The e-commerce industry is saturated with brands that are struggling to get noticed and increase conversions. Unlike traditional marketing, where businesses must sell hard, e-commerce stores ensure higher engagement and more significant traffic through personalized content.
Research states that 86% of consumers pay no attention to TV advertisements, while 44% of consumers do not read direct emails sent to them by companies – shocking? We think so too! These figures are enough to make any marketing team rethink their strategy.
If it’s not pushy TV ads and regular emails driving brand awareness, what is the secret to success in today’s marketplace to approach customers? How do you inform customers about what you do and convince them to buy your products?
The answer to all your queries is content marketing. With the help of enriched content, businesses market their products to target audiences to earn leads and gain loyal customers. Content, whether visual or textual, draws customers to buy your products.
The pie-chart below states that 61% of the consumers believe custom content influences their buying decision as it offers valuable information to the people before buying anything.
Now that we know how important content marketing is let’s delve deeper into what it is and how it helps drive sales for a business.
Content marketing involves creating valuable content regularly to attract your target audience and ultimately, getting them to buy your products.
Think about it this way: if you are a business selling clothes and you write blogs related to fashion – e.g., what the latest trends are, how to dress to impress, how to update your wardrobe according to each season – you will drive traffic to your website of people interested in fashion and clothing. They will read your articles and find them valuable, returning to your site whenever you post new content. As a result, your brand gains recognition and will have a higher ranking on search engines.
The truth is that valuable content drives traffic to your website and builds brand awareness. By providing users with useful information, you gain their trust and become an industry expert whom they frequently refer to.
Once you have an online presence, all you must do is encourage customers to drive your sales. Building goodwill of your brand through content creation is a great way to increase leads. Once the target audience develops an opinion about your brand through blogs, reviews, or recommendations, they will consistently make purchases.
Content Strategies to Improve Sales
⦁ Bring variety to your content
If you want to attract and engage different segments of people, you must use a variety of content, instead of relying on the same format for all your content marketing. Here are some ways to bring diversity into your content:
Infographics
Visual information gets processed by our brains a lot faster than text so infographics can be handy in communicating your value proposition to the customer, which is why customers should buy from you, instead of your competitor.
E-books
The better you communicate the benefits of your product, the more likely you are to generate sales. E-books are another great way to optimize your sales page and get your message across in an effective manner.
Videos
According to research, 96% of online buyers consider videos helpful in their buying decision. So, if you are not already using short videos to promote your products, it is time you do! Video tutorials, for example, are a great way to educate customers about how to use your product.
Longer Content
Like most businesses, if you ever thought that shorter content is more effective in engaging your audience, think again! According to a study, longer content generates eight times more views and nine times higher leads than short content.
⦁ Create Personalized Content
If you want to engage your customers and encourage them to buy your products, show them content that is relevant to their interests and needs, based on their preferences. With the help of the latest content marketing tools, many websites now create personalized content for their visitors.
For personalized content, you need to create buyer personas to categorize the audience to determine what precisely they want from your brand. Check out how Netflix uses personalized content to increase the number of subscribers to this platform.
Since users today experience information overload, the ability to focus is reduced at large, be it blogs or ads. Therefore, on the marketers’ side, they have a short time to impress the audience to convert them to buyers.
So, for your brand to speak for itself and retain longer in the minds of consumers, content personalization through online surveys or emails will likely make purchases go up. Personalized content shows users the content they are interested in, increasing the chance of generating a sale.
⦁ Produce Up-to-Date Content
To stay on top of your marketing game, you must keep up with the latest developments in your field and produce content accordingly. Keep an eye on what’s trending on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram so that you are aware of what your customers are interested in right now.
Most social media platforms allow you to see the trending topics in each category, such as Sports, Entertainment, and Fashion, among others. By getting involved in the latest discussions, you ensure a steady flow of traffic to your webpage.
Alternatively, also analyze your competitors’ content marketing strategy – the type of content they are producing and whether it is working for them. You might be able to come up with some fresh ideas for yourself too.
⦁ Use Calls to Action Wisely
When creating content, think about ways to promote your product subtly in the process, without making it sound like a pushy advertisement. Also, make sure you use the Call to Action button on your webpage or wherever you upload content to encourage the viewer to check out your product range once they are finished reading the article.
For example, if you are a jewelry business that just launched a new collection of antique jewelry, you can write an article on reasons why antique jewelry makes an excellent choice for a gift and include CTAs to different kinds of antique pieces you’re offering.
The key to using CTAs effectively is not to have too many of them in a single article. Placement is also an essential factor – test options to see which one generates the best results.
⦁ Ensure Customer Engagement
Many companies increase their brand awareness and customer engagement by having contests on social media, offering giveaways or shoutouts to people in return for using the company’s products.
For instance, Fashion Nova has become a famous clothing label due to its Instagram marketing strategy. It shares pictures of customers in sultry poses and elicits ‘likes’ and ‘comments’ from millennials. The brand shares customer selfies and gives shoutouts – satisfying their desire for attention.
As a result of user engagement, your target audience talks about your brand, increasing your visibility and ultimately, improving sales.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to generating sales, content marketing can inevitably produce results – it makes more leads than traditional marketing. Like any other strategy, it requires skill and consistency to work. You need to come up with fresh, relevant content and promote it across online platforms to succeed. Once people know about your brand, they will drive your sales up.
Author Bio:
Sohail Rupani is a senior SEO strategist at PNC Digital, a digital marketing agency based in Orlando. He specializes in SEO and SEM techniques. He is passionate about technology and loves to analyze the tech industry in his spare time and stay in touch with the latest happenings. He also writes technical articles about SEO and digital marketing. Follow @sohailrupani for more updates.
