Content marketing for ecommerce: how to get started

According to a report by Wunderman Thompson, 62% of shoppers surveyed, stated they shopped online this year during lockdown, with 51% feeling more positive about shopping online than previous.

This is great news for ecommerce website owners, with 2020 seeing a stark jump in purchases – something that is sure to continue into 2021 and beyond.

Ecommerce content marketing is not, however, just writing about your products, there are certain steps that need to be taken before you post to ensure maximum exposure.

Get to know your target market

This is crucial before you think about anything else. Having a solid idea of who your target market is, and what they are looking for, will help you decide what to write, how to speak, and where to post to encourage the most engagement.

Start by refreshing your mind with your buyer persona and then carry out some market research.

To understand your target market for effective ecommerce content marketing you need to understand, the language they use, where they shop, how they interact with other companies and shops.

You also need to understand their buying habits such as will they look online first and find the best deal or jump on the first offer they find. This will help you to understand what content will work best for your business. 

There is no such thing as too much market research, insight brings reward, and the more information you have into your potential consumers will only help.

What do you want to achieve from your content?

Once you have completed your research and are certain on who your campaign is being aimed at, think about your overall goals.

It may be as simple as, to increase sales. But perhaps you want to increase your engagement or see a higher click through rate.

If you have your goals in mind from the start it will make it easier to create content to achieve these.

Location, location, location

This is another important step, as it could make or break a campaign.

Using your knowledge of your target audience think about where you will be posting. Will you make use of Google Ads? Will you be posting on your website and social media only? Or, will you look to use guest blogging and referral websites to expand your reach to new channels?

Considering the placement of your content marketing will also help you think about how long the content should be, whether the location calls for short and snappy, or longer and more detailed.

What mediums are you using?

With so much noise online, it’s important to ensure that your content is engaging, and suited to the needs of your target customers. So, think about what types of content will be needed before you begin working on your strategy.

For example, a video content marketing approach will be distinctly different to just writing blogs for your website. Think ahead, and get planning!  

Colour is more important than you think

When choosing images and videos for your content, different colours will insight different emotions. For example:

• Red – is often used to evoke hunger, desire, and impulse, and is perfect for those brands wanting their consumers to be impulsive in their purchase.
• Yellow – is used to evoke happiness, calm, and enthusiasm. It is also the first colour seen by the retina, so it is great for grabbing attention.
• Blue – is seen as the colour for communication and different shades evoke different feelings.

We wrote a great article on choosing your colour palette recently which may help you decide which colours to choose to spark the right reaction when creating content.  

Are you optimising for search engines? If not, why not?

SEO is one of your most valuable tools when it comes to ecommerce content marketing. If used properly, it can help increase your exposure to your target audience and increase your online visibility by improving your Google rankings.

Make sure you do your research to find the most effective keywords for your topic, they need to relevant and connected to your copy. Once you have done this ensure you include this not only in your copy a few times but also in your Meta Data.

For more information about how to use SEO effectively, have a read of our blog post on how to start with SEO.

Time to get creative

Once you have done all the above you are ready to get your creativity hat on and delve right in.

Be as creative as you want and don’t be afraid to of trial and error. If you are stuck between two topics or two pieces of text you can always try both out on different sections and see which one is more effective.

If you haven’t undertaken much ecommerce content marketing before don’t worry about getting it spot on the first time. It’s all about making sure you portray your message clearly, grabbing your target market’s attention and keeping it all the way to the payment screen.

Avoid jargon, unless your audience will understand it, speak your target market’s language and make it relatable to encourage them to engage more.

Remember, ecommerce content marketing doesn’t have to follow a set of guidelines, you can be as creative as you want. Feel free to experiment with mediums, images, colours and more.

 If you are looking for more advice on how to create a successful ecommerce content marketing campaign, we are here to help.

Contact us today to learn more.