Shopify Tips: A Brief Guide to Content Marketing

There are several methods and strategies that a Shopify store owner can try in order to bring growth and further development to an online venture but most of the time; it entails too much time, money and effort to accomplish. There’s the classic social media ads that is really expensive or if you’re low on budget, SEO and Google ads would work. These methods work for those who are already making some money selling from their online shop. But what about the newbies who are still struggling and trying to get things work?

Those aspiring online businessmen and women who don’t have much budget and are trying to get both ends meet? Back in days when online marketing meant SEO and Google ads, there wasn’t too many options to choose from but now that we are in the age of content and social media, there’s much strategy to try and thankfully, there are methods that don’t have a price tag attached to it.

Free Marketing Strategies? How?

That is right, there are several marketing strategies that don’t entail any cost and one of them is going to be the meat of this article. It is a well-known fact that content is king in our modern day and age where Internet speed has more than tripled. At a time when people look for more entertainment and spend much of their leisure time in social media, you need to be able to establish presence within these channels in order to take your brand strategy to the next level. Advancing your business means being able to make the message known to as much people as possible so here we are exploring one of the free yet effective ways in doing so.

Content Marketing is somewhat new but it has proven to be a very effective marketing tool especially when the content itself is published over social media. Some even get such content published in TikTok to reach an even greater number of audiences especially when the product is aimed for teenagers and middle age groups. If you’re new to this marketing method and want a guide to walk you through the process, here’s a rather brief one that we made. You don’t have to follow everything by the letter especially when you see the need for deviating an adapting other methodologies. Just make this as a broad guide in building and launching your very own content marketing strategy.

1. See Which Channel Would Work for Your Product or Brand

As was already mentioned above, there are several channels where you can publish the content that you made. You can have it posted in popular social media platforms such as Facebook or Instagram or you may also have it uploaded on YouTube or TikTok. There is simply so much channels where your content can show but remember to choose at least 2 channels where your advertisement will be most effective. Saturating the web with your content can prove to be harmful so choose 1 to 2 channels only and be sure to pick the ones where your marketing material will be very effective.

For instance, if your target is people who use shave, you’ll need to do market research and see to which age bracket most of your target customers belong. Most of the time, it’s the teenagers and middle aged men and women who use such product so get your content published in social media and Google. Most of these people have devices like smartphones and computers and they spend most of their time online so the chance of them seeing your marketing material is much higher.

2. Zero in On the Type of Content That You Need To Create

The next step is identifying which type of content you need to focus on creating. This will be highly dependent on the type of product that you are planning to sell and the customers that you are planning to reach. Creating a DIY video is a great step if you have a broad target audience. For more technical products, you can choose to create demo videos that show what your product is capable of doing and which situations will it be useful for. If it’s food, drink, or supplement that you plan to sell then making videos that show the experience which customers will have if they use it will be a perfect marketing material.

The key here is being able to see what concept works in attracting customers and what type of content format would be able to convince them to make a purchase. Most will appreciate fun videos and those witty and informative ones. You can get help from people who have video editing skills when needed but make sure that your content matches your target audience. That’s how you can make sure that your content marketing strategy really is working.

3. Use High Definition Material

Content is king but you need to make sure that you are creating content that’s fitting to that description. By this, we mean those high definition videos that are taken professionally. There are plenty of DIY guides all over the Internet that will show you how to capture the best videos, the perfect angles, and the best concepts so explore them and learn as much as you can.

You don’t need to purchase a professional camera to do this, all you need is a phone that is capable of taking HD videos, a tripod or gimbal that can aid in reducing blurs, and a good lighting equipment like ring lights and flood lights with diffusers. Learn much about photography as well since you will also need some still photos of your product at times. Doing things by yourself is possible when creating content for your marketing efforts but you need to have the time and dedication to ensure that you are accomplishing your goals on time.

Never use low quality videos and photos as this can create a bad impression to your prospective customers. You don’t need to become a professional videographer or a seasoned photographer, you just need to learn how they do it and strive to achieve close to perfect video shots to use for your content. Once it is done, be sure to also upload it in HD format so you’ll be able to preserve the quality that you worked hard for and avoid putting all your effort to waste.

4. Explore Other Methods of Content Marketing

When you say content marketing, it does not only involve those videos and ads that use high-definition photos. Content marketing also involves those blog posts and website content that can be published directly on to your online shops blog or other people’s blogs as a marketing material. Some top brands would get influencers in their line of industry to publish such content on to their own space or channel and reward those influencers turned business partners with either a commission for every sale they brought to the shop or sponsorship as well as discounted product rate.

5. Be As Unique and Innovative As Possible

Never duplicate any content that you saw online especially those that are created by your competitor brands and shops. The last thing you’d want to happen is being mistaken as someone else. You can spy your competitors to see what they’re doing in terms of content marketing but do your best to make your message unique and innovative, something that will leave a mark inside your customer’s heart and mind and make them think that it’s really your brand that they should purchase. Some popular brands would do this by poking fun at their competitors and making a witty commercial.

Others make it very informative that there is no other thing for viewers and customers to do but to make that purchase. There are several ways to express your brand or product’s message and those who do it creatively and innovatively get the edge among the others. Don’t stop with “okay” quality content, strive to produce that “excellent” quality ones!

Content is King Yesterday, Today, and As Always

The beauty about content is not just it’s being the king of online marketing but also the fact that it will remain as the king for months, years, and decades to come. With content, it is possible to do SEO and beautiful content can even get you to earn from advertising commissions. It is one of the marketing tool that can be considered a two-edged sword. Not only are you spreading the word about your product, you are also adding another potential source of income and revenue especially if you publish such contents to a YouTube channel, TikTok account, or a website/blog.

Never underestimate what content marketing can do. It has evolved from being an experiment to now being one of the most effective methods in marketing your business. The great thing about it is it costs less when compared to publishing ads and running campaigns on social media. It sure takes time but every second you spend creating that beautiful video content or writing that informative blog will get you traffic for your site.

‍