Do You Stink at Ecommerce Content Marketing? Find Inspiration in These 6 Big-Name Brands. The strategies used by Etsy, Mercedes-Benz, JetBlue (and a brand called The Elephant Pants) can give you some good ideas.
By Victor Ijidola Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
If you thought you'd seen it all with ecommerce content marketing examples, the ones you're about to see might just leave you in awe -- and ready to reconsider your own strategy.
Related: Add These 12 Content Marketing Tools to Your Startup's Arsenal
You be the judge of that. But the task itself is important because ecommerce businesses are taking the bull by the horns with content; 60 percent of those polled in a Content Marketing Institute study in 2017 said that they would be taking content marketing more seriously going forward.
It would seem, in fact, that B2C (ecommerce) marketers are now becoming more committed to this marketing channel than those in B2B -- among whom content marketing has long been popular.
So, here are six remarkable ecommerce content marketing examples you can emulate for your online store:
1. Mercedes-Benz
Content marketing is all about creating free content that your audience loves, with, of course, the end goal of growing your revenue.
Mercedes-Benz's content marketing efforts showcase how much the brand goes all out to create content for its audience. For instance, the brand has pretty much nothing in common with fashion blogger/influencer Leandra Medine, a.k.a. The Man Repeller, considering that the former sells vehicles. But, for its, audience, Mercedes nevertheless partnered with her and created a video along the lines of A Day in the Life of the Man Repeller.
Image credit: The Man Repeller via YouTube
In this video, The Man Repeller goes about her normal day sharing experiences about her daily routines -- something Mercedes Benz's customers might want to see.
The catch here is that she drives around in a Mercedes, so the company is promoting its brand without making it feel like a full-on commercial. And this isn't something the car brand does as a one-off marketing effort, as its YouTube channel is dedicated to drawing its audience's attention by presenting high-quality, interesting content.
Related: How Content Marketing Can Help Your Company Do More For Less
2. JetBlue
JetBlue is a popular American airline that's making waves on social media through its impressive content-marketing strategy.
With more than 1.3 million,1.9 million and 290 thousand followers, respectively, on its Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts, JetBlue is undoubtedly doing something right to gather such an impressive following.
Image Credit: JetBlue via Instagram
On its Instagram page, for instance, it engages its target audience -- people who love to fly/travel -- by posting content that appeals especially to them.
A prime example is JetBlue's weekly #DestinationFriday post, which typically includes high-quality pictures and videos of destination cities with travel tips from the airline's crew members, along with an engaging question presented to the airline's followers.
3. Etsy
Etsy is an online market that lets shoppers buy and sell handmade crafts, as well as vintage and unique items. Like the other ecommerce brands mentioned here, Etsy makes content marketing work, using, for example, a Facebook page, Etsy Success, focused on engaging with its seller community.
The online marketplace posts tips on how to run an Etsy shop successfully, shares success stories from other sellers and hosts giveaways.
Image Credit: Etsy via Facebook
Posts like the one above don't include any sales pitches but provide what Etsy's target audience members might want to know: what it's like to be an Etsy seller and how Etsy can help them run an online shop.
4. The Elephant Pants
The Elephant Pants is an online store that sells fashionable harem pants, among other things. The people behind this ecommerce store pride themselves on the comfort of the pants they sell, but what really drives them is their amazing heart -- their passion for saving wild elephants from extinction.
In this context, they've tailored their content-marketing strategy to engage and educate customers about their mission in a fun, interactive way -- using quizzes, for instance. An example is the "How much like an elephant are you?" quiz.
Image Credit: TheElephant Pants.com
A fun quiz like this drives engagement among Elephant Pants's target audience -- animal/elephant lovers -- and keeps them entertained on the website without prompting them to specifically make a purchase. This is what a good content marketing strategy looks like.
5. Airbnb
Airbnb , without question, has become a household name within a short time, and this success is due partly to its excellent content-marketing strategies.
The brand is famous for providing affordable short-term accommodation, for people on vacation.
Because of its niche market, Airbnb prioritizes providing valuable and relevant content through, for instance, its guidebook. This is very unique in the sense that it provides relevant information from locals in different cities -- information like the best places to eat, drink or shop.
Airbnb's ability to consistently produce such valuable content for its target market is what makes it one of the fastest-growing brands in the travel industry.
6. Adidas
Popularly known for its sports apparel, Adidas is another big brand taking a unique approach to content marketing by, for instance, taking its marketing to B2B platforms like LinkedIn. Even though LinkedIn is best known for B2B businesses, the professionals on the platform are consumers, so Adidas uses this to engage with its target audience:
Image Credit: Adidas via LinkedIn
The post above is a perfect example; it draws Adidas's audience's attention by teaming up with a yoga influencer who is also an Adidas athlete. The post doesn't prompt users to buy any Adidas products but gives its audience insight into the life of its employees and thus promotes its brand.
Start making ecommerce content marketing work for you.
It is evident from these examples that content marketing boosts ecommerce revenue; you just need to know what types of content your audience members want and the topics they need education or entertainment on.
You can go as far and as deep as you want, digging out audience data, finding out what content topics and types these customers want and doing whatever it takes to crank out data-driven content they'll want to see.
Related: 7 Habits of the Most Successful Content Marketers
Remember that stat I mentioned earlier about the ROI from multi-channel marketing? You can generate at least a 38 percent increase in revenue when you use more channels for your marketing. So, the better your content, the more you'll be able to attract target customers to your store. In fact, your content marketing can get to be so good that you also gain offline customers because they see your content online.
So there you have it: some clever examples you can learn from to take your ecommerce content marketing game to the next level. Did I miss any of your own favorite brands?
