In India, there are over 5 lakh brands on Amazon alone. To stand out in this red ocean of e-commerce brands is the biggest challenge for aspiring D2C brands.

In this challenging space, how do you differentiate a D2C brand? 

The answer lies in the old cliché ‘content is king’. 

With over 900 million Indians using the internet and with 538 million active users on social media, content has become a goldmine for business growth. 

In today’s attention-driven economy, customers are seeking a deeper connection with brands. They want to be pampered, engaged, and made to feel part of a community. Without such an experience, a D2C brand cannot hope to bring potential customers onto its websites and apps.

For a D2C brand, the content on the website, app, and social media act as a discovery destination, educating consumers, engaging them, and intuitively guiding them through the journey of making a purchase.

Thus, having an integrated content strategy plus the execution nous is critical to the success of a D2C brand. Here are 4 content strategies a D2C brand must invest in to expand its reach, multiply leads, and establish a base of loyal customers:

Videos:  66 percent of consumers watch video content like product demos, product reviews, user stories, and unboxing videos to learn about a brand, and 93 percent of consumers agree that a video helps them in making a purchase decision.

With snackable content being the preferred choice for customers, D2C brands must give high importance to Reels, Stories, and Shorts for Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube channels. Consistency is the key. Brands must have a clear content calendar with at least 1-post a day planned. 

Moreover, above 60 percent of the customers agree that the production quality of videos was an important factor when deciding to interact with a brand.

All this can become overwhelming hence finding the right people to create high-production quality videos consistently can become a key success factor for an aspiring D2C Brand.

High-Quality Photoshoot: Etsy- an e-commerce giant, with a catalog of more than 80 million items, discovered that 90 percent of its users considered image quality to be the most crucial element in an online sale.

For a D2C brand, the photoshoot is especially important for creating differentiation as they can be highly creative without the norms and guidelines that need to be followed in marketplaces. 

The images must project the brand values, evoke an emotional response and be able to interact with the audience as if they are touching and feeling the product.

The right lighting, angles, poses, background, and styling all add subliminal elements that accentuate the feel of the product and help bring it to life.

Delivering such high-quality products and lifestyle shoots is the job of experts who have a unique blend of industry knowledge, an aesthetic eye for detail, a deep understanding of customers buying psychology, and execution excellence. 

Therefore, brands must invest time and effort to find the right partners with the expertise of executing such global quality shoots.

Product Descriptions and Listing: Words have tremendous power. The use of the right linguistics that appeals to the imagination and elicits an emotional response from the customer is the primary role of product descriptions.  

A key tip is to include mini-stories in the product descriptions which help lowering rational barriers to persuasion techniques. 

The product description must complement and elevate the photoshoot and add layers to your brand story.

Product descriptions and listing are also important for the organic SEO discoverability of the products. Thus, the use of Keywords becomes critical while writing them. 

It requires expertise which often brands struggle with. Therefore, it would be wise for Brands to seek expert help and get the listing and product descriptions right.

Creatives and Infographics: Today’s customers want proof that they are making the right purchasing decision.

Infographics that highlight the product features, provide product comparison and a compelling buying proposition give the buyer a sense of rationale and value behind making a purchase.

Creative banners on D2C websites have become an important part of influencing customers and informing them about the latest offers and discounts.

Creating such creatives and infographics requires the expertise of presenting the information in a simple easy-to-grasp way enmeshed in an attractive visual that captures the attention of the audience.

So, D2C brands must find expert help to create infographics and creatives that resonate deeply with the customers and give them a rationale to buy your products.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the shifts in customer buying decisions and digitization of the D2C Industry have heightened the need for quality content to influence customers.

These 4 content strategies explained above, if planned and executed correctly, help a D2C brand stand out from the crowd, establish a lasting relationship with the target audience, increase conversion rate and build a sustainable brand.