Content Pillars For Ecommerce Brands

Content pillars are an essential part of a brand’s content strategy and they serve a fundamental purpose: they provide a comprehensive, authoritative exploration of a topic that a reader can get everything they need on that subject in one place.

In today's day in age consumers want to ship with a brand that aligns with their values and preferences, so it's important to present this through content.

Online stores are quickly becoming the primary retail channel for many. In return, customer expectations for the digital experience you deliver have increased. This means the mechanisms that could traditionally be used to compensate for digital shortcomings, such as in-store commerce, have disappeared.

Using personalized content in your sales cycle is an effective method to persuade prospects into converting, customers into returning, and loyalists into promoting your business through word of mouth.

You must take care of every step in the buying and selling process to increase sales and make your brand stand out in the crowd.

Whether you’re just getting started in the content marketing game or just being tasked with building out a new content team, identifying a handful of content pillars to focus on is one of the most critical exercises in developing a content marketing strategy.

Content Pillars

Now that you have a clear picture of who you are as a brand, you’re ready to communicate with your audience.

Consistency is the key to building any relationship. With content, you need a cohesive strategy that relates:

1. Back to itself, and
2. Back to the shared experience of your audience.

So how do you build cohesive content pillars?

Ezra Firestone, founder of Boom Cosmetics, a DTC that does over $100M annually uses a process for identifying clear topics and themes that will relate to your target audience.

Step 1:

Refer back to your mission and purpose statement. What do you want to do as a brand? Use your mission to set your intentions.

For example,

Here are the intentions that BOOM uses to create and inspire content for the brand:

(Tip: imagine the words “We want to…” before each statement.)

• Offer A Pro-Age Viewpoint
• Share the Idea That Aging Does Not Have to Be a Bad Thing
• Have a Discussion on What Beauty Is and What It Means
• Reclaim Cosmetics as a Venue for Fun Rather Than Fear
• Talk About Celebrating Vs Covering Up
• Touch on the Main Shared Experiences

• Silver Hair
• Menopause
• Under Eye Circles
• Sensuality/Dating

• Share Tips on Self Care/Skin Care
• Entertain
• Embrace The ‘Less Is More’ Ideology
• Create A Platform for Women to Share Their Stories
• Build Affinity with BOOM! Brand

These intentions are powerful, inspiring, and great foundational topics to unite your audience in their love for your brand.

Write the words “We want to…” and brainstorm at least 10 intentions that can serve your mission.

Step 2:

Now that you’ve set your intentions, it’s time to put those ideas to work.

Brainstorm different types of content, themes, or series that would serve as a platform for those big ideas.

Here are the kinds of content BOOM! creates to serve their intentions:

• Cindy on Life Video Series
• Video Interviews with Community Members and Influencers
• Product-Focused Videos and Content
• Video Testimonials—Women of the Pro-Age Revolution
• Shared Experience Articles
• The Almighty Listicle

When you create content from the mission and purpose-based intention, it’s not just about selling stuff. It’s inspired by and designed for your audience.

Step 3:

To refine your content approach, do a little market research to see how your content ideas will compare.

Use these tools to research the kinds of content working for your audience now:

• Facebook Watch
• All Top
• Epic Beat
• Pinterest
• Social Animal
• Ahrefs
• Buzz Sumo
• Google Adwords Keyword Tool

Market research is a great way to generate even more content ideas. Plus—it’s never a bad idea to see what the competition is up to.

If you need help with formulating your very own personalized content strategy, schedule a FREE consultation with our team today!