Content marketing in retail: 6 Tips for clothing boutiques

Looking to use content marketing to boost brand awareness, build trust and drive sales for your retail business? These are our top tips for clothing boutiques.

Content marketing is a term that’s often thrown around when talking about generating interest in your retail business.

To small fashion retailers, content marketing can seem like a complex process that requires a lot of effort and takes a long time to yield results – especially compared to other marketing techniques like paid ads. 

However, when it comes to driving brand awareness, building trust and inspiring loyalty among your customers, there’s nothing more effective than content marketing. 

So where to begin? Should you start a blog, publish an ebook or launch a podcast? Or should you focus your efforts on social media?

In this instalment of our marketing guide for fashion retailers, we’ll give you an introduction to content marketing and list our top 6 tips for making it work for you.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF CONTENT MARKETING IN RETAIL?

Content marketing, also called inbound marketing, is a long-term strategic approach that aims to create lasting relationships with your audience by providing them with valuable information. 

Rather than being strictly promotional and seeking an immediate spike in sales, the goal of content marketing is to build trust, loyalty and brand awareness. 

By establishing yourself as a credible resource in your space – for example, women’s fashion – you can build a loyal audience that follows everything you do. 

Eventually, a portion of this audience will end up purchasing products from your ONLINE FASHION STORE, helping you drive sales.

WHAT TYPES OF CONTENT MARKETING SHOULD YOU USE?

Content marketing is a broad term that encompasses a lot of different things. Some of the most common types of content marketing are:

• Blogs
• Videos
• Social media posts
• Podcasts
• Emails
• Infographics
• Webinars
• Courses
• Ebooks
• Product reviews
• Quizzes, surveys, polls

Ecommerce fashion retailers can use any of these content types to engage their audience. Which ones you choose will depend on your budget, your skills/resources and the interests of your ideal customer (more on that later). 

But selecting which types of content to focus on is just one piece of the puzzle. It’s how you use them that’s really important. Let’s take a look at our top 6 tips to get the most out of your fashion retail content marketing. 

6 TRIED-AND-TRUE CONTENT MARKETING TIPS FOR FASHION RETAILERS

1. ALWAYS CREATE CONTENT WITH YOUR CUSTOMER AVATAR IN MIND

Your CUSTOMER AVATAR represents your ideal customer. If you’ve done the legwork and built your customer avatar using our template, you know this person inside out. You know all about their interests, hobbies, profession, age and income. 

In addition, you know exactly what your ideal customer likes to learn about, what problems they have and how they get their information. This knowledge will help you create content that’s appealing to your target audience.

As a result, your customer avatar should be at the centre of every piece of content you create. 

When you’re planning your content calendar, ask yourself: 

• What does [your customer avatar] need help with? For example, maybe they’ve just bought a new cardigan for winter and are looking for tips on how to style it. 
• What type of content does  [your customer avatar] like to consume? Maybe they’re really busy and prefer visual content that’s easy to digest as opposed to long, in-depth articles.
• What channels does [your customer avatar] spend their time on? If you’re targeting a younger demographic, it’s likely that your ideal customer spends time on Instagram and TikTok – so these apps are where you should focus your content marketing efforts.

2. HAVE A BUDGET

Effective content marketing requires investment – both in terms of time and money. If you want to build a sustainable strategy, you should set aside a few hours for content marketing each week and have a budget that allows you to create high-quality pieces. However, there are ways to spend your budget strategically and avoid any unnecessary costs. 

First, establish what you can do yourself. Are you good at taking photographs? Do you have experience with social media? Are you a natural-born speaker who’s comfortable on camera? 

Once you’ve pinpointed your strengths and skills, find free marketing tools that will help you get the job done. For example, CANVA is an easy-to-use graphic design platform with millions of templates that you can use to create stunning social media posts. 

Second, decide what you’ll need to outsource. You may need to create some content that requires skills or know-how that you simply don’t have. Paying someone else to create content for you may seem like a daunting prospect, but there are ways to make it easier. 

For instance, be sure to investigate a variety of different options when it comes to investing your money. Join sites like FIVERR and UPWORK where you can find lots of experienced freelancers to hire. Check out their reviews and compare their rates to find the best match for your needs and your budget. 

There are lots of smart tricks you can implement if you want to become more budget-friendly without sacrificing quality. For example:

• Rent a studio space for one day and batch-film a series of videos for the next 2-3 months.
• Ask a friend to help you model the latest styles that just arrived in your store. 
• Repurpose the content of your latest YouTube video as an Instagram Reel.

3. ESTABLISH SMART GOALS

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-Bound. Your goals for content marketing should factor in each of these points. 

Setting SMART goals is a simple way to establish objectives that will help you hold yourself accountable and see if you’re heading in the right direction. 

To better understand SMART goals, let’s create one for a small, eco-friendly retailer’s Instagram account:

Ciara wants to increase the number of likes she gets on her Instagram posts. However, this goal is too vague. Using the SMART method, she refines her goal to wanting an average of 20 likes on her first 10 Instagram posts, publishing a post once every three days.

