15 Content Marketing Tips for Ecommerce in 2027

As an ecommerce business, your potential audience is anyone with an internet connection.

While this is a much wider reach for sales, it also means you need to think strategically about how to catch your potential customers’ attention. That’s where content marketing comes into play.

Content marketing spans social media, email, blogging, video, podcasting, and paid channels like sponsored content. This guide covers 15 content marketing tips for ecommerce stores at any scale, from solo founders to growing teams, plus how to use AI in your strategy and three mistakes to avoid.

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is the practice of creating and distributing useful, relevant content to attract and retain customers, instead of directly promoting products. The goal is to earn attention by solving real problems, build trust with your target audience, then guide them toward a purchase.

For ecommerce, content marketing spans blog posts, email marketing, social media, video, podcasts, and paid channels.

“We do everything we can to build trust,” says Sean Reyes, founder of Shock Surplus, in a Shopify Masters interview. “Our product is knowledge and experience, so trust is a consequence of the content we make.”

Why content marketing is important for ecommerce in 2026

Marketing is the top challenge for 37% of store owners, and finding customers is a top challenge for 36%, according to the Shopify Survey of Store Owners, Q4 2025.* Content marketing solves both:

It helps shoppers discover your brand through search and social channels, and then builds trust that encourages them to purchase.

“The most humbling thing about starting this business was me thinking that we would just turn the website on and sales would just start coming in—and that was not the case,” says Rocky Xu, founder of Rocky’s Matcha. Building visibility takes intentional, ongoing effort.

Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge, says content is also the easiest way to compete.

“All content is in front of you at all times, and when you have a physical product or service or whatever, you have to go out there and find customers and you’re fighting through all that noise,” he says. “So if you’re going to launch anything, I think it has to be content first.”

High-quality, authoritative content also plays a huge role in what AI surfaces to shoppers. This matters because research by Authoritas found that 95% of ecommerce queries now trigger an AI Overview response, and over 99% of those results are sourced from top-ranking web pages.

Most importantly, that content compounds throughout the customer journey. Research from impact.com found that consumers engage with brands three or more times across digital channels before purchasing, rising to five or more touchpoints for high-income shoppers. Content informs shoppers at every stage of the buying process, from the moment it surfaces in AI searches to the moment they hit the checkout.

15 content marketing tips that work in 2026

1. Go deep on target audience research
2. Identify pain points and drivers
3. Use SEO to meet your audience where they are
4. Map content to the customer journey
5. Write for people
6. Play with tone
7. Keep it fun
8. Create diverse content formats
9. Establish a content mix
10. Create a content calendar
11. Build content clusters for SEO
12. Use multiple channels
13. Implement a technical SEO strategy
14. Track results
15. Measure content marketing ROI

These tips apply to every ecommerce content marketing strategy at any scale, whether you’re a solo founder publishing your first blog post or a team managing content across a dozen channels.

1. Go deep on target audience research

Research your target audience demographics, interests, buying cycles, and media consumption preferences, including their preferred social media platforms. Use Google Analytics audience reports to identify demographic patterns, and interview customers to understand their content preferences.

From there, build detailed audience personas that capture demographics, psychographics (a customer’s behavior and needs), and popular content types.

“One of the things we do with all the creators that I’ve worked with or consulted on projects is we make their audience one person,” says Zack Honarvar, founder at One Day Entertainment. “Who is a Yes Theory fan? If they were one human being, what would be their name? How old are they? Describe what they do on a day-to-day basis. That exercise is, I think, really helpful in getting into the mind of that person and the problems that they have and the behaviors and the consumer patterns that they like exhibit.”

GURU Energy also taps into deep audience research. “It all starts with our positioning and really understanding which consumers or groups and segments of consumers are most capable of loving what your brand does,” says Shingly Lee, VP of Marketing.

From there, Shingly says it’s about building “the emotional and functional story and benefits that our brand stands for that will really resonate with our persona. Or in our case, we have multiple personas that all tie to one real strong need, which is positioning ourselves apart from our synthetic competitors as the OG better for you energy drink.”

2. Identify pain points and drivers

Pain points are day-to-day frustrations your product can address. Decision drivers are the factors that tip a purchasing decision: cost, convenience, social proof, perceived benefit. Map the two together. If your customers’ biggest pain point is time, create content around how your product saves it.

“The best businesses start with a pain point, and I think as a founder as well, if you are your consumer, then that helps a lot along the way too, because it’s truly a pain point for you,” says Michelle Shemilt, founder of Numi. “You can understand the mindset of your consumer from the get go and really develop a unique product that will solve that problem.”

3. Use SEO to meet your audience where they are

While 37% of consumers start searches on AI, there’s still a large chunk that search for content on Google.

Search engine optimization (SEO) connects your content to those searches.

The core question: What is my audience trying to solve when they search a specific keyword? Answer that question well, and organic search traffic follows.

Core Web Vitals are standards that Google uses to evaluate page quality. Google’s content guidance frames quality around who creates the content, how it was created, and why. It also recommends evaluating whether a page would be recognized as authoritative by someone who’s an expert on the topic.

