When it comes to content marketing, especially in the eCommerce arena, there are myriad strategies that can be employed, with all manner of variables which an determine how and when to deploy each of them.
As this is only a blog post, I wanted to outline just a few of the more elementary ideas, all of which will be included and expounded upon in the eCommerce eBook that we will be publishing later this year.
So, just as a teaser for that, take a look at this....
Strategic marketing, if thought out well, can really help fine tune who you are aiming your messaging at, how they are likely to respond to it and, ultimately, how successful your marketing campaigns are.
As anyone in a marketing department will attest, marketing campaigns don’t put themselves together, so make sure all that work is worth it.
Determine your target audience, rather than wasting your time with a one ad fits all approach:
- Create and document your strategy (process fine tuning)
- Make it personal (also see below for personalization tips)
- Repeat this mantra: Content is (still) king
- Build strategic marketing partnerships (where possible)
- Start collaborating with Influencers, get them involved in your content
- Be the solution, i.e. help customers solve a problem
- Initiate a forum, try to engage and let customers interact
The days of ‘one ad fits all’ are fast disappearing, as targeted marketing and precise demographic customer bases take centre stage. You can’t just market to everyone, you have to market to someone, that's the eCommerce way.
Here are a few things to remember:
- Data is critical, so get as much as you can
- Create buyer/customer personas, using the data you have gathered
- Map out content for each customer persona
- Create and deliver personalized content
- Make user experiences personal
Cross-sell/upsell
It may seem obvious to many marketers, but knowing the difference between these two eCommerce tactics is key:
Upselling is the practice of encouraging customers to purchase a comparable higher-end product than the one in question…e.g. they are browsing for a 16gb phone, you promote the benefits of a 32gb storage model….
Cross-selling invites customers to buy related or complementary items, e.g. they’re buying a cell phone, you offer options such as wireless headphones, covers, cases. etc.
Both cross-selling and up-selling are both important arrows in the eCommerce marketing quiver. Be sure that all attempts with this strategy are specific and targeted, based on solid research in terms of what customers are buying together.