4 Key Challenges For Retail Marketers And Content Producers
By James Brooke, Amplience
More people are buying online than ever before. More content is being generated than most ever thought possible. And the people bearing the brunt of it, and who are sometimes struggling to keep up, are the retail marketing content creators and producers.
Of course, many things cause frustration in these roles, but there are a few significant challenges that we hear about constantly from content and marketing teams across different brands and retailers.
What are those?
- Content Demands Are Ridiculously High, And Time Is Short
As customer expectations have changed and more buyers have headed online, the demand for content has exploded. Workloads have increased as a result, and quite often content teams have stayed lean.
The rise of the smartphone and other devices has meant content now needs to cater to all different screen sizes, and it needs to be responsive. Also, more channels are being added into the mix: social, apps, marketplaces, IoT, etc. The volume of content and the complexity of it all is only growing. And this is before we even factor in seasonal promotions like Cyber Week and the holiday season, having to cater to multiple regions and languages, and, of course, the fact that Covid has driven more people online.
- Content Can’t Be Generic Anymore. Personalization Is A Must
As a result of more shoppers heading online, customers are increasingly wanting more meaningful and valuable interactions. It’s here where retailers and brands have started to differentiate themselves, recognizing the need for personalized and contextually relevant customer experiences and content that gives the customer what they want at the right time in the buying journey. This helps businesses stand out in a crowded market.
Producing this personalized content that’s relevant to different audiences, locales, and languages means retail marketers not only have to plan more content but spend more time getting it all created, published, and quality-assured.
- Inefficient Workflows Are Rife
Quite often, retail marketers and content producers (and other teams) are working in silos with little collaboration. Projects and tasks are done in a waterfall manner where they are handed off from one team or person to the next in a chain, and too often teams are either too heavily reliant on other teams and/or left waiting on others before they can complete certain tasks.
- Too Many Tools Are Being Used That Aren’t Up To The Task
Even with a range of tools that can help with project and task management, they’re not built for eCommerce and content planning specifically. Also, many marketers and content creators are spending valuable time in other applications like Photoshop, producing all the assets and image variants needed to get content and campaigns live. In addition, many content management systems (CMS) are stuck on legacy platforms that lack the flexibility and agility needed to respond to market changes quickly and to deliver content across multiple channels and devices.
So, what can retail marketers and content producers do to address these issues?
They should seek a CMS that streamlines workflows, promotes intuitive collaboration, and enables content scheduling, planning, and previewing to eliminate the previously mentioned bottlenecks. Those types of CMS solutions may also offer a digital experience platform (DXP) that allows users to control not just the content but also the whole customer experience across all channels and storefronts from one seamless interface.
Also, they should consider a digital asset manager (DAM) that not only stores all of their content assets but also reduces the need for other solutions like Photoshop. And, finally, the key to some of the functionality and fixes above really coming together and working properly is modular content, which is breaking content down into smaller parts so the parts themselves can be more easily repurposed and used across retailers’ and brands’ storefronts.
By incorporating the above, retail marketers and content producers will not only be more efficient but also more effective. Addressing these challenges will enable them to focus their time on creative activities that matter and best position their brand to stand out and grow.
About The Author
James Brooke is Founder and CEO of Amplience.