• Specific: An average of 20 likes per post is a specific number she can work towards.
• Measurable: Instagram tells you how many likes you get, making it easy to measure and calculate averages.
• Attainable: Ciara opened her business last year and has built up a following of 300 followers, making 20 likes per post an achievable number.
• Realistic: New to content marketing, Ciara may not have all the information and resources she needs to optimise her Instagram posts. Currently, she’s using trending hashtags and replying to comments to increase her engagement. With this in mind, 20 likes from her 300 followers is a realistic goal. 
• Time-Bound: By posting once every three days, Ciara will have a clear set of results after a month. 

Adjust your SMART goals regularly – on a monthly or quarterly basis – and you’ll find it easy to stay on top of your content marketing progress.

4. MAKE USE OF USER-GENERATED CONTENT

User-Generated Content is when a customer shares a photo or a video featuring your product. They’re not being paid to endorse your business – they’re simply proud to wear that dress or those high-heels they purchased at your store. As a result, they become self-appointed brand ambassadors.  

UGC is invaluable to fashion businesses because it serves as social proof. Customers see it as authentic and credible – they’re more likely to trust a peer review than a paid endorsement or promotional content created by you. For example, when it comes to visual media platforms, USER-GENERATED PHOTOS ARE FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO CONVERT CUSTOMERS than paid partnerships. 

Social media platforms like Instagram allow users to tag or mention brands in their photos. This helps to push your brand’s reach beyond your current followers. If someone sees that their friend has posted a photo and tagged your brand in it, they can check out your account and start following you. 

If you’re struggling to generate UGC organically, you can actively encourage your customers to post photos of themselves wearing their new clothes from your store (see our tips on how to do this in our article on social media marketing for retailers.) 

In addition, you can try fashion influencer marketing, another effective way of increasing your reach. You can hire an influencer to become an ambassador for your brand – just make sure their audience resembles your customer avatar.

5. EXPLORE DIFFERENT CONTENT TYPES

Even if your store is primarily focused on clothing, don’t limit yourself to visual types of content marketing. 

Blogs, for example, are a fantastic way to improve your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). You can write relevant and engaging content on your blog that can bring more people to your website through keyword matches. 

This sounds technical but is less complicated than it seems. If you would like to learn more about what SEO is and how it works, check out our article on SEO-FRIENDLY PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS. 

If you want to focus on a visual channel like Instagram, keep your posts diverse. Switch between images, IGTV videos, stories, reels, and interactive content such as polls and quizzes. Remember to keep the overall style and brand voice consistent and the posts regular.

6. FIND THE RIGHT CHANNELS TO DISTRIBUTE YOUR CONTENT

Remember, just because your content is doing well on one channel doesn’t mean you should neglect the others. 

It’s very easy to repurpose existing content and achieve maximum reach with minimal effort. For example, if your Instagram polls are performing well, maybe write a blog about the questions you’re polling. Likewise, if your website is doing well thanks to well-written and relevant blogs, consider setting up a social media account where you can post shortened versions of your blog ideas. 

On the other hand, if you see that some channels aren’t working for you, experiment with alternatives. For example, if your subscribers aren’t opening your marketing emails or clicking through to your website (even though you’ve perfected your timing, optimised your subject lines and improved your calls-to-action), it might be time to switch to SMS marketing.

Also, don’t forget that there are other social media platforms out there besides Facebook and Instagram. Most small businesses focus on these two social media giants – which means there’s more opportunity for you to make a splash on platforms like TikTok or Pinterest.

TikTok, in particular, is proving to be a POPULAR CHANNEL FOR FASHION CONTENT. Big fashion brands have gone viral on the app, with PrettyLittleThing reaching OVER 41 MILLION TIKTOK USERS in just 6 days thanks to their collaborations with celebrities and trending challenges such as its #PrettyChallenge. 

While you probably don’t have the budget of a large fashion company, you can still experiment with the app and extend your brand’s reach beyond Facebook and Instagram.

 

HOW TO CREATE A CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY FOR YOUR RETAIL BUSINESS

All in all, the value of a good content marketing retail strategy lies in building stronger connections with your customers, which in itself is an investment in your business’s future. 

Sales depend hugely on your customers’ loyalty, so working on building those relationships is key to your long-term success. 

The tips in this article show you how a small budget can be enough to get the ball rolling, as long as you know your customers, set SMART goals, leverage UGC and create different types of content for different channels. 

Once you’ve ticked all these boxes, nothing will stop you from building the retail business of your dreams.

FAQS ABOUT CONTENT MARKETING IN RETAIL

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF CONTENT MARKETING FOR RETAILERS?

Content marketing is a way of building trust between you and your customers. By regularly publishing useful and interesting content, your followers will associate your brand with a positive feeling. For this reason alone, content marketing can be more effective at converting people into customers than intrusive paid ads popping up on their feed.

WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF CONTENT MARKETING IN RETAIL?

In retail, content marketing can take many forms. A classic example would be Instagram posts, stories or reels showing people wearing products from your store. This can also take the form of UGC (User-Generated Content) if it’s posted by your customers. 

HOW DO YOU BUILD A CONTENT MARKETING RETAIL STRATEGY FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

If you want to develop a strong content marketing retail strategy for your business, you should follow the six steps laid out above. In sum, start by developing a customer avatar, carving out a budget, setting SMART goals, leveraging User-Generated Content, mixing up the types of content you create and having a multi-channel approach. 

What if you could triple your business in less than 3 months? We’ve launched a marketing course for boutique owners who want to learn how to build a DIY marketing strategy that works. SIGN UP NOW.