The Tale of Two Shops: a good old-fashioned story

Meet Joy. Joy is interested in buying a whatsit. She goes to store #1. When she walks in, she gets a ‘sup nod from the salesperson.

Joy doesn’t know much about whatsits, so she asks the salesperson for help. What should I look for? What are the options?

The salesperson doesn’t have many answers. Joy wants to learn as much as possible before buying so she can make an educated decision. Joy keeps asking questions that yield lackluster results.

Frustrated, Joy finally leaves store #1 without making a purchase. She doesn’t feel confident buying a whatsit yet.

Joy goes to store #2.  A salesperson says, “Hello, welcome to store #2. What can I do for you?”

He seems eager to help!

She tells him she’s thinking about buying a whatsit but needs to know more before making her decision.

He answers all her questions. He assures her they have the selection and support, goes over the details, and talks about price.

Joy checks out all the whatsits. She even talks to a few other customers about them. Feeling well-informed, Joy makes her decision and buys a whatsit from store #2.

It’s obvious store #2 has superior customer service. They understand what their customers need and want. They educated Joy about the product, so she felt comfortable making her purchase.

No doubt, they do a better business than store #1.

What’s This Got to Do with Content Marketing?

Joy was ready to buy a whatsit, but she needed the help store #2 gave her to make her decision.

She needed information—content if you will.

Today’s shoppers, both online and in-store, are savvy. Super savvy.

Why? Mostly because of the internet.

Shoppers can go online and search for information about virtually anything. They’re up on what’s hot, what’s not, what the deals are, and where to get them.

Their internet research puts them in the driver's seat.

The internet is why commerce today is fast-paced and competitive.

The Big Question

So, how do companies stay competitive and top-of-mind in a world where there’s so much information out there? Where it seems like there are a million places to shop?

Better put, how can your company be the calm in a storm of overwhelming choices?

The Simple Answer

Content marketing.

Whatever it is your company sells or whatever service you provide, today’s buyers will have questions. So, it’s important for your company to have the answers to their questions. You need to be the solution to their problems.

Like Joy in her quest to know more about the whatsit. She needed answers and when she got them, she made the purchase.

A clever slogan just isn’t enough to satisfy the appetite of shoppers and buyers today. They need content, lots of content, to fulfill their need to know.

What is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is information about whatever it is your company delivers to its customers. It may be in the form of articles, blog posts, videos, newsletters, social media campaigns, ads, emails, etc.

Your piece of content will provide relevant information at just the right time for the buyers in their buying journey.

How it Works

Content marketing works for any product or service, but let’s say your company makes baby products. You must be able to give parents all the facts surrounding the baby products you sell . . . and then some.

Why do parents need this baby product? How will it make the parents’ lives easier? Will this product keep the baby safe? What are its features and benefits? How does it work? 

The list of possible questions about baby products goes on and on. And your baby product company can and should have the answers to all these questions.

Once you’ve armed parents with the necessary information, they’re often ready to buy.

And who better to buy from than you? You’re their baby product expert.

They’ll be proud, informed buyers of your baby products.  


Content Marketing After the Purchase

Once you’ve converted a shopper to a buyer, it’s smart to maintain a relationship with that buyer.

Content is the perfect way to do this.  

You can continue to supply content, and thereby excellent customer service, in the form of user guides, how-to articles, news in the baby product world, tips on parenting, testimonials, information about new products and product updates, etc.

They should eagerly opt-in to your newsletter.

You want to be their trusted source of information whether or not you make a sale.

This level of support keeps them happy and connected to you.

Keep ‘em Coming Back

Since you’ve established your company as their go-to resource and they’ve purchased from you before, they’re likely to purchase from you again.

So, if you stay in their orbit of baby product needs and they see you as an expert on all things baby, you’ll stay top-of-mind for everything they buy for their baby.

This could go on for many years of baby-raising.

Word of Mouth (it works)

Parents of babies know other parents of babies—lots of babies and lots of parents.

And you know they talk.

They talk a lot about babies and all the newest baby products, and baby issues, and baby phases and baby, baby, baby.

So, of course, they’re going to tell their friends about your company. How they checked out all the options, and they found the exact thing they were looking for. How this one worked out so well, and they absolutely love it and “I’m just going to send you the link right now on my phone.”

‘Nough said.

Prove You’re the Expert with High-Quality Content

To optimize your use of content marketing, you must be laser-focused on your audience.

You anticipate their questions before they’ve asked them. You know their pain before they’ve felt it. You understand them better than they understand themselves. You show them you know what you’re talking about, and you have what they’re looking for.

So, if I’m a parent and I’m thinking about buying a crib, for example, I might Google, “what’s a good crib to buy?”

If your content marketing is spot-on, your excellent article or blog post, “What to Look for When Buying a Crib” will pop up and give the searcher exactly what they’re looking for.

Once they’re educated about what to look for in a crib, you can explain that you have the types of cribs described in your article. Your call-to-action is then just a click away.  

Be a King of Content

So, it’s not just about marketing anymore. It’s about marketing with content.

Today’s shopper devours information before buying. The content they devour can then lead to a purchase.  

In short, content, today’s King of Marketing, rules.

Here’s Where I Come In

You’re probably thinking, forget being the king--more like the court jester.

Content’s just plain hard to keep up with, am I right?

It’s a moving target. And it seems like there’s never enough of it. It’s un-ending. You know it’s important but ackkk . . .

Relax. I get it and I can help.  

Reach out and let’s talk about how content can fuel your business.