What is Content Marketing?

In e-commerce, content marketing extends well beyond blogging. It encompasses buying guides, comparison articles, how-to videos, lookbooks, email newsletters, social media content, customer stories, and any other content that provides value to potential customers before they are ready to buy. The fundamental principle is that by helping people first, you earn their trust and attention, which positions your brand favorably when they are ready to purchase.

The most effective e-commerce content strategies map content to the customer journey. At the awareness stage, educational content like "How to Choose the Right Running Shoe for Your Foot Type" attracts people who do not yet know your brand. At the consideration stage, comparison content like "Trail Running Shoes vs Road Running Shoes: Which Do You Need?" helps narrow options. At the decision stage, product-specific content like detailed reviews, customer testimonials, and UGC galleries provide the final push toward purchase.

Content marketing and SEO are deeply intertwined. Every piece of content is an opportunity to rank for keywords that your product pages alone cannot target. A Shopify store selling skincare products might have 50 product pages, but it could create hundreds of content pieces targeting long-tail queries about ingredients, skin concerns, routines, and comparisons. This content acts as a net that captures organic traffic from across the customer journey and funnels it toward product pages.

User-generated content, particularly reviews and customer photos, is a form of content marketing that scales without proportional effort. Each review adds unique, authentic content to your product pages. Customer photos shared on social media can be repurposed across your store. This UGC serves dual purposes: it provides social proof for visitors on your site and generates fresh content that search engines value for ranking purposes.