A few years ago, content marketing was nothing more than an exciting new way of marketing for eCommerce. Today, it has evolved into a marketing powerhouse required for every business that needs to succeed on the internet. For anyone wondering whether content marketing is important for their business, the answer would be a firm YES!
Almost three centuries ago, a man going by the pseudonym Richard Saunders became the first known person to use content marketing for advertising (Google it!). This propelled him into becoming a successful entrepreneur – and a president of the United States.
Years later, long after the era of Saunders (A.K.A Benjamin Franklin), content marketing has become the must-have business approach with a market value of more than $50 billion with hopes of generating more than $135 million in revenue by 2026.
Content marketing has the ability to increase organic traffic while ensuring all leads are high-quality ones for any business. If you are looking for a strategy that creates brand and product awareness while generating quality leads for healthy sales, you have to take content off the backburner and place it at the center of your marketing efforts.
Using well-executed and strategic content can pull the right audience to any business website. This improves the chances of conversions and, eventually, sales. The best way to bring traffic to an eCommerce site is to develop content for search engine optimization (SEO), blogs and social media marketing. While many factors influence these categories, it all comes down to the quality of the content created for each category.
Generally, high-quality content has more value to your audience, and this dictates how likely they are to want to engage more with your brand. The more they engage with your business or website, the easier it becomes to build trust between them and your brand, increasing the likelihood of retaining them as prospective clients. This is how eCommerce businesses can reap significant returns through content marketing.
So: How do you do content marketing the right way and benefit your business? Here is everything you need to know about using content marketing for your eCommerce brand.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing can be defined as a strategic marketing method that involves the creation and distribution of a wide range of content online. Content marketing aims to attract, engage, inform, entertain and convert a reader by giving them valuable, relevant content. With good content, a brand can also boost brand loyalty and ensure customer retention.
Content marketing is meant to attract the right audience to a business, which ultimately drives profits.
Think of it in this way:
In traditional marketing and advertising methods, a business focuses more on telling its target audience that it is awesome and worthy of user engagement. Content marketing is more about showing your target audience that you are good at what you do. The strategy of creating content to drive this narrative is what is referred to as content marketing.
Having the ability to create amazing content for your eCommerce business is a powerful tool. Once you create content for your website, it becomes yours.
Types of Content Marketing in eCommerce
Blogs
Blogging is one of the most commonly used forms of content used in eCommerce marketing. Businesses and bloggers use blog content to build a loyal following and monetize this following. Blog posts are especially effective when done for SEO.
SEO is an important aspect of any inbound content marketing plan. Inbound marketing refers to any form of marketing meant to drive traffic back to an eCommerce website. With SEO, you can create valuable content that will be visible to search engine results, placing your business in front of the right target audience.
Blogging is one of the most affordable methods of marketing a business. If a business does not have the right team in-house, it can also outsource content writing services while still keeping the cost of marketing low.
For blogging to work for your marketing strategy, you need to focus on writing long-form content that is search-optimized. This helps drive organic traffic to your business website while keeping your ad spend low.
Infographics
While informational content is helpful, it can quickly become dense and dull, which is not ideal for an audience with a short attention span (that is, almost everyone on the internet today).
Infographics are simply visual data representations creatively explaining a topic. To successfully use this type of content for marketing, marketers use icons, images, text, data, diagrams and graphs to tell a story.
Infographics are excellent additions to blog posts and can be used by any business interested in boosting social media engagement. The visuals in an infographic make it easier to scan through and consume.
For infographics to work for your business, you need to find and use shareable statistics. This earns you exposure and backlinks whenever a content market refers to your infographic.
Podcasts
A podcast is a digital audio file distributed online, most of the time in installments. Consumers can access and download this content, listen to it on a website or access it through streaming apps such as Spotify.
Podcasts are highly accessible forms of content that can be used to empower consumers to get information while giving attention to other tasks.
Your audience can listen to your podcasts while running, driving and even cooking. This type of content is ideal for an audience that is always on the go. A business can use podcasts to create brand awareness and generate leads for the brand. Podcasts are also excellent opportunities for new revenue streams through sponsorship and affiliate marketing.
To successfully use podcasts for your eCommerce, you need to invite relevant experts in your niche. This will help you establish your podcast as a trusted source, generating interest among your target audience.
Webinars
More than 74 percent of professionals require more work-based training to reach their full potential. Webinars’ popularity has increased as professionals seek manageable ways of learning new skills, keeping up with trends and making the most of available technology.
