Whether you are the sole owner of an Ecom business or manage the marketing for an eCommerce store, the prospect of content can be daunting. Where do you start, how do you create content and what channels are best? Well, this article will give you insight into what content marketing is, why it's a great way to market your Ecom products, and some top tips on how to optimise your efforts for sales.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is pretty much what it says on the tin. Creating memorable content in any format - written articles, video, imagery, GIFs, infographics - and sharing it with your target audience. The desired result? Brand awareness, brand authority, lead generation, and funneling customers to your online store. Compared to other forms of marketing approach, content marketing is more of a long game. It takes time to find your brand voice or style and build an audience around it. However, with consistency content marketing can be a powerful and comparatively resource-efficient tool to create brand loyalty and ongoing sales that last indefinitely. When used effectively in tandem with great UX (user experience) content is a powerful tool in your eCom marketing strategy.
Why is content marketing important for my eCommerce business?
Ecommerce content marketing allows you to not only showcase your products or services but also share valuable information with your customers. Whether that be video tutorials, useful written content, or an infographic sharing some of your expert knowledge succinctly.
5 tips for a winning eCommerce marketing strategy
1. Create a content marketing plan for Ecom success
The starting point of any successful marketing strategy is planning. And the same goes for content. As we said before, the key is consistency so ensure that you’re planning enough content to cover all of your key social media platforms, blog, Youtube channel, etc. The amount of content you plan all depends on the types of content you’re looking to focus on. But, ultimately it needs to be realistic and purposeful. Once you’ve worked that out, create a calendar to keep either yourself or your team accountable.
2. Segment your content based on your customer profiles
Customer segmentation plays directly into the ‘purposeful’ aspect of your plan. Look at every item offered on your eCom store and think about their ideal target market. With this information, you can start to form links between different products, people, and the content that they’d like to consume. Every piece of content should sit within this matrix - giving it purpose within your different customer lifecycles. An example of content marketing could look like the below:
Brand: Natural beauty and skincare
Product: Vegan rose moisturiser
Key target audience: ‘Yoga mums’ - have high disposable income, saturated with content on plant-based products, looking for simplicity and transparency.
Content:
- Video content on the simplicity of the moisturiser with minimal ingredients.
- Honest written content about the suppliers and integrity of the supply chain.
- Short video clips showing the product formulation and ways it can be integrated into their everyday routine.
3. Create content of real value and/or interest
When profiling your core customer groups, think about their perspective, what would interest them about your eCom store, what would lead them to invest in your brand, and what’s missing for them in your competitors’ marketing. These perspectives, interests and grievances should all inform the types of content you create. There is so much content in the eCommerce world. Creating value and tapping into how someone might feel is essential to cut through the noise and create authentic customer relationships.
4. Match your content with the correct channels
Now you know who you’re aiming for and the themes of content they’d be interested in, you have to match content with the right channels. Long in-depth education videos would be better suited to YouTube, for example, whereas quick how-to clips could work well on social media. Again this all comes back to looking at what channels will best engage your target users for any given piece of eCommerce content. Below are some examples of different channels you can use to push out your content
- Social media: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn
- Editorial: Your website (blog or content hub), Medium, LinkedIn articles, Email
- Video content: Youtube, Vimeo, Your website, Email, TikTok, Instagram Reels
- Audio content: Spotify, A-Cast, Podcast player onsite, Apple Music
5. Chop, change and repurpose your content
Whilst creating longer articles or videos can be time-consuming, the key is to repurpose your content. Let’s go back to the plant-based beauty business. One 10-minute behind the scenes Youtube video can be used in email shots to the Yoga mum segment, clipped up to create dynamic social media content for Instagram and quotes from the video can be repurposed into a written piece on the brand’s ethical sourcing. Use larger pieces of content strategically as a source for different content types and you can create content consistently and efficiently. The importance of being able to pinpoint exactly how to improve your eCom email campaigns cannot be underestimated.
There are so many different avenues you can go down with eCommerce content marketing. Ultimately, it gives you a unique opportunity to not only draw in more customers to your Ecom store with engaging content but also to grow a solid customer base sustainably.
Ready to get going with your Ecommerce content plan? Check out more of our articles about content marketing on our blog. Or if you want to get started with an effective marketing strategy straight out the gate, get in touch with one of our consultants.
