Did
you know that content
marketing costs 62%
less than traditional marketing and generates about 3 times as many
leads? The power of content marketing is hard to ignore and it's
something that you should definitely take advantage of if you want to
build your brand.
But
do you struggle to see the great results that you hear so much about?
In this article, we're about to explain where you should focus your
efforts, to get the very best results for your ecommerce store...
1.
Create product videos to increase conversion
A
video can have a huge impact on conversion. It's the quickest way to
get your message across, and people prefer it ahead of reading a
bunch of text. One of the downsides of Ecommerce is that the customer
cannot physically hold the product before purchasing, making your job
a little harder. That's why creating a product video is so worthwhile
because it helps the customer see your product in full view and help
increase conversions!
In
fact, many online stores have already seen huge results from creating
product videos. Check out this post from Econsultancy
and you'll see that Ariat had a conversion increase of 160%, Zappos
saw an increase of 30% and Stack And Stacks reported that shoppers
were 144% more likely to buy a product after seeing a video.
Pro
tip:
Think about the biggest selling points of your products and show them
off in your product videos.
2.
Create 'how-to' videos to increase brand awareness
Just
like a product video is more focused to the end of the sales
funnel,
a 'how-to' video is a great tool to use for those people at the top
of your funnel – in the awareness stage. By creating 'how-to'
videos that are related to your product, you'll be providing viewers
with a valuable piece of content that they can takeaway and learn
something from.
When
planning a 'how-to' video, it's important to think about the problems
that your customers face. Take hair and beauty brand, feelunique.com
as a great example. From their YouTube
page you'll find plenty of 'how-to' videos with tips and advice on
how people can apply make-up, style their hair and paint their nails
etc. This is ideal for their target audience as it's useful and
shareable.
Pro
tip:
Add your how-to videos to your blog and make it a weekly feature so
people can tune in regularly.
3.
Create e-books and Infographics for added value
E-books
and infographics are both two types of content that you can use to
add further value to your brand. The great thing about producing
content like this is that it's data-driven, meaning people are more
likely to subscribe to get their hands on it.
By
creating an infographic or an e-book, you can offer it as a giveaway
next to your email subscribe button to help build up a solid list of
targeted leads. Make sure the content that you create is relevant to
the products you sell. Be sure to include data that teaches them
something new as this will help people come to respect and trust your
brand.
Pro
tip:
Check out analytics to find the search terms that customers are
searching for, then use that as the theme of your content.
4.
Post images to showcase your products
Research
conducted by MDG
Advertising
found that visual posts generate 94% more traffic than text based
posts, and it's not hard to see why. Images are not only interesting
to look at, but they are far more easier
to digest, so it makes sense to use them to tell the story of your
brand.
The
great thing about Ecommerce is that you have a physical product that
you can take photos of. In addition to a product video, you should
aim to have an image next to the product info on your site. You can
pick up great tips from eBay or Amazon in this instance, as they give
customers the chance to check out various different angles, colors or
styles of each product, to really help push the sale forward. Check
out this example of a Ninja Ultima blender below. The user can see
the main image of the product, and then scroll through to see various
different styles and colors.
In
addition to your site, you should be pushing your products on your
social feeds, and Instagram is the perfect tool to help you do this
visually. If you take a look at a brand such as GoPro
then you'll see they've really nailed visual content marketing. They
actually encourage their fans to send them photos or videos, using
their GoPro camera, and as you can see below - the results are
incredible.
Think
about running a user
generated content
campaign in which you set a fun theme and encourage customers to send
you pics of them using your product.
Pro
tip:
Download our product
photography cheat sheet
for awesome tips and handy tools to use for your online store.
5.
Get blogging to become a thought-leader
Becoming
a thought-leader within your industry is a goal that every Ecommerce
merchant should have. You'll stand apart from your competitors and
become the go-to brand for your niche. You need to start by making
sure your ecommerce blog is something that you regularly update.
As
a store owner you should consider blogging about your products,
featuring customer reviews, offering insider tips, and blogging about
the latest industry news to improve shares. Again, it's all about
adding value for your audience, so think about what your customers
want to read, and start creating content that correlates with that.
If
you haven’t heard about the skyscraper
technique
made popular by Brian Dean then go check out his blog now. The basic
theory is that you find blog content that's popular, build upon it to
make yours better, and promote it. It's a simple technique that is
actually proven to work, so it's worth considering this when you
create future blog posts.
Pro
tip:
Check out tools such as BuzzSumo
to help you find the best performing content in your industry.
Takeaway
Anyone
can publish content and hope for the best, but if you want to see
real results then you need to work a little harder than that. As
we've mentioned above, start producing content that is targeted to
your audience and make sure that it adds value. There isn’t one set
rule but if you start including all the above in your strategy then
you should see the results that your store deserves.
Don't
forget, if you need any help starting, building or growing your
online store then we are your experts – contact
us today!