Content marketing revolves around creating quality, unique content that interests and attracts your niche market. It is a type of non-intrusive marketing where you communicate value to existing and prospective customers guiding them along the shopping journey. According to a survey conducted by Hubspot, consumers are more likely to engage with brands or businesses that feature original content such as videos, blogs, infographics, and other downloadable content.
When you are creating fresh and original content to enhance your product listings or storefronts you are providing valuable information to your visitors while driving targeted, relevant traffic to your product page(s). Providing customers with as much relevant information they need throughout the shopping journey will eventually yield better sales conversion, minimize returns, and establish customer loyalty for repeat purchases. The e-commerce industry is made up of hundreds of thousands of sellers competing across multiple marketplaces. A majority of these product listings on online marketplaces are filled with poorly written, poorly targeted, and often plagiarized content. Implementing simple content marketing strategies is what will set you apart from the rest of the competition.
Content marketing is storytelling
Everyone likes a good story and the adage holds true for selling on online marketplaces. A good content marketing strategy emphasizes storytelling over selling. It may seem counter-intuitive for sellers on online marketplaces because sales is usually the focal point, but focusing your efforts only to customers at the conversion level ignores customers at the other levels. In the world of e-commerce, customer loyalty is arguably the most important goal for merchants since a single sale is unlikely to generate a large enough return. Customer loyalty translates into product advocates and repeat buyers.
Crafting narratives around your product assortment that emotionally resonates with your audience signals that you consistently identified their problems and showcased the solutions your products offer. This is a critical ingredient to storytelling. As you do this, you are strengthening your position as a go to shopping destination.
Content marketing engages consumers at every stage
Know who you are speaking to. Consider the purchasing journey your customers will go through. Some might be at the awareness stage where broader industry related content would best address this group. Others are ready to convert meaning product videos and comparison charts would help them make a purchasing decision. Integrating content at each stage of the funnel informs and drives customers further down the shopping journey. Nurturing a customer from the top down is best done through content marketing campaigns.
Here is an example of how a seller within the surveillance camera category might create content for each stage of the funnel.
Awareness Stage
Content in the awareness stages serve to identify problems and provide an answer. Developing informative and engaging content at this stage is critical because customers who find your content relevant are more likely to engage with you at the next stage. Online retailers selling surveillance cameras can demonstrate how their product is part of a larger ecosystem such as smart home.
Consideration Stage
Consideration StageThere are several factors at play now with a customer at this stage. This customer is much closer to purchasing, but is deeper in their research. This is where evaluation between products happens. Content at this stage includes detail product videos, interactivity maps like the one above but product specific, comparison charts, and product reviews. You want to provide as much information at this stage in order to drive them to conversion.
Decision Stage
All the nurturing in the previous stages has finally led to the purchasing stage. Nurturing a customer doesn’t stop once a customer purchases. Going above and beyond post purchase can improve your customer lifetime value. Again, building customer loyalty translates into repeat buys. Retargeting and remarketing campaigns is a great way to reengage shoppers. Learn more about the power of post purchase emails here.
Final thoughts
To recap, the goal of creating engaging content is to establish your business as a go to shopping destination, which means listing your product titles, bullet point features, etc. is the bare minimum.
Storytelling at every stage of the shopping journey educates, excites, and empowers consumers. Integrating interactivity is one of the best ways of walking a customer through your offerings. Empowered consumers are more likely to become repeat buyers and your product advocates, influencing how others purchase by way of reviews.
As you build out your content marketing plans, remember that onsite isn’t the only place where engagement happens. If you’re selling on online marketplaces, there’s a good chance they are leveraging multiple digital channels such as email, social media, affiliates, etc. to reach your customers. Each require content. The good thing is most content can be repurposed from one channel to another.
Developing a solid content marketing plan for online marketplaces is one thing, but executing in a timely manner is just as critical if not more important. Newegg is here to help. Our Newegg Studios team is the content marketing arm for marketplace sellers looking to integrate these elements to enrich their customer shopping experience. Take advantage of our video production capabilities and industry know-how where the team can stitch detailed product descriptions with live demonstrations and commentary for a truly captivating experience. Looking to drive organic traffic? More than 81% of online consumers trust information and advice from blogs. Our editorial wordsmiths can deliver insightful, educational commentary to color your product offering, establishing long-term value for merchants. Let us help you earn sales, develop credibility, and build customer loyalty.
Download our Newegg Studios brochure to learn how you can get started today.
