7 Tips to Master Retail Content Marketing Strategy

Every successful online business needs to have a content marketing strategy. It’s important that you plan, post, and analyze your content marketing efforts in an effective and consistent way. When you improvise, you might reap some benefits in the short term – a spike in traffic, an increase in social media engagement, even better sales… However, if you want these successes to be your regular modus operandi, you need to work with a strategy in mind.

In this guide, we will be presenting some of the most important tips for mastering content marketing strategies in the retail industry. Let’s have a look!

1) Analyze your competitors

In the retail industry, competition is fierce. In 2017, there were 1 million retail stores in the US, with more than $5 trillion in sales. These numbers are, of course, on the rise, as well as the number of retail stores opening up. The competition is even higher if we take online commerce into consideration.

So, to start with, it’s best to figure out what your competition is doing right in terms of content. How do they capture the attention of their customers? Which channels are they using? These and many other questions can serve as a base for your future retail content marketing strategy.

2) Work with experts

If you are not sure how to approach this problem, you can easily find content marketers online who specialize in the retail industry. It’s best to focus on experts with experience in this niche. This way, you will know for sure that you are hiring someone who has a good grasp of both of these components.

For, example, you can reach professional writers to help you understand all aspects of creating a content marketing strategy.

3) Create buyer personas

Before knowing and deciding what you want to publish, where, when, and how, you need to know who you are doing it for. In other words, before every process of content creation, your reader/viewer/user has to be in front of your mind at all times.

The best way to figure this out in an exact and precise way is to develop buyer personas. Use tools like UXPressia to develop clear user personas and start creating targeted content for audiences that really matter for your retail brand.

4) Figure out your customers’ pain points and issues

Marie Fincher, writer and content manager and researcher at TrustMyPaper, says that “understanding your customers well is a prerequisite for building a solid content marketing strategy. Most marketers focus on the interests and likes of their customers, which is great, but understanding what bothers them is even deeper. Incorporate these findings into your content efforts, and you will strike gold.”

5) Capture the potential of organic traffic

The value of online retail stores (eCommerce websites) is expected to reach almost $4.9 trillion in 2021. If you don’t remember the statistic that we laid out in the first point, it means that online retail sales will get very close to total retail sales in 2017 in the US. Amazing, right?

This information means only one thing for online retail brands: you have to start focusing on digital content, as soon as possible. One of the best ways to start investing is by producing search-engine-friendly content that will bring you traffic for years to come.

6) Plan and stick to your content plans

Another important point in every content marketing strategy is the plan. In other words, you need to pinpoint exactly when and where you want to post particular types of content. Not only that, but you also need to stick to it if you want to achieve the desired results.

There are several tools online that you can use to create a list, plan, or a board of future content needs. On many of them, you can use these boards and platforms to discuss and approve/reject future content ideas. They are especially useful if you are cooperating with many different writers and creators. Just like any other productivity tools, your writers can enter these platforms and take up any of the tasks that are currently on the waiting list.

The desktop and mobile app Monday is a great resource for this. There, you can build a calendar of all your future content plans, assign writers to different tasks, lead discussions, track the progress of projects and tasks… If you want to do content in a neat and organized way, Monday is a great tool to do that.

7) Do short customer surveys

In retail, customers will usually have clear and direct opinions about every part of the shopping process. Even if they are not directly aware of it, once you ask them about something, the majority of customers will have the ability to describe precise details that they liked or disliked. Of course, this knowledge is of incredible value. Best of all, you can also use it to improve your content marketing strategy and reach new customers for your retail brand.

Conclusion

It is a complex and difficult job to come up with a content marketing strategy for a retail brand all at once. Most likely, it will be an ongoing task that works based on trial-and-error and adapts to changing customer behaviour.

If you are not sure where to start, begin by observing how your competition approaches content marketing. If they are not using popular strategies, tactics, and channels, try to figure out the reason why before diving into that investment with your own brand.

Finally, the backbone of your content marketing strategy will be your understanding and interpretation of your audience. Never underestimate the power of their opinion and impressions. Just like always in the retail world: the customer is always right!