3 Reasons Why Ecommerce Companies Need Content Marketing

To the layperson, it might almost seem like an e-commerce business can’t fail. When the term ecommerce is used, many of us immediately think of sites like Amazon.com—so mighty, they seem almost to dominate our world, rarely missing a step and never failing to offer consumers precisely what they need. The reality, of course, is far more complicated. There are countless ecommerce businesses launched every year, and basically none of them go on to attain Amazon.com levels of success. Many of them fold altogether, while a few prove themselves truly sustainable.

What’s the difference between the ecommerce sites that make it and the ones that don’t? There are many factors to consider, but one thing the good ecommerce sites do is offer substantive information to their customers. Just think about the individual product pages on Amazon: They offer more than just a picture of the product and a link to buy it. They also include professional reviews, technical information, user-submitted testimonials, author/artist biographies, galleries of photos, and beyond. Whatever information you need to find about an intended Amazon.com purchase, most of the time, you can find it right on the site.

Your ecommerce company may not have the resources to design such a lavish product database, but you can inform and empower customers to shop with you more confidently, through strategic content marketing. Yes, ecommerce sites can benefit mightily from blogs and social media activity—and here’s how:

Content Marketing Offers Information

What exactly does this product do? If a potential customer is still asking this question, after spending several minutes on your website, then you’re probably in trouble. Nobody wants to spend their hard-earned money on a product that they fundamentally don’t understand, but content marketing can help with this. With a corporate blog, you can feature how-tos, tutorials, and behind-the-scenes insights into how your products work. That way, consumers can clearly see what the product does, and they can begin to visualize how they themselves might use it. This gives them more confidence to buy.

Content Marketing Showcases Products in Unique and Appealing Ways

One of the most successful content marketing campaigns out there right now is that of the home improvement franchise Lowe’s. You might wonder how Lowe’s is able to make something like a power drill seem exciting to read about—and the short answer is, it doesn’t. Rather than focus on the drill, Lowe’s provides tutorials on DIY home improvement projects that homeowners can do—projects that just so happen to require the use of a power drill. The product is showcased in a way that is subtle and non-promotional, but still highly effective at generating consumer interest.

Content Marketing Builds Trust

Customers sometimes fear—and rightly so—that they may spend their money on a product that underperforms, and when it does, that the company that sold it to them will offer little or no assistance. Content marketing can help assuage those fears by creating trust; after all, a company that takes the time to put together a detailed how-to or tutorial about its products clearly cares that customers know how to use those products effectively.

There are plenty of other ways in which content marketing can help ecommerce brands, as well. The important thing to remember is that you’re not only selling products, but also peace of mind—and that’s where compelling, original content becomes invaluable.

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