At least 73 percent of business-to-business (B2B) companies generate most of their high-quality leads from webinars. Webinars give your business a good opportunity to engage with your target audience by delivering value and establishing your brand as a thought leader.
To make webinars work for your business, you can record and replay on-demand webinars on fundamental topics.
Case Studies
A case study is simply content created for the sole purpose of outlining a business’s success with clients. This content is especially effective for B2B businesses that involve more risk and higher-cost purchases.
When writing a case study, always highlight your customers before your product. A case study is a story about your clients that shows how your brand plays a successful, supportive role. Highlighting a satisfied customer helps affirm to potential clients of your ability to deliver results.
To make case studies work for your business, ensure you include very specific details about a client’s success story while quantifying positive results whenever necessary.
Testimonials and Customer Reviews
Testimonials and customer reviews are types of content generated from your target audience. They are especially effective for very niche-specific eCommerce businesses and give a short synopsis of what makes your business different.
Nike is a brand that uses top athlete testimonials to market shoes and apparel, with most of the commercial content coming from celebrity reviews and endorsements. You can benefit from including customer reviews on your website and in other promotional material.
Why Is Content Marketing Important to eCommerce?
There are many benefits associated with creating relevant content for your business. With content marketing, you can boost brand reputation by serving your audience with relevant and helpful content through infographics, blog posts, presentations, videos and social media posts.
At least 70 percent of businesses are now investing in content marketing. With content marketing, you can tell your brand’s story in an engaging and authentic way. Here are some benefits of content marketing for eCommerce businesses:
- Builds brand trust and loyalty
- Increases brand visibility and awareness
- Generates high-quality leads and drives traffic
- Improves website SEO ranking
- Builds customer relationships
- Improves business-customer communication
- Moves clients through the sales funnel
- Delivers genuine value to customers and the community
The Goals of Content Marketing for eCommerce Brands
Lead Generation
While driving traffic to a website is the main marketing agenda for businesses, achieving this goal can be futile without a strategy to convert this traffic into leads. One way you can generate leads from web traffic is by using content.
Every business needs to have content that will inform every stage of its customer’s journey. This makes it easier to convert visitors into leads, who can later be converted into buying clients. You need content that is catchy and engaging for every phase of their journey on your website. This content should guide them into making better purchasing decisions faster.
Lead Conversion and Nurturing
According to research by Aberdeen Group, content plays a significant role in driving conversions. Based on statistics, companies and brands that use content marketing enjoy at least 6 percent more conversions compared to companies that do not use content marketing.
Creating content relevant to your target audience is the easiest way to generate more traffic to your website and turn this traffic into high-converting leads. This success is visible through increased sales and revenues for your business. While the results may not be immediate, they emerge over time, making content marketing an ideal long-term revenue-generating strategy.
Increased Sales
Ultimately, the number one goal for any marketing strategy is to make money through sales. This is only achievable when a product or service is placed in front of the right audience. Content is one of the easiest ways of ensuring you place your brand in front of your target audience.
For this to work, you need to optimize your content for search engines by using relevant keywords to ensure your website is listed whenever a target client searches for your products or services. Once your business is in the view of your target audience, you need to give them a reason to engage with your brand through quality content. This content should address their concerns and answer their questions.
Upselling and Cross-Selling
At least 32 percent of customers make orders by following product guides and recommendations from the same company within a year of becoming converted. Ultimately, one of the goals of using content marketing should be to generate more sales from converted customers through upselling or cross-selling.
In cross-selling, you can use content to inform clients of existing products that can supplement their previously purchased products. For instance, you can cross-sell a phone protective case for clients who purchase a phone from your eCommerce site. Having a detailed blog about the importance of having a protective cover for the phone will improve the chances of converting the reader into a return buyer for the item the blog promotes.
You can also use content marketing to upsell to your client by showing them the need to buy an upgrade of the item they are interested in.
For instance, if you sell bedroom makeovers, you can use content marketing to tell potential buyers the benefit of buying a whole bedroom set instead of replacing just one item.
Does Your eCommerce Business Need Content Marketing?
If your business goal is to generate leads, improve conversions, increase your revenue and generate quality traffic to your website, you definitely need a content marketing plan. To achieve your goals, you need to have a reliable content marketing strategy with your audience at the center of it.
While content marketing can seem intimidating at first, taking time to think about your business goals and what you want to achieve with your content marketing strategy can go a long way in helping craft the perfect content marketing plan for your business. Ultimately, your content marketing plan should aim to earn the trust of your target audience. Once this is achieved, your investment will pay off.