Back then, legacy brands and startups utilized telemarketers, Salesmen, TV and print ads, etc., to gain leads and make sales. But mainstream internet adoption brought up social media, eCommerce, and digital marketing, which altered the status quo.

Now content marketing is the Buzzword in the eCommerce space, with many brands investing a huge chunk of their budget into this segment. But what does content marketing really entail? and most importantly, how to build your brand via content marketing?

Content Marketing: An Overview

Marketing has evolved beyond the world of print ads. Now you can create a blog post about your brand and have customers swarm to your business. These are the kind of things that content marketing achieves.

Content marketing is the process of creating and regularly posting/publishing content regarding your brand. The end game of content marketing is customer engagement. This engagement can come as sales, increased website traffic, or increased brand awareness.

While content marketing pinpoints the features of your brand, it should also answer consumer needs and questions. Simply put, content marketing is the act of developing consumer-focused content for your target audience in order to gain leads. And brands can benefit from content marketing in the following ways;

• Content marketing allows people to know a brand, its distinctive tone, and how it differs from the competition.
• Content marketing shows authority and expertise, putting consumers at ease.
• Content marketing increases consumer trust by letting consumers know that a brand's interest in them is not superficial and goes beyond making a sale.
• Content marketing increases brand awareness as each post enlarges audience reach.
• Content marketing relevant to consumer needs is just as good as a sponsored post.

The Content Marketing Process

Although it might seem like a straightforward process at first glance, content marketing goes beyond the obvious and requires a methodical approach in order to address consumer pain points and deliver results. A simple process adopting content marketing includes:

1. Setting Target Customers

Target customers are the “who” of your brand. “Who” would benefit the most from your product? Who would find content about your product relevant? E.g., if we owned a heels company, our target customers would be females 16-35 who love high heels. Content will ultimately be created around them.

2. Analyzing and Evaluating the Target Customers

Once you have set a target customer, the next step is to sort through the specifics. Analyzing target customers involves reviewing the demographics and cultural/behavioral traits of the customer. Demographics include age, gender, location, income, education, race, etc., and the cultural and behavioral traits include customs, religious beliefs, purchasing behavior, customer pain points, etc.

3. Choosing a Hot Topic with Data Analysis Tools

It is not enough to write about your brand’s product or service; the topic should be relevant to customer needs and measurable.

Lost on what to write about? Analysis tools like Buzzfeed and Google Trends can point you in the direction of topics that will entice your customers. Buzzfeed will provide leads on what's trending in the social and entertainment world, and Google Trends will provide metrics on the popularity of a product and its possible future outlook.

eCommerce platforms like AllValue can also generate interesting topics relevant to your brand. Adopting a multi-channel content approach via blog posts, pictures, videos, emails, podcasts is the most effective way to guarantee maximum reach and engagement.

4. Choosing a Suitable Platform to Post the Content

Different social media exist in the public space from Instagram to Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Pinterest, or a blog/website. Choosing the right platform depends on the content medium you will use. Before choosing a platform, research each one and see how it ties in with your brand goals. You can even use eCommerce platforms that allow the use of multiple channel marketing like AllValue, for example.

5. Monitoring Data and Updating Content

Once content has been created and uploaded to the platform of choice, analyze the results of the content and see if it is generating expected results. If the results are not up to par, adjust the content and measure results again. You can manually analyze results or use AllValue as it measures content analytics easily.  

Tips to Achieve Success in Content Marketing

eCommerce brands can adopt the following recommendations to ensure that their content marketing campaign is a successful one.

1. Develop Content That Addresses Customer Pain Points

Pain points are the specific problems that current and potential customers face in the marketplace. The content created should not address the customer pain points but should also spark curiosity and engagement on their side. For example, you are catering to the pain points tied into the relevancy of your content. If your goal is how to build your brand, your content should be customer-focused.

2. Show Your Expertise in The Field

If consumers can find the information in your content by conversing with an average person, then your content lacks expertise. Brand building with content marketing involves providing knowledge and insight that shows expertise in your niche.

3. Influence Customers by Spreading Inspiring Information

Consumers often search for trustworthy people to guide them in their purchase decision or for information. Providing inspirational information via content marketing helps influences customer decisions.

Conclusion

Content marketing might seem like a straightforward concept that involves creating and posting content, but deliberate content marketing is more mental work than writing. Creating content without a marketing strategy is a way to fail without getting a foot in the door.

AllValue is the best first step you can take in building your brand via content marketing. AllValue is an eCommerce software tool that can handle all your potential eCommerce needs including, content marketing under its social commerce feature. For more information on how to build your brand with AllValue, visit the website today!