The internet has become one of the most popular product information search platforms. Search engines such as Google and Bing are now storing vast amounts of data that can be reached with just the click of a mouse. Today’s consumers can spend less time searching for their wanted items than ever before. As a result, it is vital to make your brand digitally available and findable. If you already have a website this might be reasonably easy to achieve, however, if you are selling through eBay or Amazon you might need to put in more effort. A well-written product description mixed with specific key words can help to sell the product and boost your search engine optimization (SEO).
Research undertaken by Ofcom revealed that internet shopping in the UK is more popular than in any other major country. UK consumers tend to spend an average of £1,083 per year each on online shopping. In order to get a fair share of that annual spend it is important to establish strong brand presence and make it more desirable to the target market. One of the ways that can help you to achieve this goal is by telling your brand story through the product descriptions. Story telling product descriptions help to engage with the customers on a personal level, because consumers can relate to the brand and express their own identities through it. As it can be rather complicated to convey key benefits and a marketing message for a product within 60 or 70 words you need to consider the main factors.
- Know your industry and key competitor offerings. What do they do better than you? What can you learn from them? What do your customers like about competitor brands? Learn about the industry and adapt the best of it to your business.
- Research your target market. Find out all you can about your target audience in order to identify their needs, wants and demands. Only by knowing your customers you will be able to communicate with them at personal level and create a dialogue that will essentially help you to sell
- Tell the story of your product in order to relate to your consumer needs and make it irreplaceable. In other words tell you customers how your product will fit into their lives and make it better.
- Make the text quite simple and don’t use elaborate words to explain the concept of your product.
- Use bullet points to describe key product features. Always think about your target audience. Do they value that particular benefit? What features do relate to the target market? What are they looking for?
- Be accurate in your product descriptions. Make sure that the information about the product or service is correct. Don’t make mistakes.
- Fill the content with the key words that will help to boot your SEO. Imagine that you are a customer and you are searching for a new pair of glasses. Which words are you the most likely to type into Google? Glasses, shades, sun glasses, Ray Bans or any other brand?
One of the best examples of an engaging, ‘storytelling’, product description is Aussie shampoo. Aussie is a famous hair care brand. It is marketed as a product of Australia, but in reality it is an American brand manufactured by the multinational Procter & Gamble company. It is fair to say that the hair care industry is saturated with millions of products and yet the Aussie brand has recently managed to stay different and on a spotlight. The success of the brand lies within the ability to relate to the target market and tell the brand story as unique as the ingredients of the shampoo itself. The brand represents the key personality features of the target audience; including traits such as practical, witty, smart and down to earth. The Aussie shampoo is more than just a simple hair care product offering the same features as other shampoos. It is branded with its own philosophy, values and beliefs. This is exemplified in the product description (below), which contains the key words that link the product to the key target market.
