With such an abundance of e-commerce stores, it’s essential that you put together a fantastic marketing strategy, so that you can attract the right customers.
One of the best ways to do this, regardless of your niche, is through content marketing. So, we’ve compiled all the information that you need, and the best ways to create a winning content strategy.
These are especially great for small e-commerce ventures, that are looking at valuable ways to bring in meaningful traffic to their site.
Let’s get started.
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is, in its purest form, the act of creating content that will be shared and engaged with.
With Google favoring significant, high-quality content – it’s more important than ever to start producing content.
Content marketing is a comprehensive, almost umbrella term. It can include anything from blogs to posting images. Whatever works best for your company, content is critical.
Being so versatile, content marketing strategies can be created for any e-commerce ventures. Whether you’re in fashion, construction, or fitness – it can work for you.
Importantly, content marketing isn’t explicitly for sales. Instead, it stimulates interest without promoting a brand. In other words, it should be discrete.
How it helps?
Content marketing helps e-commerce businesses in various ways. The main benefit – it brings traffic to your store.
The difference with the traffic content marketing brings compared to other forms, like say, adverts, is that its qualified traffic.
The users entering your site, are more than likely interested in what you have to offer – if you execute your content marketing strategy well.
What commonly happens is, they will look into a particular product, hobby, or service, and stumble upon a blog post, video, or infographic that you created.
Hence why keyword marketing is so significant with content marketing.
Below are our favorite tips for creating a winning content marketing strategy, and a few of the best examples.
1. Consider writing informative blogs
One of the best ways to utilize content marketing is through blogs. Now, depending on your niche, your blog posts will vary.
If you feel like you can’t create blogs, don’t worry, they can just be related in some way.
For instance, if your e-commerce store revolves around solar panels, your blog posts can be regarding sustainability and cheaper household bills.
This way, users will enter your site, looking for ways to reduce their energy bills and find an array of solar panels and equipment that will help them.
A perfect example of this is Green Farm Coffee. The company themselves sells coffee beans and equipment. Obviously, you can only create so many blogs about machines and beans.
Their blogs include information on brewing methods, coffee roasting, and even how coffee is being affected by climate change.
If you don’t believe you can create content, just remember, it doesn’t have to be directly related.
If you’re a small company you can consider writing your own content, but you always need a helping hand. Try using services like Grammarly and Hemingway for editing your blog entries. While if you’re looking to delegate content creation, yet you’re not looking to hire an in-house writer, there’s a myriad of reputable services on web like Grab My Essay, Trust My Paper, Bidforwriting.com, WoWGrade, and many others that can work on your content creation.
2. Look into gamification/interactivity
Gamifying your content could be a really great choice for you. You can now serve content that viewers can interact in multiple different ways.
Don’t worry – this doesn’t have to be anything truly elaborate. It can include a loyalty badge or progression bar.
You can also use 3D viewing, or a video game – if that works for you and your company.
3. Start writing guides to help your audience
Chances are when somebody searches something in Google (or another search engine) they’re looking for help. That’s why guides are a valuable piece of content.
Again, this works similar to informative blog posts, but with a little more direction.
We love Imperfect Produce’s blog, which showcases the perfect examples of this.
They revolve around fighting food waste and sell products that are considered too “ugly” to be sold in supermarkets.
Again, there’s only so much content you can write on this niche subject. So, they’ve turned to how-to guides. It works perfectly.
Titles like “what to do with too many vegetables,” “5 fruits and vegetables to grill” and “what to do with leftover condiments,” will be searched for countless times a day.
Of course, these blogs are related to their store, but they don’t scream out “buy from us.” That’s important, and it allows customers to make their own decision – which is crucial.
4. Plan out giveaways
You’ve probably seen giveaways be used, especially in content marketing.
It’s the perfect way to gain new followers, attract new customers, and put your brand in the spotlight.
Of course, giveaways can be performed through social media – they’re very common and work really well.
However, giveaways can also be announced through blogs, videos, and newsletters. Whichever you feel would work best for your company, roll with that one.
Giveaways only prove useful for your company, if you execute them the right way. Don’t risk giving your products to the wrong person, and gaining little attention from it.
5. Could videos work for you?
We’ve mentioned them briefly, but videos are a significant aspect of content now.
As an e-commerce business, you might want to delve into the world of video – especially if you have a fascinating product.
One of our favorite examples of this is from, none other than, Royalty Soaps.
Royalty Soap’s posts YouTube videos of them creating their soaps – and they are super popular. Not only are the informative, but they’re also entertaining and act as a form of marketing.
Their YouTube channel has gained a lot of attention, and thus their soaps sell out exceptionally quickly.
If you have a creative business, it could be worth filming you creating.
6. Influencer content marketing is a possibility
You might not consider influencer marketing as an aspect of content – but they actually go hand-in-hand.
Collaborating with an influencer can also provide you with valuable content. Of course, for the most part, this can be costlier than blogging, but it could be worth it for you.
Predominately, fashion and beauty industries benefit from influencer marketing. Take BooHoo and SugarBear are great examples of this. You get content to post on your social media, videos, and even blogs.
7. Know the importance of imagery
Through the internet, we can’t touch or smell products – which makes the aesthetics all the more critical.
You’ll already know about the importance of imagery, but you should also consider using a particular theme. It doesn’t quite work anymore just have a jumble of high-quality, beautiful images.
Make sure your colors, filters, and even placement all match and work well together. Better yet, ensure that they match your brand.
Miss Patisserie’s Instagram is the perfect example of this. All their images work perfectly together, matching their brand and ethos. They’ve created a color wheel type effect – check it out.
8. Look into quizzes for leads
Everybody loves quizzes – they’re fun, informative, and helpful. Regardless of how you use them, they can become a powerful marketing tool.
Fun quizzes can simply bring attention to your blog or website – and can bring in more subscribers to your email list.
An informative quiz can do the same, but it gives you a great chance to drop products that you sell. For example, a quiz titled “which moisturizer should I use?” allows you to link various moisturizers as the answer.
Quizzes are the perfect ways to provide your audience with information and create meaningful relationships.
9. Go out of your comfort zone
Sometimes you have to go out of your comfort zone. Why not venture into something that might be a little unexpected?
For example. Barney Cools have their own Soundcloud, even though they sell clothes.
It goes without saying, it does still fall relatively in-brand. They are a hip, young brand – and their audience more than likely likes music.
Why don’t you delve into new content? You could even conduct a poll, asking what your current audience would like to see.
It could be a YouTube channel or Pinterest.
10. Look into making a magazine
You could also create a magazine, even if it’s an annual magazine – it’s something that people can look forward to.
This could be an online magazine (like an e-book) or an actual physical magazine. Either way, it’s content – and provides you with tonnes of material to post and share.
Our advice is to shy away from the usual magazine that is just listing products. Combine sales marketing, with articles and useful content.
11. Don’t forget about SEO
As with all content marketing, you have to include keyword research. This is relevant for all types of content – and taking the time to perfect, it is essential.
“There are tonnes of tools online that help with keywords, you should also always keep track of your analytics. Find out what is working, and what isn’t. Definitely check out MOZ’s, Ahrefs’s, and SEMRush’s blogs. They full of valuable information on the topic.” — Gregory Marcuso, an SEO specialist at Studicus.
Conclusion
Writing a content marketing strategy can seem daunting, but once you discover what works for you and your company, you’ll write a killer strategy.
Look into your analytics, check out competitors, and conduct some market research.
Above all, have fun making the content – and let your creative juices flow. With content marketing, you should feel excited about posting and sharing.
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by Estelle Liotard
