If you simply want to survive in today’s competitive world, you have to go the extra mile when it comes to eCommerce product content. Today’s global market is harsh, I will not mince words. It is one riddled with cut-throat competition ever willing to spread its market share and ready to crush anyone in their path.
Brands are becoming proactive and ensuring they maintain a presence both offline and online, especially in the promotion of their brands online. All this is done in a bid to stay one step ahead of the competition. This feat cannot be achieved without a fool-proof product content strategy and this is highly used by leading brands in their respective industries.
Companies of all sizes can compete against each other with engaging eCommerce product content to win targeted customers and keep them coming back for more, without the constraint of budget. The content does not have to stop at being good but it should be great! This is what will differentiate your content from information trash (also known as spam, which has no value whatsoever) that is often rampant online today. Of course, producing great content takes a serious commitment on the part of brands.
The truth is that you need to expand your market share and market reach while maintaining your current customers. The power of content marketing is in its relevance to this and much more.
The Importance of Research in Content Creation
Before you can write engaging eCommerce product content, you have to know what you are talking about. This is where research comes into play. Research activities are regularly carried out by firms interested in staying ahead of the competition.
Your competitors are not sleeping and neither should you too. There should not be a time frame for research. Research is so important that it should be a continuous process.
You will need to carry out research to obtain deep insights into the needs and preferences of your customer. You cannot deliver great product content without carrying out extensive research to know what you are really selling. Through research efforts, you will uncover shapes, colors, phrases that can easily be recognized by your prospects.
The visuals of a brand can help the firm to stand out from the rest and make an impact. Research also uncovers further insight into consumer buying behavior and preferences. The knowledge of this can go a long way in the creation of content that communicates a solution to their identified needs.
Your research scope should not be limited to your level. What do I mean by that? Don’t research only on your level of growth presently but think globally. Research can also be carried out on your competitors, especially the market leaders in your industry.
Through your analysis, you can find out their areas of strength and weaknesses. Through the weaknesses and lapses identified in their systems and processes, you can develop better solutions.
To round up, my advice is to be in research-mode at all times. The quality of your product content borders on this.
The Attraction and Conversion Goal of Product Content
The most difficult people to predict are humans; you and I. This is because our choices are never constant and can change on a whim. The ultimate goal of product content is to attract visitors and convert them into loyal customers. This is a feat that can be quite difficult to achieve but it is possible with the right product content.
The attraction element helps your brand get more people to your site. Through your eCommerce product content, you can target the right people with the relevant message. This will build interest in the solution you are offering especially if it is an answer to the challenges they face.
By creating informational articles and product content that demonstrate your expertise, consumers learn new things and become aware of the solution your product can offer and this comes to mind when they need to make a buying decision.
When your content is such that is vital to your customers, you become very important in their lives. The beauty of content is that you do not have to be a multi-billion dollar company or a powerful brand with a huge budget. Startups and small and medium-size companies can also have access to compete with big names in attracting customers with their product content.
There has to be an incentive to read your product content which spans across from relevant information, high definition product images to high-value products. If you cannot give clear reasons why customers should visit your site, you will not have any visitors. It’s that simple!
You should not rest on your oars after attracting customers to your site. Instead, strive to keep them coming and converting them into lasting customers. Through your content, you can achieve this by attaching your contact details. It should be reachable at all times. Help your customers in real-time and they will not be quick to forget your brand.
Through your content, never forget to have a clear call-to-action that solidifies the conversion element. Your content should be able to convince your prospects that your offering is the right solution to their needs even when faced with alternative options.
Important Tips to Produce Great Content
When I talk about product content in eCommerce, I am simply referring to the information (text, images, videos, audio, and so on) a brand uses to communicate its brand offerings to its target customers. A customer cannot make a purchase decision if your product content is defective and lacking, especially when making online purchases.
Note the inclusion of great in this sub-topic. There is a huge difference between good product content and great one. If you want to be ahead of the competition, you must strive to make your content great. If you had to visibly struggle or force yourself to read through a piece, then it obviously wasn’t interesting enough to sustain your attention.
This means there has to be a shift from the production of bland copies to more engaging, interesting, and creative ones, strong enough to elicit an emotional connection with your customers. The return on investment is explosive if your product content is executed properly.
Sell a Solution, not a Product
Great product content focuses on delivering solutions and not solely product pitches. As Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Ford focused on providing a solution to the problem of movement. Thus, people who were looking for that solution connected with that.
Through your content, you should be able to connect with customers looking for a solution to their main challenge. This is what can set you apart. The problem with focusing on only pitching your product is that there is a high tendency for your customers to switch to another brand that provides answers to the problems they seek.
Make Content Engaging
The importance of delivering value through your content has been talked about repeatedly in the course of this article. We all skip content that provides little or no value to us. Carrying out quality research as earlier noted will give you an insight into areas that will be helpful and provide value to your customers.
The truth is that customers will have more reasons to stick around when there is engaging content available. Let us do the analysis together; sticking around translates to more familiarity, which translates to emotional connection and ultimately leads to the higher possibility of conversion, making you their number one among competing alternatives. It is a good thing when customers are always staying on your site and great content is a sure way to hook them in.
Include media in your eCommerce product content. The inclusion of images, audios, videos that provide value to your text will go a long way to improve user experience and sustain interest.
Ensure Content Consistency
Nothing beats consistency; it is highly critical and quite challenging. This was further backed by a statistic from Deloitte which showed that about ninety percent of customers expect a consistently excellent experience across all touchpoints. The failure of brands to do this will lead to negative consequences. There are no exact guides to follow, but consistency can be achieved with the right content strategy in place. Consistency is what differentiates extraordinary from mediocrity because it requires a high level of commitment and hard work.
