How to Use Content Creation to Drive Your Sales with Toni Anderson, Ep #17

Did you know unique content creation can be a driving force for your Ecommerce business? You can build content for whatever product you sell on Amazon. The process can be harrowing if you don’t have extensive experience with writing, photography or videography. However, there are some simple ways that you can generate traffic to your product that you should take advantage of. Toni Anderson is here today to walk through it!

Toni has built a successful hypoallergenic aromatherapy jewelry business and is the co-founder of Sellers Summit. She has years of experience consulting for various brands—such as Kraft, OxiClean, and more. Toni has a unique insight into implementing creative strategies to market your product. This episode of Maximizing Ecommerce is packed full of helpful information you don’t want to miss.

You need to be creating content for your brand. Why does it matter so much? Listen to this episode of #MaximizingEcommerce with @ToniHAnderson to find out why! #Content #ContentMarketing #QualityContent #ContentCreators #ProductSales Click To Tweet

Outline of This Episode

- [2:52] Today’s guest, Toni Anderson, is introduced.
- [5:35] Her background in blogging and content strategy
- [8:05] How to get the ball rolling with content creation
- [13:45] How to learn about your core customer
- [16:40] The ins and outs of email marketing
- [21:45] Build consistency and have systems in place
- [27:00] Making the most of your photographer
- [30:50] What to do if you’re not a writer
- [35:15] Learn how to properly utilize targeted ads
- [41:35] A Facebook Group can be a great place to grab content
- [46:25] Become an expert in your field

Why does content creation matter so much?

Toni began blogging in 2006—before it was the popular thing to do—and before there was much information out there on monetizing a blog. She learned all about affiliate marketing, paid ads, and brand ambassadorship. She learned what worked and what didn’t. Of everything she learned, one thing stands out: you want multiple channels for selling your product.

Amazon is fickle and you may find yourself banned for no apparent reason. They have strict rules and regulations and your competition will always try to mess with you. The easiest way to combat this is to have another means of selling your product in place. Creating a website with content built around your brand gives you the alternative you need—and another storefront to utilize. It’s a win-win.

You NEED to know your customer and what they’re looking for

Toni recommends researching what your core customer wants and needs. In the past, she had attempted creating Pinterest boards where she styled models wearing her product—but her customers weren’t interested. She realized they wanted to know specifics about the product itself.

Was it hypoallergenic?

What were the best oils to use?

The goal is to engage your customers AND offer them something of value.

One of the easiest ways to begin writing content that engages your audience is to learn what keywords they’re searching for. What questions are they typing into a search bar that you can answer? A tool she recommends is Ahrefs. It incorporates a nifty option you can use to search for keywords related to your product. You can then search for related keywords and build your content around it.

Email marketing is one of the BEST tools you can use to drive sales for your #Ecommerce business. Want to learn more? Listen to the latest episode of #MaximizingEcommerce with special guest @ToniHAnderson. #Content #ContentMarketing… Click To Tweet

Why you should embrace email marketing

Content creation is playing the long game. That’s why, as you build out your blog, it’s also important to get people to subscribe to an email list. Once they subscribe you have complete power over what is marketed to them. Toni recommends having at least 1 month of email content prepped and scheduled out—but it’s even better to have 6 months.

Email marketing allows you to build a following that you can direct to your best content. Send them promo codes, recipes, printables and anything else they find valuable. Add links to products you recommend that are a mix of yours and other non-competitors. You can track what emails aren’t getting opened and remove them. You can also track which are the most popular or which content is providing the most value. It is one of the best marketing tools that also help you generate ideas for more content.

Content creation doesn’t just have to be writing

You want to have some sort of content on your website as a landing page for people. But you can take the work you’ve done and bring it to other channels. Do you have a product where social media marketing can promote it? Take it to Instagram and Pinterest. Can you create how-to videos that relate to your product? Put them on YouTube!

You can also flip the way you create content. If you are better on video and that flows easily for you, start there. Then, have your video transcribed. Someone will still need to edit the transcription and make it work for written word over spoken. If that’s not up your alley, hire it out to a content writer. Toni has some unique ideas to find writers—listen to hear what they are!

Content creation doesn’t HAVE to be writing. You can take your content and market it on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and YouTube. @ToniHAnderson and Kevin talk about the topic in this episode of #MaximizingEcommerce. #Content #ContentMarketing… Click To Tweet

Create a Facebook group to generate discussion

Even if you’ve done thorough research it can be difficult to know what your audience is looking for. An easy and fun way you can interact with your customer base while simultaneously grasping what they need is a Facebook group. You can post links to your products, post articles, and simply ask questions to generate discussion.

It’s all about finding ingenious ways to give people what they’re looking for.

Does a particular post generate questions or even arguments? Write a blog post or create a video discussing the issue. Do members bring up questions about a product you’ve posted? Answer them in the group or make a ‘frequently asked questions’ video.

Toni and Kevin covered SO much in this episode. Listen to the whole thing so you don’t miss out on any of the amazing content!