Content Marketing Strategy for Handmade e-Commerce Brands
Published
20 May, 2022
6 min read
If you have a small business you know how hard it is to connect your work with your target audience, especially in an organic way. And if your business is centered around handmade products, the relationship between customers and your creation is even more important. The customer needs to know what you sell, how you do it and why they should buy from you, all this (ideally) from an easy search on your page. That means that the website design, the wording, and the product you sell have to be aligned. So, obviously, a question arises: “How do I reach my target audience in the best way possible?”. Don't worry, we hear you and we have the answer! We have some easy five steps to follow so you can help your brand grow.
Firstly, your content needs a purpose. Content marketing strategy is exactly what it sounds to be, a strategy to help you sell. And this is what you need in order to make the best content! The strategy begins with a purpose. You need to set a goal for your website. What are you selling? Why? What made you start creating? With these questions in mind, start picturing in your head what you wish to deliver to the public. Then, using pictures, words and videos to explain and answer questions with your specific handmade work in view, transfer that image you created in your head to reality.
If you manage to answer these questions and keep the goal steady, that will make you slowly develop an authentic touch. Everybody loves an authentic person! Try to connect and stay connected to the content you post. You surely love your handmade art, talk about it! Why do you like creating, choose pictures that describe your work (or even make them yourself!), show the public the process, be transparent! You have all the freedom here, you just need to always have in mind the question “does this post reflects the subject of my brand?”. Then, after you search (and hopefully find) a purpose, you should start working on your website design, the other pillar of your online business.
Your e-commerce website content should have similar content to what your target audience likes to consume in general. If the website is designed well, it will give you credibility, will help you bond with the customers and most importantly will help you grow. So, firstly, for your e-commerce website design, you should do a little research on certain trends, social media platforms, and other blogs to form an idea of your ideal design. Then, see what suits you best! Do you like to write more? Maybe you are more into short videos or Youtube-length ones. Or maybe you like to take pictures step-by-step of your work? Whatever works for you, go for it. But you need to keep in mind that the audience needs to find it easy to understand and entertaining enough to watch.
As we briefly mentioned in the beginning, the website design should help bond with customers. Now, of course, we want your handmade goodies to fill the hearts of your customers with happiness. But that, unfortunately, is not enough. That's why we need a special section to let them interact with us, your website, and each other! That brings to the next step:
Remember, you want your website to rank as high as it can on Google search. Search engine optimization, used to your advantage, will bring you many new customers, so make sure that Google can read your website! Use specific keywords for your business in your product descriptions. Also, you can create a blog on your website in order to add more keywords that connect to your business. A free tool you can use is Google Keyword Planner. It shows you the best ranking and low ranking keywords you can use on your blog. But don't forget that you are selling to people, not machines, so don't overcrowd your site with keywords. Your content should be focused on your brand, not specific words that are repeated over and over again.
We now know the importance of having a purpose, knowing how to organize your e-commerce website, and knowing the customer and the relation between your products and the public. But there is one more tiny step to success. Social media platforms are crucial to promoting your work and connecting to more potential customers. We have Instagram and Pinterest for more visual-centered content, Facebook for promoting your blog, ads, and maybe even photo/video content, Twitter, for promoting your blog, and then, last but not least, Youtube and TikTok for videos.
If you followed the steps above, by now, you should have an idea about what is the type of content you like to create. The only thing you have to do now is pick two or three social media platforms that match your style and content and have fun! Connect with people, content-creators, small businesses, and future customers, and most of it, enjoy creating!
A review section is always important in the process of designing your website, especially if the product is handmade. Giving space to openly express opinions will always make you look trustworthy. Firstly, taking criticism and negative opinions well is always a good sign for everybody, so not only you will have a good reputation, but you will be seen as a person who sometimes makes mistakes, not as a robot or a program, which in the handmade world is very important. People like to see others owning the wrongs and rights, so the review section is a must if you want to improve (or build) the relationship between you, your website, and the customers.
Secondly, if you have excellent reviews everybody will see them! Handmade products are made by people for people, so why not let the world see how much the public love your work? What better advertisement than a happy and wholesome review, written by a real person who really enjoyed your product? Again, there is no downside to a review section on your website!
As you can see, for your e-commerce website you need to keep a good relationship with your customers. So, besides giving you a good reputation and making you look trustworthy, what other things can make you want to keep the communication going?
The next step of the strategy is more about attention than action. You know what sells better and whatnot, and if you don't, you should always keep an eye on bestsellers and not-so-good sellers. And then ask why the latter is not going as you would want. Of course, sometimes it's just how it is.
Nevertheless, you must observe the reviews and the overall opinion of your products. Do you have something to improve? Maybe you change something? Because the handmade industry is very versatile and you have complete power over the final result, it's a blessing that you can customize our products.
So, the best way to sell your products is to listen to what the target audience wants. Maybe the color is a bit off, or it would look better in green. Or maybe the size is the problem? We are often stuck and we can't see from another perspective, that's why is so important to listen and see through the eyes of our customers. Listen to the feedback and use it to your advantage!
