E-commerce is definitely the sector to be in, at the moment. Not only has it witnessed a boom in the last couple of years, but all trends also seem to confirm that the rapid growth is here to stay for the foreseeable future. What started out as a mere convenience, is now, quickly, becoming the preferred mode of shopping. From getting basic home supplies and groceries to purchasing large electronic appliances, the online shopping bug has bitten people hard. This has not gone unnoticed by entrepreneurs, and one can see more and more e-commerce startups coming in on a regular basis. The competition is rampant, and to be able to stand out among the crowd you need to have an e-commerce content marketing strategy that distinguishes your products and services from the rest. Here are 5 ways you can do so.
Assess Your Potential Customer
For your e-commerce content marketing strategy to be effective, it needs to be tailored to the audience. For this, you need to know them. One of the foremost steps includes identifying their demographics. Age group, tastes, spending potential, and education levels are all helpful indicators in understanding who is likely to buy what you have to offer. Naturally, it will be more financially prudent to invest your energies in such people.
Another important aspect here is to identify customer pain points. If you can customize your e-commerce content marketing campaign around competently eradicating their challenges and addressing their needs, you are on your way to success and glory. Gathering this data can easily be done by the means of online surveys, most of which will not cost you anything.
Identify Their Preferred Medium
It is good to know your target customer. It is equally important to know where to find them. Today, there are multiple platforms where people consume content. Targeting the right customer on the wrong platform is akin to barking up the wrong tree. For example: targeting the age group of 16-19 years old teens through print media may be entirely futile. For this step to work, you can also make use of professional analytics experts or paid tools offered by Google, Facebook, and so on. They have a ready-made dataset of the modules you need to identify the traffic demographic of your website while also giving your general statistics regarding the popular avenues being used by different sets of people.
Create Impactful Content
Having understood the patterns of your target audience and the medium to reach out to them, it is time to generate content that creates the right impact. Competitor research is a recommended first step here. Know what kind of content already exists, in order to be able to bring your own distinctions to the mix. Your e-commerce content marketing strategy needs to incorporate creative aspects as well as make use of SEO (search engine optimization) tools to be more searchable and visible. Google and other search engines make use of a vast array of algorithms. The right dose of keywords interspersed with infographics and other eye-catching techniques is the way to go, here. If it gets overwhelming for you to manage on your own or in-house, there are several professional agencies and freelancers who will be happy to create the material you desire for a fee, of course. Once your blueprints are set, it is easier to replicate them later on by filling in new content on the same template.
Analyze Metrics
Having put your content out there, you need to also measure its efficacy. Any effective e-commerce content marketing strategy needs to be backed up with a strong analytical toolset. A lot of the metrics you should be tracking are easily available through the platform you are selling. In other cases you may need to purchase a premium subscription. In either case, it is going to be very helpful to see the tangible operational benefits you have received through your marketing campaign. Typically, businesses should track metrics such as online traffic to the site and the marketing material, increase in clicks through links provided in the marketing content, time spent on the page, cart-to-sales conversion ratio, rate of sharing of posts on social platforms, etc. These performance indicators help you identify if your e-commerce content marketing strategy is on the right track or needs further customization.
Gather Feedback
Not just the KPIs, another way to track the effectiveness of your marketing campaign is by seeking direct feedback. This is one of the primary tenets of continuous improvement and helps you stay attuned to market trends and changes in consumer choices. Some of the popular ways this is achieved is through inviting more reviews on your website, asking for feedback on the customer support and general quality of service, and sending survey links or short interactive reels on Instagram/Facebook. The collective inputs of these exercises will all loop back into your e-commerce content marketing and business model and help you remain relevant and successful for a long time to come.