In today’s digital landscape, e-commerce brands are constantly seeking new ways to stand out in a crowded marketplace. One strategy that has gained significant traction is content marketing. But is it truly essential for e-commerce success, or is it just a time-consuming effort with minimal returns? In this blog post, we’ll explore the role of content marketing in the marketplace sector, examining its potential benefits, common misconceptions, and whether it’s worth the investment for brands looking to boost their online presence and drive sales.
What is content marketing?
Faced with increasingly demanding internet users and the emergence of ad blockers, the model of paid advertising is becoming less effective and needs to be accompanied by a long-term content marketing strategy aimed at building a trust-based relationship with customers and acquiring new ones.
It involves creating and distributing high-quality, relevant, and targeted content across multiple channels to inform, communicate, and assist prospects throughout their decision-making journey.
This content can take textual, visual, or audio forms.
Why is a content marketing strategy essential for your business as a brand?
The lesson is simple, creating a marketplace needs content marketing for standing out in the face of increased competition.
It allows you to:
- Build a community and create brand ambassadors
- Acquire new customers
- Retain an audience and customers in the long term
- Build and enhance brand image
- Ensure better search engine optimization (SEO) for your site
- All while reducing costs and ensuring a lasting presence in the minds of your target audience!
How to establish a winning content strategy?
Here’s an approach to help you establish a comprehensive content strategy plan:
- Audit the existing content: It is crucial to analyze and measure your performance at all levels, from your brand’s positioning to the media you own and the content you distribute to examine the current impact of your actions and identify areas for improvement.
- Specify precise, relevant, and realistic objectives and prioritize them.
- Identify the targets and their needs: Offering content tailored to your target audiences’ expectations is essential to reach and attract their attention.
- Establish an editorial calendar: What theme? What format? What target? When? Through which channel? Planning your content allows you to allocate your resources appropriately, have a comprehensive dashboard of your actions, and adjust them as needed.
- Analyze performance: Evaluating user behavior, engagement, SEO results, leads, and sales not only allows you to measure your return on investment but also to see which content generates the most interest to better guide your future actions.
Little tips
- Opt for an omnichannel experience: The more you diversify your channels and create synergy between them, the more you improve visitor engagement, conversions, and loyalty! For example, through a website that allows checking stock availability in stores or enabling consumers to purchase your products directly from an Instagram post, or adopting a “phygital” approach!
- A little promotion is always beneficial: Promoting your content via paid SEO, social selling, or your newsletter is crucial to reaching your target audience.
- Diversify your content as much as possible: both in substance and form!
What types of content should you choose?
The choice of content closely depends on your goals and target audience: for example, it is recommended to use textual content for better search engine ranking or visual formats to capture attention.
According to contentmarketinginstitute.com, the top 3 types of content that most influence purchasing decisions in 2024 are:
- Social media posts (excluding videos) – 71%: A regular presence at the right place and time, relevant material, and a qualified community is the magic formula to increase your visibility on social networks, drive traffic to your site, and boost your notoriety.
- Videos – 45%: Use them to present your products, tell a story, or offer tutorials; they are an excellent format to share information in a fun and detailed way to easily capture the target audience’s attention, gain their trust, and encourage action.
- Illustrations and photos – 29%: A picture is worth a thousand words! These two formats remain effective in attracting and pleasing your audience and efficiently conveying a message or explaining a concept.
You can also use augmented reality to offer a more lively and engaging experience!
Virtual reality on smartphone by IKEA
Take the example of the Swedish furniture retailer IKEA, which has reinvented the customer experience by allowing users to simultaneously visualize multiple pieces of furniture in any room using their smartphone camera. The idea is to provide a precise image of the product in its future environment, thereby accelerating the decision and purchase process while minimizing return rates.
