My focus this month is on product-based content. This is a kind of content focused on promoting a product or service. The goal of product-based content marketing is to provide the necessary information to potential customers so they can make an informed decision when purchasing the product or service. Additionally, product-based content can be used to increase brand awareness and build loyalty among customers.
Awareness Stage
The most common form of product-based content is product descriptions but there are other wonderful ways to incorporate product-based content into your marketing strategies. There is a place for other kinds of product-based content all along the customer journey. For example, when consumers start to research a product to purchase, blog posts, product landing pages, social media posts, explainer videos, and customer reviews are a good way to grab their attention and educate them on how your product or service is the best solution for them. The best way to do this is to create content that highlights for the customer the benefits they will gain from purchasing your product.
Consideration Stage
During the consideration phase when consumers are comparing products and further researching the brands they like email campaigns, comparison guides, case studies, white papers, e-books, industry guides, group product demos, tutorials, or promotional items like free samples. This content should feature the value of your product and your key differentiators from your competition.
Purchase Stage
When customers are in the purchase stage, product-based content can be critical to making the final decision, especially if your product is complex, technical, or very expensive. Some customers will consider the implementation and support process as the final decision making element. Product-based content used in the buyer phase can include product manuals, user guides, how-to or unboxing videos, and troubleshooting support.
Loyalty Stage
Product-based content can also help brands build customer loyalty after purchase through loyalty programs, influencer marketing, webinars, and educational content. Don’t sleep on this part of the customer journey. It is significantly less expensive to keep an existing customer than find a new one.
Don’t Forget Your Customer
As always, all content should be tailored to your target audience and should focus on providing solutions to your customers’ problems. Content should also be optimized for search engines and should be strategically promoted across all digital and traditional channels to reach the maximum audience. Product-based content is only effective when your customers engage with it.
Product-based content is useful to communicate essential aspects of your product to prospective customers through the channels where you are most likely to reach them. Good product-focused content answers their questions about your product and convinces them to buy and then come back and buy again. At its core, product marketing should be the voice of your customer.
