A recent study found that 93.5% of those surveyed purchased at least one item online. And it’s easy to see why. You don’t have to look far to see ecommerce brands everywhere.
These days, mom-and-pop stores and any other small businesses can set up ecommerce sites in a few hours or days. That’s going to create a lot of competition for you.
So, how do you make sure these shoppers make a purchase from your company instead of the competition? I’ve got a ton of ecommerce content marketing strategies to make sure you stay ahead of your competitors.
Table of Contents
What is ecommerce content marketing?
Content marketing is a way to use text, videos, and images to market a product or service to an audience. The other critical part of content marketing is sharing the content that you create.
A content marketing strategy can involve almost any major platform, including:
- Posting on social media platforms
- Writing blogs and website posts
- Creating videos
- Streaming live content
Content marketing can also have one or several goals for a business. In one or another, most content marketing strategies focus on making a company money.
Other goals of an ecommerce content marketing strategy might include spreading awareness about a company or gaining leads for a webinar. Each business has its own goals it wants to accomplish through content marketing efforts.
Why is content marketing beneficial for ecommerce companies?
If you’re new to content marketing, you might be unaware of how beneficial it is for an ecommerce business. Here are a few of the main benefits of ecommerce content marketing done well.
Helps your business show up in search results
You probably know that Google is one of the world’s most popular search engines. Who knows? You might have found this very article through Google.
But do you know how popular Google is? Recent research found that Google processes anywhere from 40,000 to 99,000 searches per second!
So, what does this have to do with ecommerce content marketing strategies? When your company creates content, there’s always a chance it could show in the results of search engines.
If you create high-quality content (like the kind that Content Marketing Life can create for your business), it should rank highly in search engines like Google.
The more search results your company shows up in, the more chances you have to gain a person’s click. If they click through to a well-designed website with engaging content, your company could have a new customer.
Gives your company personality
In almost any niche or industry, a company will have competitors. Fortunately, ecommerce content marketing strategies are great ways to set your online business apart from the competition.
To highlight how important this can be, think about your typical customer journey. If you’re like most people, you’ll start a search for a product or service by using a search engine or checking out social media.
During your research, you find Company A who has a solid content marketing strategy. This business has social media pages and blog posts that are full of helpful content.
Then, there’s Company B. Company B has no website and a local Google page with a few pics and a phone number.
All things being equal, would you view Company A or B as more of an authority? Chances are, the company with valuable content is the one you’d choose.
Why? Because an ecommerce content marketing strategy lets a company speak to its target audience at any time.
Follow these ecommerce content marketing strategies
So far, you have learned about the basics of having an ecommerce content marketing strategy. Now, we’re going to cover actual methods ecommerce business owners can use for more clicks, likes, and customers.
1. Build content around clusters
In the not-so-distant past, one well-written piece of content almost instantly made you an expert in Google’s eyes. Unfortunately, for the most part, that’s not the case anymore.
But fear not. You can still find your way onto search engine result pages and into customers’ hearts with topic clusters. Creating topic clusters has recently become a popular and effective search engine optimization method.
By creating topic clusters, ecommerce brand owners get a chance to step away from managing orders or shipping products and show off their expertise.
With programs like Shopify or something similar, it’s easy for an ecommerce business to maintain top-notch products. To truly stand out, you can start creating content. For your work to pay off in the form of more traffic, create content around clusters.
To help you out, here’s an example of what a content cluster might look like. Let’s say that your ecommerce website sells men’s shirts.
In that case, you could create valuable content about men’s fashion. A post involving popular looks for the upcoming season is a great idea to give you inspiration. From there, you can use analytical data or SEO programs like Surfer or Frase to find other relevant content topics.
With a little time and effort, this is one of several ecommerce content marketing strategies that can put your business in front of many prospective customers.
2. Make use of many content formats
In my now 10+ years in the content marketing world, I’ve become a big fan of throwing enough crap at the wall and seeing what sticks strategy. Ecommerce websites can follow this strategy by posting content on many platforms and websites.
