Content marketing worked long before the internet.
Roger Parker is a
As a newbie marketer, Parker got a job at Magnolia
Magnolia
The guides of Magnolia
- What to look for when choosing a radio
- How to properly install a stereo system
- How to improve the quality of music playback.
18 months later, Magnolia
This man used content marketing before the internet
Today, most online sellers have better starting conditions than Roger Parker had. They do not need to pay printing companies and negotiate with newspapers about the distribution. It鈥檚 enough to publish
Why Content Marketing Works Better Than Ads
Having great content on your
- It makes it easier for people to discover your website
- It helps customers find the product information they are looking for
- It makes you look human, smart, and trustworthy.
Can鈥檛 good ads do just the same? There are at least three strong benefits of content marketing over ads.
1. People are tired of ads
They have learned to look through banners and skip content blocks that resemble ads, as Nielsen Norman Group discovered during their
Not only do people ignore ads (marked with green frames); they also skip content blocks with a similar design and placement.
Content marketing helps against banner blindness. If your audience is overwhelmed with ads and ignores them, attract their attention with useful content. We鈥檒l look into the meanings of “useful content” very soon.
2. People consider ads only after choosing a product or service
CEB marketers that customers refer to ads to study offers and choose the best price mostly when they already know what to buy. If you attract new audiences only through advertising, be prepared to compete on pricing. In other words, you will have to drop your prices and sell products much cheaper than competitors (read here why that is a
People want to make their own decisions. Customers are looking for information that helps them to consciously buy goods and services. Choose to be the one who informs them.
3. Great content lasts longer than ads
A decent blog post is like good wine. It becomes even better with time, gaining SEO juice, views, comments, and shares. It constantly works for your reputation and establishes emotional connections.
The
How Content Makes People Buy
Sales funnel. There鈥檚 hardly anyone here who doesn鈥檛 know what it is.
When people need to buy something, they do the research. They can ask their friends, or google it to understand what product they need and to compare features, brands, and prices. If you鈥檝e got relevant content on your website, it鈥檒l appear on Google. More people will become aware of you.
content shows up on Google
The page sparkles interest with current trends and links to product pages
As soon as you are on the radar, purchase consideration starts. Customers need to fight their doubts, trust issues and come to the final decision. It鈥檚 time to capture them with gated content (request the reader鈥檚 information in exchange for the content) such as webinars, software downloads, and ebooks.
, the duration of this stage depends on how hard it is to part with the money:
The amount of product research they [customers] do depends on the price of the purchase; as the price increases on a purchase, their amount of research will increase as well.
It results in more stages in the buyer鈥檚 journey. If your content can keep your customers鈥� attention close to your online store and help them make decisions, you increase the chances of making a sale.
How to Use Content Marketing to Promote Your Store
The easiest way to get started with content marketing is blogging. You don鈥檛 need much money or infrastructure to write an article. If you have more time and resources, consider videos, professional photography, podcasts, and graphics.
Don鈥檛 get upset if you feel too loaded for content marketing. Start small by blogging occasionally, and later, you鈥檒l be able to recycle that content into other formats.
Learn more: Blogging for
Let鈥檚 find out how to create great content that makes people want to buy.
1. Help to choose
Customers do research before making a purchase. It is an opportunity to provide them with quality information.
You are the expert in your niche. If you sell tea, you know the difference between English Breakfast and House Ceylon. It鈥檚 naive to think that all your customers have the same competencies.
Publish a blog post about different tea types and explain how to choose the right one. If you don鈥檛 have a blog, you can do the same on social media. Don鈥檛 forget to link to your store.
The Loose Teas store educates visitors with
Important: Keep your products at competitive prices; otherwise, people will get educated on your website and go somewhere else to buy the products.
2. Attract with objective reviews
Product reviews are one of the top means of content marketing. There鈥檚 a nuance: users want to learn
You can partner up with a YouTube reviewer to make it viral and fun. Just look at this guy, Daym Drops, who is an exceptionally charismatic food reviewer.
If vloggers are out of reach, refer to a local
If you are on a budget, it鈥檚 not a reason to be upset. You can look for a charismatic customer and ask them to create a review, case study, or an interview for some bonus.
People are more likely to believe in reviews of consumers, not specialists. According to , internet users read reviews of other customers 12 times more often than product descriptions from the seller or the manufacturer before buying. Researchers in have established that the publication of reliable user reviews on the site increases the conversion by 63%.
3. Educate
Nell Stephenson is a nutrition expert. She sells consultations, meal plans, and cooking classes in . Alongside selling, she actively blogs on her website to educate her audience on paleo meals and healthy lifestyle.
Paleoista blog
Consumers are from a brand immediately after they consume
Simple explanations of difficult topics generate traffic. Lowe鈥檚 uses content marketing to teach potential customers to work with tools, glue wallpapers, hang shelves. Even if you have never held a hammer in your hand, Lowe鈥檚 YouTube channel will make you a jack of all trades.
“What kind of hammer do I need in the house? How to connect two wires? How to drill a hole in a ceramic tile?” Lowe鈥檚 videos answer these and many other questions.
4. Engage with different content types
Content marketing is not just text and YouTube videos. Below you will find examples of online store marketing using different types of content.
Lowe鈥檚 does not only provide long video instructions. The retailer manages to put useful tips into the format of
Lowe鈥檚 on Vine
According to marketing agency, almost 2/3 of all likes on Instagram and Pinterest are related to the user鈥檚 desire to purchase the goods in the picture. Agency experts found out that one in five users who share a product picture, subsequently buys it. So remember to make use of photography.
Related: 10 Ideas for Creative Product Presentation in Instagram Galleries
Other content types that you can use are:
- Physical/digital catalogs
- Infographics
- Newsletter content
- GIFs
- Cinemagraphs
- Instagram Stories
User-generated content- Customer spotlights
- Memes
- Quotes
- Live videos.
Read this post for more digital content examples: 11 Digital Product Ideas That Fit Almost Every Storefront
Share Information
When planning the content strategy for your online store, make the interests of existing and potential customers your priority. Educate them and share exclusive product information.
Don鈥檛 wait till you earn big dollars to invest in marketing. Start small and analyze what works for your audience and what doesn鈥檛. If you need help with creating your content, check out the 黑料门 blog for photography, video, and copywriting tips — and stay tuned. :)
听
- Content Marketing 101
- How to Promote Your Online Store With Content Marketing
- How to Write an “About Us” Page
- Why You Need a FAQ Page
- How to Get Started with Storytelling for Your Brand
- How to Use Viral Content to Sell Products Online
- Using the Psychology of
Decision-Making in Sales Content Optimization