4. Map content to the customer journey

Different types of content serve different purposes as prospective customers move through different stages: awareness, consideration, decision, and, finally, loyalty.

“Video testimonials became assets to us and we would request permission to then use that within our marketing,” says Thomas Robson-Kanu, founder of functional beverage brand The Turmeric Co. “So then these video testimonials would be incorporated into some of their email funnels and campaigns that we’d run for existing purchasers or potential customers, subscribers who had captured through our email capture.”

Customer journey mapping involves:

• Identifying the key stages your customers go through before, during, and after purchase
• Understanding the questions and needs they have at each stage
• Creating content specifically designed to address those needs
• Measuring how effectively your content moves people from one stage to the next

For example: Blog posts and social media content typically build awareness; detailed guides and comparison content support consideration; while testimonials and product demos help with decision-making. Post-purchase content like tutorials and community forums build loyalty and encourage advocacy.

5. Write for people

Good content marketing strategy considers the human reader first, even while balancing SEO needs and business goals.

“I think people really enjoy feeling understood and feeling like a brand gets them and gets their experience, and they love when a brand feels authentic and they know and can feel confident that the folks behind the brand are the same as them,” says Tim West, co-founder of Bandit Running.

To create user-friendly content, try creating content by imagining the reader as one specific person. Content marketers call these imaginary people buyer personas, a.k.a. characters who represent a segment of your target audiences. Create a buyer persona (or a few, one for each audience segment) and write specifically for them.

6. Play with tone

Starface is a good example of playing with tone in branded content marketing. The skincare brand built its identity around a Gen Z audience that, in the words of its team, “is very into self-expression. They love to have fun” To reach them, Starface created Big Yellow—a marquee character that’s meant to be approachable, using very simple language and an earnest voice— and featured it consistently across social media and campaigns.

The voice stays the same, but the tone flexes to fit wherever Big Yellow shows up. Consider taking a similarly malleable approach with tone: You might embrace a conversational style in blog posts, use humor on social media platforms, or even let yourself get fired up about a change in your industry via email marketing.

Starface also shows how listening shapes tone over time. By paying attention to what resonated with customers beyond their hero product (the patch), they found new threads to pull, like the gentleness of their face wash, and built content around those.

You can also consider adjusting your point of view. You might write most content in your company’s voice but occasionally drop in a first-person blog post from your founder or a subject-matter expert on your marketing team.

7. Keep it fun

Content marketing doesn’t have to be strictly educational or promotional. Audience research can reveal interests beyond your product category—creating content that taps into those interests gives people a reason to follow you before they’re ready to buy.

For example, if you sell upscale orthotic footwear for professional women, your audience research might show that your followers also engage with travel content, wellness tips, or work-life topics. Mixing that kind of content into your feed alongside product posts reflects how your audience actually lives, rather than simply what they buy.

Again, Starface is a great example of a brand that keeps things fun while still building a loyal audience. “There are such strong skincare brands out there. Of course there are several, and it’s only getting more crowded day by day,” says Kara Brothers, president of Starface. “But we feel and felt that there is an opportunity for something that speaks directly to our Gen Z consumer.”

8. Create diverse content formats

According to HubSpot’s 2026 State of Marketing report, short-form video delivers the highest return on investment (ROI) of any content format, cited by 21% of marketers, ahead of images (19%) and livestreamed video (16%).

Different content formats serve different purposes:

• Blog posts and articles establish expertise and improve SEO.
• Videos demonstrate products and processes visually.
• Infographics simplify complex information.
• Podcasts reach audiences during commutes or workouts.
• Interactive tools (e.g., calculators, quizzes, assessments) drive engagement.
• Case studies build credibility and document real-world results.
• Webinars educate prospects and generate leads.

Start with two or three formats your team can execute well.

9. Establish a content mix

Decide what types of content you’ll publish and in what proportions. A newsletter might run 40% entertaining content, 30% educational, and 30% promotional. That ratio gives readers a reason to open it beyond the sales pitch.

A separate framework worth knowing is the 70/20/10 rule. This is where 70% of content covers proven topics your audience consistently engages with, 20% experiments with new formats, channels, or angles, and 10% is promotional.

For skincare brand Dieux, one of their most popular videos on social media falls into the educational bucket: “[It’s] just talking about packaging and non-med aluminum and what that means, and what that carbon footprint means,” says Charlotte Palermino, cofounder and CEO of Dieux Skin.

10. Create a content calendar

A content calendar is the center of your content marketing process. It organizes what you’ll publish, when, and on which channel, so you can stay consistent with content creation.

Natural skincare brand Three Ships uses this approach to run their “Her Hustle” interview series, a biweekly feature spotlighting female founders. Cofounder Connie Lo describes their process: Once an interviewee returns their answers, they plug it into their content calendar and their social media coordinator formats the post. If a copromotion is involved, that gets scheduled in the calendar, too, so the giveaway and the feature go live in sync.

Decide your publishing frequency for each channel, then schedule your ideas into the calendar. Flag evergreen content, pieces that don’t date quickly, for ongoing promotion. Continually sharing a well-performing evergreen post extends its ROI long after publication.

11. Build content clusters for SEO

Content clusters organize your content around key topics so search engines can recognize your site as an authority on a subject.