For instance, many companies have a content idea that ends up being a blog post. And, that’s it. But you can reach more potential customers with a twist on this method. After you create your first piece of content, reformat it for other platforms.
Let’s say that you had a new post to place on your website’s blog. After posting this blog, take the main points and create a video out of it. Maybe you could also turn these awesome points into a sleek infographic. Then, share your video and posts on social media and similar online destinations. Boom – you’re using one the best ecommerce content marketing strategies.
3. Don’t shy away from mentioning your competitors (in an objective way)
Most ecommerce businesses have competitors. Many of these companies treat mentioning competitors in their content like they would giving away trade secrets.
Do you have to be a little careful when mentioning competitors? Sure. But, as it turns out, mentioning your competition can actually make your business look authoritative in a consumer’s eyes.
Take a moment and step into the shoes of your potential customers. If you see an ecommerce website that does nothing but talk bad about the competition, it can leave a sour taste in a potential customer’s mouth.
While it might seem like talking bad about competitors makes your business look better, this strategy often has the opposite effect. Instead, ecommerce businesses with a lot of negative rants come off looking petty.
On the other hand, your ecommerce store could create list-based articles about how your business and the competition stack up. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with mentioning your business as the best ecommerce site. But don’t also be afraid to objectively mention competing companies.
The word objectively means that you take any personal bias out of content involving other companies.
An example of this ecommerce content marketing strategy is an ecommerce site creating a post about the best places to shop for car parts. As the owner of a car parts website, you can create content that ranks your business as the best option with the competitors below your company.
4. Share, share, share!
This tip pairs especially well with tip #2. Make content on your website and share it like your life depends on it.
It’s time for another example. To keep things simple, this example will involve two businesses: Company A and Company B.
Company A creates a blog post once every month. Company B creates one blog post per week. In addition, Company B shares all four pieces of content on 10 different websites.
At the end of this month, how many people do you think will see the blog post from Company A? What about Company B’s post?
As I’ve learned, don’t stop with a piece of content once you post it to your website. You never know, you could be a few shares away from reaching many potential customers.
This pointer becomes one of the most effective ecommerce content marketing strategies when you think of sharing content as being as important as creating it. Dedicate time to sharing blog posts, company news, and other original content.
5. Create infographics
Another great way to achieve content marketing success is by creating infographics. An infographic combines text and images into a much larger image. Infographics are vital parts of ecommerce content marketing strategies because they’re easy on the eyes.
Instead of scrolling through a 2,000-word blog post, an infographic can highlight your most important points in a single image.
6. Fine-tune your content marketing with analytics
Content marketing without analytics is like driving with a blindfold on. Sure, you can do it. But it’s probably not going to end well. Fortunately, Google and many social media marketing platforms give you analytical information at your fingertips.
If you use Google Search Console, for example, you’ll see these metrics:
- Total clicks: How many people clicked your ecommerce content in Google’s search results.
- Total impressions: How many times Google displayed your website in its search results.
- Average CTR (click-through rate): The percentage of how many times someone chose to click on your website in Google’s results.
- Average position: The average position your website has in Google’s results.
Using Google Analytics gives you more information about your website and its visitors. Use this tool as part of your ecommerce content marketing strategies to answer questions like:
- How does your business acquire visitors?
- What time do people visit your website?
- What channels do your website’s visitors come from?
Using analytical data is the foundation of great ecommerce content marketing. As you continue looking at this type of data, you’ll learn what parts of your content strategy work well and what you might need to scrap.
7. Get guest posts
Many marketing savvy ecommerce brands also take part in guest posting. A guest post is a post from one person or business or another person or company’s website. Guest posting lets your business show up in front of a new target audience.
Depending on your company’s current network, you might have friendships with other businesses. If you have these partnerships, reach out to other companies asking if you could create a guest post for their website.
The main key to success with guest posting is that the website you’re posting on is relevant to your business. Let’s say that you write three new how-to articles for guest posting purposes. If your company is a software business, you’d want these guest posts to show up on software websites. If toy websites share this content, it’s not going to be relevant content.
