Stand Out from the Crowd Using Your Expertise and Personality
This month’s guest blog is written by Helen Boss, one half of WordGlueMarketing.com, creating content that sticks! Word Glue Marketing helps businesses turn their content creation into a 24/7 sales machine, saving you time and effort, so you can concentrate on the things that matter most in your business.
Christmas is a vitally important time for retailers, and your content marketing can help make sure it’s also a profitable time. However, like with anything that’s worthwhile, there’s plenty of competition to get people’s attention.
So, how can you create the unique content that will get you noticed this Christmas?
No matter how you plan on getting visitors to your website, one of the best tools you have in your bag is high-quality content. There’s so much competition out there on the internet, and if you’re putting out mediocre content, then you’re just going to blend in with the crowd – the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve.
Whether you’re trying to reach people through the search engines, social media, email campaigns, or other methods, quality is bound to play a big part. The search engines are tuned to show the best results for each individual search term, the social media platforms prioritise content that gets clicks, and people respond to emails that offer them value – there’s no way of getting round the need for quality.
This is a good thing, because you’re more than capable of coming up with high-quality content, and when you do, you will be rewarded for your hard work.
A Chance to Match Buyer Intent
One of the wonderful things about Christmas for retailers is that you know exactly what many of your customers are coming to you for; they’re looking for Christmas gifts. This makes it extremely easy to match buyer intent which is great for marketing as well as sales.
However, we know that the more closely you can match buyer intent, and give your visitors a personalised experience, the more effective your marketing is going to be. So, here is your opportunity to drill further into what questions your ideal customers are asking and provide them with the unique content that answers those questions.
Use your content to show how your products can fit into people’s Christmas plans. Too often retailers are content to put a picture out there with a few words and let the customer fill in the gaps, but if you go the extra mile and paint the picture of how your products can make this Christmas epic, then you’re going to stand out.
Sales Aren’t Just About Facts and Figures
Facts and figures alone don’t tend to sell products; just as important is the story you craft around those products. This is why when you look at the best product descriptions they’re not just straight facts, they’re stories of how the product came to be, why they’re superior products, and how they solve a problem.
People love a story, and Christmas is another opportunity to craft the story of your brand, and show the world why they need your products.
If you look at some retailers’ blogs, they’re just monologue descriptions of their products, and this just isn’t interesting for anybody. You’ve got the opportunity to entertain as well as inform, and if you can combine these two facets, then you’re going to stand out.
Always keep your customers in mind when crafting your content, and remember, they’re there to be entertained as well as informed. We all need our questions answered, but we don’t want to be bored to tears in the process.
There is so Much Competition for People’s Attention
We’re constantly bombarded with information in the 21st century and everywhere we go there are things competing for our attention. Nowhere is this more clear than on social media.
Platforms like Facebook are brilliant ways for retailers to get their messages in front of people, but the problem is, absolutely everyone is trying it. Because consumers are so used to lots of businesses fighting for their attention, they’ve become pretty adept at blocking out much of the noise, which means your content has to find a way through the crowd to jump out and demand people’s attention.
If you’re just doing the same things as everybody else, then you’re not going to have the desired effect and get noticed. Instead, you’ve got to find a unique angle that fits your business profile and is going to appeal to your target audience.
It’s not easy to consistently come up with unique, click-worthy messages, but if you can, then it’s going to make a huge difference to your business.
Fully Embrace Content
Content marketing is a great way to grow your business, and more and more companies are starting to realise this. However, the big thing with content marketing is that it takes consistency, and an investment in quality, and lots of companies haven’t quite made the full commitment.
This is a great opportunity for you, because it means there is plenty of space to stand out with your unique content. However, if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to do it fully.
You need to go the extra mile with your content, and in order to get continued exposure and see results, you need to consistently create new content. One blog might have a small effect, but when you keep producing quality articles over a long period of time, that’s when you will see the real ROI.
Retailer Resources Round Up
Christmas is just another great opportunity to create unique content that will help you get noticed.
One of the main things with digital marketing is being able to answer the key questions your target audience has, and when Christmas time comes around, you’ve got a pretty good idea of what those questions might be.
The problem is, so do your competitors, and when everyone’s trying to achieve the same thing, it’s important you go the extra mile to distinguish yourself. If you can successfully use your content to stand out from the crowd, and tell the story of why they need your product, then you’re going to see a difference in your sales.
There are always opportunities for great new content, but Christmas is a particularly rich time for unique content opportunities. For personalised content support to suit you and your business needs, get in touch with Helen at WordGlueMarketing.com
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