Content Marketing for Ecommerce | EPiServer
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Effective content marketing is now critical for ecommerce success. Join this webinar by EPiServer and Econsultancy to learn how to capitalise on this emerging trend The line between content and commerce is blurring. Quality content, across multichannel, is now the new currency for improving customer experience, SEO and increasing online sales. But with more investment pumping into content production, only 38% ecommerce marketers admit to having a defined strategy to integrate content and commerce.
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Content Marketing for Ecommerce | EPiServer
- 1. Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 3. “Content marketing is a popular phrase and often people use it to flatteringly describe broadcast marketing.” James Gurd, Digital Juggler
- 4. What are the commercial benefits of doing content marketing?
- 7. “It’s a cliché but content is king. It’s one of the most important things for ecommerce, especially SEO. “There’s a Dutch saying, ‘if you’re writing, you’re in business’. “You need to produce original and unique content for your audience to stay ahead of the competition.” Richard Landman, Owner, Key Music Group
- 8. Use of external resources
- 9. Tips on finding people who are in tune with the brand identity Look at existing resources. “Conduct writing tests during the interview.” Iris McSweeney, Web Content Manager, Schuh
- 10. Do you have a clear content strategy and content marketing calendar? 1. Defined and approved 2. Define and in review 3. Being planned 4. We don’t have one | 10 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 11. “Do you have a clear content strategy and content marketing calendar?” Source: Based on the interviews conducted for this report. Please note it’s a small sample.
- 12. Framework for content strategy Research / Insight Content Management and Resourcing Content Planning / Objective Setting Content Production Content Review and Optimisation Delivery and Distribution Source: Econsultancy Content Strategy Best Practice Guide
- 13. Framework for content strategy Pre-Production Post-Production Production Research / Insight Content Review and Optimisation Source: Econsultancy Content Strategy Best Practice Guide Content Management and Resourcing Content Planning / Objective Setting Content Production Delivery and Distribution
- 17. “Creating multichannel campaigns is key to creating amazing customer experiences for Selfridges customers.”
- 18. The content marketing KPI spectrum Revenue and conversion Traffic Offline Engagement
- 19. “Content can drive immediate conversions but in my experience, the biggest impact is on nurturing people through their buying cycles and keeping people engaged with the brand outside of them.” James Gurd, Digital Juggler
- 20. Digital Transformation 1. Leadership and Vision 2. Customer Experience 3. Operational Process 4. Business Model sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-nine-elements-of-digital-transformation | 20 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 21. Meet your new CMO | 21 | Where Content and Commerce Collide © 2014 EPiServer
- 22. …the world is connected… | 22 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 23. …and brands must provide a connected experience. | 23 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 24. Customer Experience – Changing landscape | 24 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
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- 38. Operational Process - Ecosystem | 38 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
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- 42. Email variants | 42 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
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- 45. Digital Transformation 1. Focus on the customer 2. Simplify the experience 3. Always on Commerce 4. Streamline systems 5. Use all data 6. Digital innovation - fail fast | 45 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 46. Primary Drivers for Content Marketing | 46 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 47. Roadblocks | 47 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 48. The EPiServer Difference | 48 | Where Content and Commerce Collide Agility to respond quickly to market opportunities Experience is the differentiator today Business Efficiency through simplicity
- 49. Focus on Connected Customer | 49 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 50. Combine Content + Commerce On every screen | 50 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 51. Create Once Publish Everywhere Digital Ecosystem | 51 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 52. | 52 | Where Content and Commerce Collide Deliver based on Context
- 53. Leverage data Behavioral insights | 53 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 54. | 54 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 55. Top takeaways • Companies are divided on the primary role of content – between driving revenue and engagement • Add shopability to content to avoid distracting from the buying process • Define a content strategy • Coordinate content across channels • The right technology platform to support the content marketing plan and scale | 55 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
- 56. Want more? Download the Research paper http://www.episerver.com/contentandcommerce Or find out more about EPiServer http://www.episerver.com/ All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Copyright © Econsulancy.com Ltd 2014. | 56 | Where Content and Commerce Collide
Editor's Notes
- Effective content marketing is now critical for ecommerce success. Join this webinar by EPiServer and Econsultancy to learn how to capitalise on this emerging trend The line between content and commerce is blurring. Quality content, across multichannel, is now the new currency for improving customer experience, SEO and increasing online sales. But with more investment pumping into content production, only 38% ecommerce marketers admit to having a defined strategy to integrate content and commerce. With this mind the webinar looks into: Key drivers for investment in content marketing Case studies from Mr Porter, M&S, Norrona and Key Music Group How leading brands and experienced marketers are using content drive ecommerce journeys and SEO benefits KPIs used to measure the success and performance The challenges facing marketers in relation to integrating content and commerce experiences Techniques and tools that you can use to support your content marketing effort
- Interviews with key retail brands Qualitative research to uncover best practices, what’s working Goals of report include: Insight into the key challenges facing ecommerce decision-makers in relation to integrating content with ecommerce journeys The direct experience of senior ecommerce and digital marketing professionals including owners, directors and senior managers
- What sets content marketing apart is the science brought to the planning and execution of content plans.