8. Do better keyword research
Almost any content strategy begins when you conduct keyword research. Unfortunately, certain ecommerce businesses spend a lot of time creating blog posts for keywords that are way out of their leagues in terms of competitiveness. This was one of the aspects of ecommerce content marketing strategies I struggled with when I started writing posts.
If your website isn’t showing up on the first page of search results, it might be time to fine-tune your keyword research. If you run a new website or one without a lot of content, aim to get organic traffic by targeting low-competition keywords.
9. Update your content regularly
Another tried and true ecommerce content marketing tip is to regularly audit and update your content. Don’t worry. This audit isn’t anything like the kind of audit you’re probably thinking about.
A content audit is a way for a business to see how its content ranks, what isn’t ranking, and what to do next. Start this audit by gathering all of your content in one place like a spreadsheet.
Starting from oldest to newest, take a second look at your website’s content. Is any information outdated? Could you lengthen or add new keywords to your content to improve things from an on-page SEO standpoint?
Content audits give you type to update what’s on your website. And, since Google loves up-to-date content, this digital marketing tip could lead to lots of new rankings for your website.
10. Get user-generated content with a contest
One of the greatest ecommerce content marketing strategies involves picture, posts, and more that come from customers. I’m not talking about hiring a customer to write for you. Instead, your business needs user-generated content.
This type of content comes 100% from your users. An example of UGC is someone creating and sharing a social media post about something they purchased from an online store. This person gets to show off on social media, and the company gets a shout-out on social media networks.
For mega-popular companies like Apple or Coca-Cola, UGC rolls in almost constantly. If your company doesn’t have UGC coming its way, that’s okay! You can drum up interest from new and existing customers by hosting a contest!
What your ecommerce company decides to give away is up to you. Regardless of what you give away, have each entry submit one piece of user-generated content. You might be amazed at how many social media followers and likes start flowing in for your brand.
11. Create buyer’s guides
In the past year, the average ecommerce conversion rate ranged from 1.62% to 2.38%. Fortunately, you can increase your conversion rates by using buyer’s guides as part of your ecommerce content marketing strategies.
A great buyer’s guide tackles almost everything your potential customer thinks about. It should contain:
- In-depth explanations of your company’s products or services
- Your customers’ challenges or pain points and how your company’s products solves them
- A comparison of your company’s offerings stacked up against the competition
Spend time and effort on a buyer’s guide. It could soon become some of your company’s top-performing content.
12. Get in front of the camera
You can also appeal to potential and loyal customers by creating video content. Research shows that 86% of companies are using video as a content marketing method. Making videos allows you to mix up your content creation efforts. Plus, video content is easy to embed into website content or social media posts.
Best of all, this ecommerce content marketing strategy doesn’t require an expensive camera. Grab your smartphone, maybe buy a cheap microphone, and you’re all set. You might also find that your video content turns into amazing blog post ideas.
13. Partner with social media influencers
If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time watching videos on YouTube. While you’re watching these videos, do you ever notice that many YouTubers take breaks in their videos to have those quick 30-second to one-minute-long commercials?
Whether it’s for wireless earbuds, a VPN, or something else, these are all examples of paid advertising through influencer marketing.
How much influencer marketing will cost your business depends on whom you’re partnering with. Some influencers might also only partner with established businesses, which isn’t great for new companies.
Influencer marketing is like guest posts on a much larger scale. It might only take one influencer’s post to bring a ton of traffic and loyal customers to your business.
To wrap things up, it’s possible to run a mega-successful ecommerce brand. If that’s not happening for you, try some or all of the previously mentioned ecommerce content marketing strategies. You should notice an increase in brand loyalty and lots of happy customers.
Alex Eagleton is a copywriter and digital marketer passionate about helping companies connect with customers. Throughout the past decade, he’s worked with companies including Referral Rock, Connecteam, and Ramsey Solutions. He’s a versatile writer who understands how to align with companies, truly matching their voices and tones.
When he’s not writing, he enjoys spending time with his dogs, reading, and playing guitar.
You can reach him by emailing alex@contentmarketinglife.com.