, and it will be easier to drive organic traffic to your store. 

Tips to succeed in organic dropshipping

Organic dropshipping is hard, but it is much more financially feasible than advertising. Like paid ads, there is a proper way to do it. Here are some tips on how to succeed with organic dropshipping:

• Make it about your audience. 
• Do the big three
• Upload consistently
• Use search engine optimization 

Let us discuss each one further. 

1. Make it about your audience 

Whenever you publish new content, always think about what’s in it for your viewer or reader. It is never a good idea to discuss what your products do, or what their features are. People can already read that on the product pages.

Make it a point to put yourself in your target market’s shoes. Here are some questions you must consider:

• What benefits will the audience get?
• Will the viewer learn something new? 
• Is the blog or video informative?
• How will the content change the life of the reader or viewer?

People do not like it when you attempt to sell them something. Always position your content in a way that helps them. Once they get value from you, they are more likely to trust you and buy from you. 

2. Do the big three

The big three are:

• Inform – it is a type of content where you merely present facts. For example, you can present the differences of products, including yours. This type of content is matter-of-fact and must be based on truths you can support. 
• Entertain – any video or content that seeks to amuse is called entertainment. It has to provide the viewer or reader with some kind of joy—anything that gets a person out of boredom. 
• Educate – it is a type of content that aims to teach. The most common example of this content is a how-to video or blog. 

Each blog post or video you publish must meet any or all of these three. If the blog or video does not, do not release it. You have to go back to the drawing board and replace it. Of these three types of content, I would put my efforts into education because it is an evergreen content. 

3. Upload consistently

Third, consistency is the key to building an audience. Be it a blog or YouTube, you need to publish content regularly. 

Content is what makes people find you. The more content you publish, the more information you offer. More content also means more chances to win against competition—the competition to get people’s attention.

4. Use search engine optimization 

Finally, always use SEO techniques in your content. Do this for both videos and blogs. The reason you want this is because you want evergreen content. You want search engines to show your content even if it is way past its prime. 

Information can get stale and outdated. Entertainment value can decrease over time. Educational content, however, will always have an audience. 

SEO is the only way you can find an audience even after years of publishing. Generally speaking, you can apply SEO on:

• Blog or video title
• Blog body or video description
• Meta tags for blogs and metadata for videos

SEO can take years to master. However, the fundamental thing you must think of is this: are there many people interested in this topic? 

You can validate your idea in Google Trends or SEO programs. These tools will give you an estimate of the demand for your topic. Please note that the higher the demand, the tougher it is to compete. 

Is organic dropshipping worth it?

Yes, it certainly is worth it. If there are two options I recommend, my suggestion is to focus on YouTube and your blog. 

Your blog is your gateway to search, while YouTube is where you will find loyal followers and supporters. You can use TikTok, too. 

Between YouTube and TikTok, YouTube is better because you can monetize your channel with ads. On TikTok, you have a dependency on donations. 

On YouTube, you can monetize your content in many ways:

• Membership (members pay a monthly fee)
• Ad revenue 
• YouTube shopping 

It takes time to build an organic following. Many people quit because they think they are not making progress.

In my opinion, you must factor in the time it requires to build organic traffic. Before you launch your store, I recommend that you plan the content you want to build and publish. This way, you have clear expectations about how long it will take to grow. 

In the end, organic dropshipping is worth it. If you do it right, you earn money not only from your dropshipping store but from your channel.

FAQ: Organic Dropshipping

What are the two types of dropshipping?

The two main types of dropshipping are “traditional” and “print-on-demand.” As far as marketing goes, the two main types are organic and paid ads. 

Is dropshipping legal?

Yes, dropshipping is legal. We do have a detailed blog about its legality. You can read this blog for more information: Is Dropshipping Legal? 

How to make money on TikTok organic?

You can make money with TikTok dropshipping by publishing unique content that demonstrates the value of your product. Then, you can route them to your store via the description, or if you have a TikTok business account. 

What is an example of dropshipping?

Most YouTubers who have merch are dropshippers. They use a dropshipping process called print-on-demand. Next time you see a YouTuber selling hoodies or merchandise, I can guarantee you that they are dropshippers. 

Summary

The next step I recommend is to decide which organic dropshipping or marketing best fits your situation. Once done, I recommend that you sign up for a free 7-day trial with Dropship.IO. The tool allows you not only to research winning products, but also spy on your competitors and understand their marketing strategies!