- Two strands of content – product and brand/editorial Value add content is where companies are putting more emphasis in 2014 – looking at how they can produce content that helps drive commerce journeys. The typical mindset is that content marketing is a vehicle for improved financial kpis (aov, conversion rate, etc) others are focused on understanding their customers’ product and lifestyle needs and scuplpting a content programme that matches.
- Mr Porter is an example of a retailer that is focused on providing content features that relate to the lifestyles the business has identified as being important to its customers. Within these content features Mr Porter features relevant products but the focus is on the story and using contnet to inspire, entertain or educate. “Content helps build trust with readers and customers; it provides context for the brands they engage with on the site and for the products they are interested in. “Nowadays customers expect for a luxury retailer to create an experience beyond shopping.” Mario Muttenthaler, MR PORTER
- Avoiding the content / commerce seperation - A common challenge among retail ecommerce brands is the need to ensure that content and commerce journeys are aligned and there is no disconnect in the user experience. Quote: David Walmsley, Director at Marks & Spencer “Look at how people shop in the UK. There are 100m visits to the high street but also 250m visits to online retailers. “Ecommerce accounts for approximately 15% of all sales, so it’s not just about sales – we want to reflect this on the website.” Michael Walmsley, Director
- Although the focus from all companies interviewed is on building in-house capability, several of the teams we spoke to actively use external support, usually in the form of specialist freelancers. A good example is MR PORTER. The editorial team works with third-party specialists for key lifestyle interest areas where expert knowledge provides the credibility and cache that is appropriate to their brand positioning. For example, in a niche area like golf they will bring a specialist photographer or guest editor onboard.
- Look internally and to resources already being used ie..e schuh uses staff to do videos and create content. An exhibition company uses speakers. Writing tests measure adaptability and whether candidate can adopt the appropriate tone of voice “Our tone of voice has evolved naturally over time from the personalities, individuality and attitudes of our staff and customers. Therefore this is always our starting point:
- Or - What’s the current roadblock in implementing content strategy?
- The Wine Society has committed to a major digital transformation project that aims to improve how the Society uses digital channels to service the needs of its members. The content strategy will sit at the heart of this, aligned with the four key member quadrants identified during the digital strategy review. The business has a project timeline to plan and implement the content strategy but is focused on ensuring the strategy suits the needs of its members rather than rushing to put it in place.
- Image: http://nisargam.deviantart.com/art/Anger-371756388
- Schuh concentrates on informative product video on the product details page, also featuring the content on its YouTube brand channel. Many of the videos are presented by employees, getting across the people behind the brand and creating a connection with the customer.
- Selfridges: integrated content marketing focused on a key product range “We had over 30,000 mentions of our hashtag #beautyproject and delivered over seven million impressions through our partnership with Google+. “Beauty traffic to Selfridges.com also increased by 20% over the course of the project and we exceeded our sales target in-store and online.” Claire Higgins, Head of Digital Marketing, Selfridges
- Revenue and conversion Conversion rate (basket-to-order and visit-to-order) Average order value Revenue A good example of a conversion KPI is measuring the uplift in sales conversion for products that are featured in editorial campaigns. For example MR PORTER has observed a positive impact on product sales when it has created an engaging editorial feature. Traffic Total visits Unique visitors New vs. return visits An example KPI is the total number of visits from social media sources for content that is posted to social networks as part of pre-planned campaigns. Each URL posted can have campaign tracking parameters added to the URL so the impact of the links can be measured using analytics tools. Engagement Dwell time (time on site) Pages per visit Bounce rate Social shares Comments and ‘likes’ (including ‘favouriting’ individual content assets) Product reviews Banner clickthrough rate Only four of the companies we spoke to mentioned using customer reviews as a KPI for content marketing. However, some data suggests that, product reviews increase conversion rates. RS Components explained that products with customer reviews convert at up to five times better than those without reviews and the business is focused on generating more. Offline Visits to store (hard to track accurately) In-store purchases In-store content usage (e.g. scanning a QR code for a product to watch a video) Call tracking The integration of online and offline data was cited as a key barrier for building the single customer view and understanding the full impact of content marketing.