For your business to grow, it needs a record of success and this cannot be established without the element of consistency. Your product content should be consistent across all platforms such that it becomes immediately recognizable on sight.
Consistency is so important because it takes marketing to another level. When your product content becomes consistent, customers identify your brand immediately before your logo, slogan, or brand name is displayed. This means you have registered your identity in the minds of your customers. After all, no consumer will dream of purchasing from a brand they do not recognize.
Consistency is complete when your brand becomes dependable in the delivery of your customer experience across all channels of communication and digital touchpoints. This is because you have built an image over time through your consistency that gives value to your customers.
At the end of the day, never forget that your customers are the reason why you are in business and their satisfaction is highly important. Hence, the focus is not on producing great product content alone but producing content that is great for your target customers.
Social Media and eCommerce Product Content
It is no surprise to see the increase in the usage of social media platforms and sites. The opportunities for success of your content marketing abound in these platforms as they offer a wider reach for your target customers. Your social media marketing cannot be effective without great content and people will rather share content than a regular product promotional update.
This is why your product content and the social media are linked together. Think of social media platforms as a vehicle for your product content strategy. Create an engaging and attention-worthy product content that provides solutions to the challenges of your target market and create awareness and distribute the content through the use of social media channels.
Brands are using social media platforms in a bid to connect with their customers. Product content usually has expectations of a buzz or hype which social media platforms offer. People share what they find interesting and it gets to a huge number of people in a matter of seconds.
This becomes challenging as it is not easy to produce content that people will be willing to share. When using these platforms, it is important to note that you should create product content that is share-worthy.
For a content to be share-worthy, it has to be useful to satisfy the needs of your target market. This means that the content has to be educative, interesting or entertaining enough to warrant a share. The idea here is quality over quantity.
You should attach a share button to your eCommerce product content. I cannot stress this enough! There are so much product content I have come across and I would have loved to share with friends and followers, but I couldn’t see a share option.
Connecting the two paragraphs above, it is of necessity to produce great share-worthy product content that is so good, it goes viral naturally. This is why it is necessary to attach social media buttons to your content. You never know the one that may connect emotionally with your target audience, and as a brand, you do not want to miss an opportunity to create awareness and generate leads.
It is quality of your content or the lack thereof that creates a buzz and results in impressive results. Drive reaction with the infusion of videos, audios, and images. Research from the Visual Teaching Alliance revealed that consumers get a paltry ten percent of their knowledge from reading and the other ninety percent is gotten from video and audio.
Building Your Brand Through Content
When everything else goes, your brand name still remains. Building your business afresh from a sucky financial year is easier with a name that everyone knows. The best way to build your brand is through the creation of content.
For you to build your brand personality and brand voice, you have to know what distinguishes your brand from others. What makes you stand out? What is your Unique Selling Point? What is the personality of your target audience and how do they communicate?
When you have a clear idea on all these, it will help you consistently communicate your brand promise in a way your customers will be able to connect with it emotionally. Your unique voice, style and brand personality should be evident in your eCommerce product content and this is what will make it original.
Product content is not limited to a physical place nor is it constrained by location. It is literally everywhere you look from a blog post to a Google Ad popup or through a social media platform, reaching customers at their own convenience.
The ultimate information a buyer is looking for is the information that will help him make smart buying decisions. If a brand is able to supply content that makes the buyer seem knowledgeable and smarter, you ultimately stand a better chance of winning their patronage.
Brands who wish to build their brand are no longer solely dependent on traditional media to reach across to their customers. So, if you are yet to come aboard the content marketing train, you could miss out on so many benefits. Through content, awareness can be created with regards to your product and service offerings.
Conclusion
Content creation has ceased to be an option but a necessity for companies that wish to remain competitive in today’s digital age. Of course, it spans across different firms and different industries which means there are a lot of companies engaging in it. Thus, it becomes even more difficult standing out as a brand amidst all the videos, images, texts, and other information shoved in the consumer’s face.
The global marketplace has evolved into a buyer-driven environment with buyers becoming the expert and going for brands that can offer the best solution. Your content represents your thoughts and should be on-point to drive traffic to your site and instill trust in you as a brand. This trust is not forced but earned. There is something obviously wrong if you have to force your market to see the value in your product content.
Your product content should be a source of information. Your site should be known as a credible source of information within the industry you are operating in. The wealth of knowledge you have in your product content can let potential customers know you can be trusted. And this will set you apart from the competition.
Great product content should not be turned into an advertisement shout-out. The primary aim of your product content should be to inform, engage, help and bring value to your target customers.
It is a well known fact the most difficult customers to sell to are the informed ones. This can be interpreted to mean that the more informed they are, the harder it becomes to sell your brand promise to them. Hence, relevant and engaging content can help position your company better to them as a trusted source for information and then become their first source for products and services.
Traditional marketing has become less effective in engaging her customer as consumers become more interested in online surfing.
With internet technologies comes the possibility of automation which can save you some valuable time and resources as a brand. This is because automation allows you to easily distribute your product content across multiple eCommerce platforms. In these competitive times, it is not enough to create rich content. Companies must implement technologies to its content creation and management in order to maximize customer engagement and revenue; remaining one step ahead.
It takes dedication and serious consistency to produce great product content which will help communicate your brand promise and make you stand out. This is why content is a necessity for survival. I will go as far as saying that marketing is not complete without content.
I will end with a quote from James Keady, a digital marketing manager which says, “Content is the voice of your brand, and it is, therefore, important to allocate the respect, investment and focus it requires. Creating good content is difficult, and delivering great content consistently through established processes is complex. However, this is what is required if you want to take your brand from good to great in today’s communication environment.”
Now that you know how to stay ahead of your competition with great product content, click here to see what Catsy can do for you.
