Different Types of Content Marketing for Vape Shops and How to Properly Use Them
Estimated 0 min read
The type of content marketing strategy you use will ultimately be decided by the type of business you run and who your target market is. Some strategies are better suited for a specific market, while others should be aimed towards the opposite.
Your target market will also determine what your marketing strategy goals are. This means that you need to decide if your marketing strategy aims to boost sales, grow newsletter subscribers, or provide valuable information to those accessing your content.
Bear in mind that content marketing is only but a notch in the mechanism that is your overall marketing strategy. It has its own set of goals and formats.
Table Of Contents
- What Is Content Marketing?
- Benefits of Content Marketing
- What Types of Content Marketing Can You Choose From?
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the business process that focuses on creating and distributing content that may help a business attract, engage and retain an audience. The audience could be customers looking to purchase a product or readers who are just looking for a reliable source of information.
The type of business you run will determine the main goal you look to accomplish through this content and, ultimately, the kind of content you create.
Knowing how to make entertaining content is a valuable skill. But entertaining content is not always the goal. Your goal might be to create content that educates, informs, and inspires. Or you might need content that focuses on selling a product or service.
A solid content strategy usually involves creating content that ticks all the boxes mentioned, and there’s a long list of ways to do that. Up ahead, we’ll delve into the types of content you may create, which will give you a better idea of the type of content your business should focus on.
Benefits of Content Marketing
Rather than speak of benefits, when discussing content marketing, we are primarily focusing on goals. Benefits are results that are unique to the thing in question, like being less expensive than other advertising methods.
We'll concentrate on the potential benefits you may create and the goals your business may reach by using a well-developed content marketing strategy as a tool.
That said, these are the main benefits of content marketing:
1. Increasing Brand Awareness
If you run an online vape shop, then you likely know how competitive the online market is. Especially in times of Covid-19, people have grown even more accustomed to purchasing products online, motivating an incredible amount of entrepreneurs and new businesses to explore the online market.
Potential buyers now have hundreds of retailer options to choose from. Their options are no longer reduced to just a few retailers.
This not only makes it harder for a business like yours to make a sale, but it also makes it harder to grab your customer's attention. Getting potential customers to know and recognize your brand is the first step of the buying process.
By having content online that targets specific keywords and grabs the customer's attention, you'll have a greater chance of causing an impression on your client, to the point that they might begin to recognize your brand, even if they haven't purchased from your store yet.
2. Developing Relationships with Customers
As a consumer, you've likely purchased products online. You've probably interacted with content created by online retailers because that's what you're doing right now.
One of the goals that any content creator hopes to achieve is to build a relationship with their audience. In this case, our audience is you, the reader. But in other cases, audiences could be viewers or quiz-takers.
Content has the power to create a relationship between the audience and the brand making the content. Even if that relationship is not conversational or personal, the fact that you're reading this article and the possibility of you coming back for more and potentially purchasing a product makes this a valuable relationship. We provide you with knowledge and quality products while you give us your time and the possibility that you may purchase our products.
3. Creating Trust & Credibility
Uploading content that sounds and looks professional to your website allows consumers to gauge whether you know what you’re talking about or not. When you create professional content based on credible sources, your customer can perceive that and this, in turn, creates credibility towards your brand.
4. Building Authority
Building authority is similar to building credibility and trust. However, the authority directly impacts how many people get exposed to your brand and content.
Google and other search engines place special attention on making sure that the content that ranks first in their searches comes from authoritative websites. By creating content based on research and sourcing it from authoritative experts, you are subsequently more likely to be placed in a pool of authoritative content by the Google algorithm.
Being recognized as an authority in the industry is beneficial regarding client perception of your brand and the search engine’s ranking of your website.
5. Increasing Traffic to your Website
When your links are ranking higher on search engines, this should directly impact the number of people who click on your link, increasing organic traffic.
The more traffic you have redirected to your website, whether from search engines or valuable backlinks, means that you can accomplish your goals faster. More traffic translates to more conversions.
6. Faster Purchase Decision
Strategic content can nudge your clients and the interaction you’re having with them in the direction you want them to go.
For instance:
An article that explains the best vaping products for a beginner could list a string of high-quality items that will be suitable for them and generate more revenue for your business than other products could.
On top of that, a beginner will probably take more time shopping for products on their own than they will if they have a guide to follow.
7. Provides Value & Knowledge
The last and most important goal of content is that it provides value and knowledge to your visitor. Creating content to generate leads and target keywords could have a counterproductive effect and make a wrong impression on your reader.
What Types of Content Marketing Can You Choose From?
The main goal of any content marketing strategy is to create content that converts—using content to convert means creating something that motivates a conversion from your client.
Conversion can be an ambiguous word to define. Even though you’re a retailer, your content’s conversion goals might aim at increasing subscribers to your newsletter. Or it could be that your blogs are meant to create relationships, and your videos are meant to entertain.
In other words, the definition of conversion will depend on your overall business goals. Below you’ll find a list of the most common content formats and an explanation of what they can do for your online vape shop.
Blogging
Blogging is a strategy that is best suited to generate knowledge, build authority, and inspire reliability in your brand. Long-form content like blog posts is also the best type of content to use keywords on.
Videos
A video marketing strategy is typically used when your audience is dynamic and requires fast and easy access to the information you are providing. Videos are a widespread format for product reviews and instructionals.
Infographic
Infographics are rarely used alone. They are usually a minor feature that complements a larger piece of content. Infographics are great to use in social media outlets meant to provide quick and easy access to information.
Case Studies
Businesses like yours can use case studies to show potential buyers how you have helped your current customers. Case studies are usually used by companies that follow a B2B business model.
E-Books
E-books are more extended pieces of content that require more commitment and time to make. We don’t recommend this type of content for an online vape shop, but it could be used in other industries to generate leads because they are gated pieces of content that require signup.
White Papers
White papers come in handy, especially for B2B businesses that want to build thought leadership and brand recognition in the industry. White papers are usually used in more technical sectors characterized as being data-dense. They also come in handy to collect leads.
Checklists, How-to Guides, and Listicles
Checklists, how-to guides, and listicles are a type of long-form content similar to a blog post. While checklists can stand on their own, they can be a part of a longer piece of content as well. All of these come in handy, especially in B2C businesses that need to guide the consumer through the buying process.
Interviews & News
Interviews and news are also a type of long-form content. While interviews and news articles are not particularly helpful in generating leads or converting buyers, they attract potential customers and play a role in increasing traffic.
Social Media Posts
Social media posts are no longer a viable option for vape shops. At least not one that we would recommend due to the latest regulatory changes concerning advertising in the vape industry. However, social media is an excellent opportunity to raise brand awareness and connect with customers on a more personal level. Social media itself is also a valuable platform for customer service.
Surveys
Surveys are easy to build and advertise. They can be used on several different platforms, including social media, email marketing, or directly on your website. Surveys allow you to learn more about your customers. Along with checklists, surveys are among the few types of content that the customer can tangibly interact with.
Viral Content [GIFs & Memes]
Viral content like GIFs and memes play an essential role in building empathy with your customers. They are usually humoristic and refer to cultural subjects. Viral content is best distributed through social media. While it can be valuable in strengthening the bond with customers, it may also be a double-edged sword if the topics touched on are controversial.