- 4 elements of digital transformation Good article at the MIT Sloan Management Review Won’t focus on the leadership and vision part, but it’s top of the list Will share some examples where we are helping our customers with the following three
- Meet your new CMO – connected customers are your new chief marketing operative. With a few taps of their thumbs, or a click of their mouse, they are broadcasting powerful messages about our brands, products and services to their ever-growing social networks. Their voice is amplified and carries a lot of weight – they are either our biggest advocates or our biggest adversaries. They are always on and always social. Their expectations along with emerging technologies are evolving at an unprecedented pace. These are exciting times presenting both challenges and opportunities.
- The Internet and Websites provided a jumping off point to online customer behavior and engagement. While Websites will continue to play a key role in our digital eco-system, customer expectations and technology have given way to the need for interactive, rich and personalized experiences across channels.
- Customers are leading the trend toward an OmniChannel world; however, most organizations lag behind. A distinct opportunity exists for brands to expedite a go-to-market strategy derived from the Customer POV to transform the way we do business and thrive in the new world. Connected customers demand a connected experience.
- In London and other major cities – high streets are changing 5-10 years ago our streets were all retailers Now we have brand “flagship stores” where the broadline retailers used to be Woolworths C&A Have been replaced by Apple Burberry Ralph Lauren
- Norrona – outdoor apparel Builds experience on the simple point that consumers trust the brand more than the retailer Like Marks and Spencer in UK (Nordstroms in US)… …Have done a lot of work on their editorial style guides, which is another useful form of content All meant to elevate your offer
- Norrona uses articles to describe information that consumers want to understand Why is their product better? Does it match my needs? Can I be successful with this product?
- In this article they are highlighting the construction of extreme outerwear It provides information that can give favorable comparisons By educating the consumer
- And to make it a great experience They can merchandise right in the article Which can be used to offer an alternate navigation approach What we like to call the beginning of the end of the grid
- Frigidaire is a white goods manufacturer, part of the Electrolux Group You may have seen that Electrolux is planning to acquire GE Applianes which will make them as large as the biggest player in North America, Whirlpool For Frigidaire, they are working towards the same goal – a direct consumer relationship But not through a flagship store, just online
- And the content they provide is intended to make consumer research easier It’s interesting to look at the format of the content Atomized blocks Render neatly on large and small screens Or can be delivered in other channels For example the email channel And by using behavioral information, they are one step closer to understanding purchase intent and taking the transaction online as an alternative to the retail channel
- Multiple Markets with localised content Physical retail stores Expert advice and guidance content Positive customer feedback
- The screenshot from Keymusic.com is an example of a brand landing page combining product blocks, text content, embedded media and brand styling. It’s one way for the business to provide customers with a positive user experience, whilst developing its relationship with Gibson Les Paul as a key supplier. The URL for reference is http://www.keymusic.com/nl/gibson-les-paul/.
- The screenshot from Keymusic.com is an example of a brand landing page combining product blocks, text content, embedded media and brand styling. It’s one way for the business to provide customers with a positive user experience, whilst developing its relationship with Gibson Les Paul as a key supplier. The URL for reference is http://www.keymusic.com/nl/gibson-les-paul/.
