This blog was provided by Krista Walsh. Krista is a freelance copywriter for e-commerce small businesses. Her writing and messaging strategies help her clients speak to their customers’ values and emotions, for meaningful sales. Connect with her at kristawalshcopywriter.com.

Sure, you can market your products via ads...and more ads. But the strongest e-commerce brands connect on a deeper level with their customers, ultimately creating a community around their company.

That’s why, pretty much as soon as you’ve built your online store, it’s time to start thinking about marketing strategies that aren’t always sell sell sell.

Yup, I’m talking about content marketing. Specifically, blogging. Blogging is the simplest way to ease into content marketing, and it’s a great foundation to have when you make the leap into more complicated approaches–like social media, email newsletters, and podcasting.

Check out what some e-commerce stores are doing to make blogging worthwhile for them!

Fleur & Bee’s converting conclusions

Fleur & Bee is a natural skincare e-commerce company that shares short and sweet articles about skincare tips and natural skincare FAQs. What I want to highlight here is that they aren’t just delivering information and then hoping their readers will draw a line from their expertise to their products.

No, for every blog post, they end with a converting conclusion. Their conclusion looks like part of the blog post–and it is, sort-of. But instead of just summarizing their blog post in their conclusion, they alert their readers to a common issue with skincare and position their company as the solution.

Check it out:

The problem they point out? Most skincare companies are far from transparent and include complex chemical ingredients. The solution? Fleur & Bee’s natural-ingredients-only skincare lines.

Oh, and did you catch the calls to action snuck in at the bottom? Genius.

Ending your blog posts with a converting conclusion (call to action included!) is how you capitalize on the fact that someone read to the very end of your article. If they’ve made it that far, they’re into what you have to say–so they’ll be receptive to an offer.

Driven Coffee Roaster’s authority-building industry topics

Driven Coffee is an online store for specialty-grade coffee beans. Interestingly, they sell both to businesses (coffee shops) and consumers (regular people who brew coffee at home). And their product is specialty. That means that their customers probably know a good deal about coffee already, and they really care about it, too.

Driven Coffee speaks to that by building out a blog on niche specialty-coffee industry topics. Not only does this give their customers what they want, but it also helps establish Driven Coffee as an authority in the industry. The more authority you have in your space, the more potential customers will trust that your company is legit–and your products are amazing.

Check it out:

If you have a product that’s specialty, niche, B2B, or technical, use your blog to start building your credibility in the space.

Pura Vida’s lifestyle blog

Pura Vida sells artisan-made bracelets in their online store, but their blog goes far beyond the bracelet. They use their lively and colorful blog to plug into the lifestyle of their customers. Articles like “Tips for an Eco-Friendly Travel Experience,” “Eucalyptus Lime Scrub,” and their “Artisan Spotlight” series focus on the other aspects of their customers’ lifestyles and buying habits.

Pura Vida has managed to create a huge, engaged community around their company, and their blog is a reflection of that. It’s not just a company for bracelet-lovers. It’s a company for anyone who ascribes to the all-natural, outdoors-loving, eco-conscious lifestyle.

Check it out:

Don’t think your blog has to be closely related to the products you sell. You can get creative with topics, choosing to write about concepts that your customers would love to read about.

But be careful: This type of strategy only works if you have a very defined target customer. Otherwise, you’ll wind up with a blog that feels “all over the place.”

Oliver Sweeney’s behind-the-scenes blog

Oliver Sweeney is an online cobbler-made shoe company. The company’s biggest selling point is that all its shoes are thoughtfully designed and made in small, family-run factories using traditional techniques. The company blog is mostly dedicated to letting readers behind the scenes of the creation process.

This content strategy works because it contributes to the company’s reputation as deeply concerned with the making process.

Check it out:

If you’re proud of the way your products are made or there’s something special about how your company operates, a behind-the-scenes approach to your blog can help you double down on this unique thing about your company.

Wax & Wick’s honest reflections

Wax & Wick is an online candle company based in Chicago. What I found most compelling about their blog was that it wasn’t just talking about candles. It shared honest, first-person articles by the company’s founders about their experience running their business and creating candles their customers would love.

Check it out:

This content strategy works because it humanizes the brand, helps them stand out, and gives readers something inspiring to hold on to. People love buying from companies they feel like they know personally because it’s human nature to feel good about supporting one another.

If your company was built on a dream of yours or you’ve really enjoyed the entrepreneurship side of running your business, then this is a content strategy that might come easy to you.

Repurpose your blog into other content marketing strategies

One of the best things about investing a blog for your e-commerce store is that your articles are readily transferable to other types of content marketing, which means you get double or triple the mileage out of each article.

You can repurpose articles in…

• An email newsletter
• Pinterest pins
• Instagram posts
• Podcast episodes

As Copyblogger put it, the build-it-and-they-will-come strategy doesn’t work for e-commerce. As soon as you can, you should start building out a content strategy that will boost your authority, improve your search engine ranking, and help you stay top-of-mind with your customers.