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Content marketing is a powerful way to raise awareness of your brand, get some attention and drive traffic. Still, so many e commerce business owners or marketers ignore this – they feel it’s more suitable for B2B brands.
And truly, most of the things we know about content marketing works best for B2B companies. But when it comes to B2C, these strategies often don’t work and operating mostly on an online market means that the rules change even more. Of course, some elements of B2B content marketing transition well and not everything you know is a lie. However, there is more to content marketing in E-Commerce industry than meets the eye.
Here are some tips:
Set goals
Any type of marketing requires a strategy and so does this one. Without strategy – and goals – you wouldn’t know where you are going or which road to take.
So, as you set out to produce and share good content, you should first figure out what you’re trying to do with it. If the answer is something like ‘Well, just improve business over all – site traffic, conversions etc.’ – you should stop right there. Set a goal – one goal, measurable goal which you can refer to and say ‘Hey, I achieved that!’. So, it should read something more like ‘Increase traffic by 20% in the next three months.’ Remember S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Educate
Informative and useful content has always been in high demand. Today, there are so many possibilities for creating content which gives knowledge in a fresh way.
For an E-Commerce store, this could be one of the best ways to execute content marketing. You have products which probably neatly fit within a niche. You also probably have knowledge within your niche that other people could use. Start from your own products to figure out your topics. For example, if you are selling hair products, the topics that make sense are maintenance and style.
“Keep your content fresh and entertaining. Offer genuine advice without promoting too much. The main focus is educating, not selling,” says Dean Stewart, a content marketer at EliteAssignmentHelp.
Take a stance
The audience loves brands who take a stance – even more, if they share the same values. A brand doesn’t exist outside of this world which means that news and current events affect it as well. You shouldn’t stay silent on popular topics, people want to hear what you have to say.
Of course, by taking a stance, you are going to lose a part of your audience that doesn’t share the same values – this is the biggest issue for brands – but your values should be seamlessly embedded with your brand from day one. You’ll also gain the attention of the new audience, people who share the same opinion.
Focus on storytelling
Content nowadays is not just about giving an opinion or informing your audience – it’s about telling stories. This is where you need to shine.
People are no longer interested in dull content, they want something new. E-Commerce stores have an opportunity here. Some like to tell stories of people who have used their products and enjoyed them, some share inspiring tales from their niche, barely mentioning their products. But they all have one thing in common – they use storytelling.
In the hair product example we mentioned earlier you would have stories of people who lost their hair or damaged their hair, how that affected their confidence and subtly, how your products helped them. Or you could take your readers on a journey across the world and show them how women maintain their hair in different cultures
Work with influencers
Influencers are a big part of today’s content marketing scene. Brands rely on their accessibility and popularity as a vessel to get their message across to more people.
In the -Commerce world, you could do the same – and many stores do. Good influencers are not hard to find. Look at social media or popular bloggers which share your values and would have a story to tell – possibly a story which has something to do with your niche.
In the case of our imaginary hair products E-Commerce store, you could work with a female fashion blogger or Instagram star with great hair or previous hair issues.
“The trick is to find someone who will align with your brand. People trust influencers because they are often just regular people who happen to be famous in a niche. Brands could come off as distant, but influencers hardly ever,” says Amelia Thomas, content editor at Paper Fellows.
Use content-refining tools
Good content means a lot of revising, proofreading and editing. Audience is getting more and more sophisticated and having content full of mistakes could make an E-Commerce store seem unprofessional and unfocused. Quality is in the small things. As you produce more content, you’ll want to use some help that could automate your process. Here are some reliable tools:
1. ViaWriting and SimpleGrad
Bad grammar could seriously damage your chances of retaining your audience’s attention. Grammar mistakes are a big eyesore. Use these resources to fix them.
2. Boomessays and Ukwritings
Spelling and punctuation seem too small to notice but once your post is live, everyone will see them. Avoid embarrassment by using these tools, praised by Ukservicesreviews.
3. StateOfWritingand MyWritingWay
There are plenty of bogs and sites offering content marketing advice online but it’s hard to find reliable sources. These two can help you.
4. Essayroo and BigAssignments
Removing redundancies and repetition as well as checking the sentence and paragraph structure is a tedious job and you could benefit from automation tools like these, recommended BigAssignments.com review.
5. WritingPopulist and LetsGoAndLearn
Sometimes, everyone needs some help and guidance. Here are the sites that you could use.
Hire a good photographer
While content is king, it works best with nice pictures. And while you can always do just fine with stock photos, what really seals the deal with your users are images.
Find a good photographer who is also a good video maker. This professional can only improve your content with breathtaking imagery and informative videos that go along your text.
Even though it can get a bit expensive, it certainly provides more quality than stock photos and thus shows your users that you care about them.
Provide interactive content
One of the advantages of a brick and mortar store is that customers can try your products out, touch them, interact with them. You can’t have this online.
However, there are always things that you can do that could change that and bring a positive experience to your store.
In the hair products E-Commerce store example, the owner should invest in a reliable software that shows how different hairstyles would look on their customers.
Another good and less expensive example is online quizzes. Allow your users to answer a series of questions to get an assessment and product recommendations from your store. For instance, which hair colors would suit them best.
Be social
No man is an island. No brand is an island either. It doesn’t exist without its audience.
Being present online – social media, website, blog, vlog etc. – is important and shows your audience that you care. Stay up do date on recent news both related and unrelated to your niche. Another thing you could do is become active in the charity and social justice work – help children, different non-profit organizational or support someone in their fight for a cause.
Takeaway
It’s wrong to believe that E-Commerce stores can’t use content marketing. In fact, some of the most successful ones use it as their main marketing effort and all they’ve witnessed is a success.
