Content Marketing plays a prominent role in every business marketing effort. As the value of old-school marketing becomes obsolete, content marketing is now taking its place. Content Marketing plays an integral role in the marketing efforts of every business. In this article, we are here to tell you all you need to know about Content Marketing and how you can get started with content marketing for e-commerce businesses in India.

With the increase in the number of digital natives, outbound marketing strategies have turned out to be almost ineffective and less resonating with customers. This void is now being filled with new inbound marketing strategies, one such strategy is content marketing. Since customers want to feel more naturally connected to the brand, most marketing efforts of brands are directed towards creating content that will authentically engage and convert your audience.

What is Content Marketing?

Let’s define what Content Marketing means, “Content Marketing is the creation and distribution of valuable content that helps to build an audience for your brand”. In simple words, Content Marketing is a marketing strategy that makes use of valuable content to engage, educate, induce and convert your audience.

Content Marketing strategy falls under the purview of inbound marketing strategy, where the main aim is to generate and sell good quality leads. The crux of content marketing lies in planning, creating, distributing, sharing and publishing content on online platforms. The prime aim of a good content marketing strategy essentially lies in creating brand awareness and thereby increasing engagement and sales.

In the words of Andrew Davis, one of the most influential marketers of the world states that, “Content builds relationships. Relationships are built on trust. Trust drives revenue”. This quote almost sums up what content marketing essentially means. Your content marketing strategy must be defined in such a way that it can create, produce and distribute the right content to the right people at the right time. Therefore, if your content marketing strategy is relevant to your brand, you will enjoy the benefits of Content Marketing. 

So this brings us to the question,

Why Is Content Marketing Important for SEO and Social Media?

In recent times, Content Marketing has turned out to be a part and parcel of every business marketing activity. Several popular and name-worthy brands are increasingly using content marketing strategies and content marketing tools to run their businesses. Here are a few reasons why Content Marketing is important for every business today;

1. 1. 1. Content marketing helps to educate your audience about the products and services you have to offer to them.
      2. Content marketing brings in new leads and prospects that are likely interested in your products and services.
      3. Content marketing helps to boost your conversions and induces your audience to make informed purchases.
      4. Content marketing helps you to reach out to your target audience and creates a positive image for your brand.
      5. Content marketing helps in building strong relationships with your existing and potential customers.
      6. Content marketing helps your audience to build a sense of loyalty and affinity towards your brand.
      7. Content marketing shows how your products and services can help in solving your customer’s problems and challenges.
      8. Lastly, if done right, content marketing can even establish you as a thought leader or even an industry expert in your target market.

How Does Content Marketing Work?

As we discuss the meaning and benefits of content marketing, we need to understand how content marketing works. Let’s take a look at how the process of content marketing can help you turn your visitors into customers.

1. 1. 1. Creating Content

The first step in the process of content marketing is to create content that must have value. You must be able to create ‘free’ content that answers all the possible questions your audience can likely have. This, however, can turn out to be a tricky situation because the content you create must be informative, engaging, educational, funny, interesting, but most of all, it must be valuable.

1. 1. 1. 1. 2. Sharing Content

Now that you have created your content, it’s time for you to share it with your audience. Several online platforms enable you to share your content with our potential audience. You can share your content through your social media channels or even optimise it for your search results.

However, it is left to the discretion of your brand to choose your platform where you want to share content.

1. 1. 1. 1. 3. Searching Your Brand

Once you put your content on the right platform, your audience who search for their queries online, will automatically find your content and check out your content. Hence, you need to invest time in creating good quality content that helps people find your company. Several content marketing experts suggest that spending time on research and creating good content can improve your SEO ranking as well.

1. 1. 1. 1. 4. Boosts Brand Awareness

Once your audience has viewed and absorbed your content, they feel connected to the brand. This helps your audience to get much more familiar with your brand and increase brand awareness.

1. 1. 1. 1. 5. Gain Results!

After your content has been consumed, it will likely generate leads. At this stage, your audience will likely learn about your offerings and purchase them. In case, they don’t get converted they are likely to remember your brand when they want to make a purchase.

Why Is Content Marketing Important for SEO and Social Media?

As businesses keep expanding every day, the role of content marketing is also increasing day by day. The collaboration of content, SEO and social media can help to grow your brand in an organic manner. Search Engine Optimization is a type of marketing that puts content as its major element. It is important for your brand to create SEO content so that it helps to increase your brand expertise, authoritativeness and trustworthiness.

On the other hand, content marketing plays a prime role in social media as well. There are several of your digital platforms that are being widely used amongst people and using the right content on the right platform can help to increase your organic traffic and brand recognition.

How to get started with content marketing as an e-commerce business in India

With the fast-moving pace of the digital world, it is important for your brand to maintain a great online presence for your business, this holds true for every E-Commerce Business as well. You can use various types of content marketing such as blogs, images, videos, posts, how-to- posts, guides, e-books, webinars etc. Here’s a quick guide to how you can create a content marketing strategy for e-commerce store;

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Carefully study your customer journey.
            2. Conducting customer surveys.
            3. Conduct competitor analysis.
            4. Select Your Channels
            5. Create a plan
            6. Track and Audit Results Frequently.

Currently, e-commerce businesses have started to gain traction amongst the audience. However, one must remember that your content marketing plan doesn’t essentially have to drive sales, but can contribute towards directing people to your website. Since Content Marketing has become an indispensable part of the e-commerce business, visit our experts at Bikayi and deploy the best content marketing strategies for your business today.