- We just saw Giant Eagle site And here you can see they have a rich FB audience All of this is another digital touch point which improves the view of the customer
- This is Giant Eagle, who has created a very personalized experience for weekly ads - Using a variety of data from different systems, they can model what is attractive to individuals
- 4 elements of digital transformation Good article at the MIT Sloan Management Review Won’t focus on the leadership and vision part, but it’s top of the list Will share some examples where we are helping our customers with the following three
- Unsurprisingly, every company has revenue as a key driver for investment in content marketing. This is underpinned by the two key strands of content in the business: Product and brand/editorial content. For all businesses, producing high quality product content is really important as it drives conversion; this includes specialist skills like writing specifications/guides and translating them for local markets. However, it’s the ‘value add’ content where digital teams are putting more emphasis in 2014, looking at how they can produce content that helps drive commerce journeys. The typical mindset is that content marketing is a vehicle for improved financial KPIs (average order value, conversion rate and revenue), although some businesses are focused on understanding their customers’ product and lifestyle needs and sculpting a content programme that matches Search visibility isn’t a driver but a result of good content A few companies see content marketing as an SEO tactic, rather than a strategic activity comprising of multiple elements including optimisation for natural search Schuh Ensuring content marketing is supporting SEO Search still dominates buying journeys Original and unique content for your audience to stay ahead of the competition Some retailers - Major focus on SEO as part of its overall business roadmap Permeates the ecommerce team - editorial and product content Business Results Increased spend 50% of companies experienced higher AOV as a result of content marketing activity Positive customer feedback 50% of companies experienced positive results from an investment in content marketing. Visible feedback (e.g. a customer review added to the website) Invisible feedback (e.g. a customer telling an in-store employee that a buying guide on the website helped them decide what product to buy)
- Unsurprisingly, resource is the primary blocker - Generating consistently high quality content is time consuming, for example video production. Where capabilities don’t exist in-house, this adds significant cost which restricts scale; where there is in-house skill, the challenge is balancing content production with the other activities of the business. EG What’s the right balance between producing content to engage customers and increase sales vs. focusing purely on merchandising to drive sales?
- Customer Experience - Innovative combination Commerce + Content Mobile first / adaptive Multichannel Add-on ecosystem Growth / scale for peak demand, multi-site and market Empowering business users Customer Experience & Insight to drive your business – Omni-channel, multi-market Agility - Marketing Campaigns, Multi-market Business Efficiency – Simplicity of User Experience
- This is our connected customer EPiServer provides a software platform that lets you Focus on your customer To elevate your offer And deliver exceptional experiences By merging Content + Commerce Deliver an Exceptional Experience Next, not only do your connected customers expect a holistic experience, they expect it to be delivered in a way that’s tailored to their specific needs. Deliver the right information to the right customer in a compelling and dynamic format – tailored to screen through which they choose to view it. When we do this well, we earn an opportunity to remain in their consideration set and nuture the relationship. When we fail on these points, we disappoint customers, lose their attention and our ability to thrive diminishes. Winning and losing in today’s hyper-connected world happens at a hyper-pace – connected customers blast messages about our brands every day to their vast and growing social networks. The impact of these message are immense – connected customers can be our best advocates or our worst adversaries. Brands who embrace this new CMO, or chief marketing operative, will thrive.
- Some fundamental shifts / blurring lines Where does the experience start and end Where does marketing stop and sales start
- Marketing Technologists at heart We know a digital ecosystem is needed But hold the hassles Integration Usability Operation Costs
- One of the most important aspects of delivering experience is knowing the context Lets us turn the flat persona into a real person What is on this visitor’s mind Where are they What do they want to do next
- Analytics (many organizations haven’t mastered this) Moving beyond to insight from increasingly larger amounts of behavioral data To further improve the experience you deliver to your most important visitor – your customer
- We’ve enjoyed 20 years of successes with our customers…and counting. We’re fueling over 5000+ mobile, web and ecommerce customers in 30+ countries worldwide. Now we’ve staked our claim in North America and are quickly gaining headway with digital leaders who demand the very best. Technology that enables their creativity and delivery to customers, unhindered and with blazing speed to market. EPiServer connects e-commerce and digital marketing to help business create unique customer experiences which generates business results. EPiServer’s platform combines content, e-commerce and multi-channel marketing capabilities to work full-circle for businesses online, from intelligent optimization, lead-generation through to conversion and repeat business. Sitting at the centre of the digital marketing ecosystem, EPiServer empowers online and IT professionals to create superior customer experience for more than 25,000 websites worldwide. Built on .net, and supported by a pioneering partner network of over 715 partners in over 30 countries, EPiServer’s platform gives customers the ability to deliver the right content to the right person in the right format at a time that suits them. This approach means customers can maximize their investment in digital marketing and increase ROI.
- More investment in content. Make sure you invest in a content strategy to maximise use of resources and revenue. The content strategy requires editorial, commerical and development teams to be working together from the same marketing plan. Multichannel – consistency