The structure has three parts:

• Pillar content: a comprehensive guide that covers a main topic broadly
• Cluster content: focused articles that explore specific aspects of that topic
• Internal linking: a network of links connecting cluster content to the pillar and to each other

A camping gear store, for example, might build a pillar page on essential camping equipment. Then, they could publish various cluster articles—about tents, sleeping bags, cooking gear, and campsite selection—all linking back to the pillar.

The cluster structure tells search engines you’ve covered the topic thoroughly, and helps users navigate to the specific answer they need.

Start by running keyword research to define your main topics, then audit existing content to identify what you can organize or repurpose into the cluster model.

“You don’t need to be an expert, especially now with the advent of so many AI tools,” says Jeremiah Curvers, coFounder and CEO of Polysleep. “It’s very easy to build a keyword list based on competitiveness. Look at what your competitors are doing, and ensure that your onsite SEO is on point.”

12. Use multiple channels

Building a social media presence is the second-most-common Year 1 growth strategy, used by 35% of store owners, according to the Shopify Survey of Store Owners, Q4 2025.* But social is one piece of a broader channel mix.

The PESO framework (Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned) describes the full range:

• Paid: sponsored posts, paid search, display advertising
• Earned: press coverage, reviews, mentions from other creators
• Shared: social media posts, community engagement, user-generated content
• Owned: your blog, email list, podcast, YouTube channel

Repurposing content across channels also stretches your investment. For example, a blog post can be adapted into social copy, or a podcast episode can become a newsletter. Building this habit reduces the cost of publishing across multiple channels.

13. Implement a technical SEO strategy

Technical SEO addresses the back-end structure that determines how well search engines can crawl, index, and rank your content. Broken links, slow load times, and poor internal linking drag down even strong content.

Boost Auto, an automotive accessories store, kept advertising costs below 1% of revenue by relying on Shopify’s built-in SEO features alongside their own content program. New product lines hit Google’s first page organically within one to two months of launch, according to founder Adam Wolfe.

14. Track results

Use Shopify Analytics to track content marketing metrics, including site traffic and conversions, alongside a social media analytics tool for off-site performance.

If your team is fielding a constant stream of data requests, Sidekick can help. Jaded London’s head of ecommerce, Jamie Evans, was handling 10 to15 analytics requests per week, each taking hours, before turning to Sidekick. Now, those questions get answered instantly. "Sidekick is just always there, and I just ask it every question," Jamie says. “Instead of asking me how many men’s items we sold in Germany last week, [members of the merchandising team] just ask Sidekick and get an immediate answer.”

Go beyond basic page views and social media metrics to understand the true impact of your content. Consider implementing:

• Attribution models that track how content contributes to conversions
• Content-specific KPIs aligned with different business goals
• Privacy-focused analytics that comply with evolving regulations
• Engagement metrics that measure active interaction, not just passive consumption
• Conversion path analysis, to understand how content pieces work together to drive your goals

15. Measure content marketing ROI

Connecting your content activity to business outcomes helps you double down on what’s working.

Key marketing ROI approaches:

• Set measurable objectives for each content piece or campaign before publishing.
• Track both leading indicators (traffic, engagement) and lagging indicators (conversions, revenue).
• Calculate production costs, including time, tools, and distribution, to get a true cost-per-result figure.
• Use UTM parameters to track content performance across channels.

For ecommerce, the metrics that matter most are conversion rate by content piece, average order value from content-driven purchases, customer acquisition cost for content-generated customers, and customer lifetime value of customers acquired through content.

How to use AI in your content marketing strategy

According to the Shopify Survey of Store Owners, Q4 2025, 69% use AI for content generation, making it the most common AI use case.* Generative AI can speed up research, drafting, and optimization—although it cannot replace human judgement.

Sidekick, Shopify’s built-in AI assistant, is available directly inside the Shopify admin. You can use it to generate product descriptions, brainstorm marketing copy, and answer questions about your store without toggling between tools.

AI contributes to the broader content workflow at multiple stages, including:

Research and ideation:

• Analyzing search trends and user intent at scale
• Identifying content gaps and opportunities
• Generating content briefs and outlines

Creation and optimization:

• Drafting initial content for human editors to refine
• Improving readability and clarity
• Creating variations for A/B testing

Personalization:

• Tailoring content recommendations to user behavior
• Adjusting content for different audience segments
• Personalizing email marketing content

Best practices for AI implementation

Google’s Search Central guidance frames quality content around three questions: who created it, how it was created, and why. AI-assisted content that can’t answer those questions clearly (because it lacks genuine expertise or a defined purpose) doesn’t perform better in search just because it was produced faster.

Keep these practices in place when bringing AI into your content process:

• Start with specific use cases where AI solves a real production problem.
• Keep human editorial oversight on every piece that goes out.
• Use AI to speed up first drafts rather than replace the research and perspective that make content trustworthy.
• A/B test AI-assisted content against human-only content to understand where the quality difference matters to your audience.

3 content marketing mistakes to avoid

1. Don’t be a copycat

Looking to competitors can help you generate content ideas, but don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you need to sound like the biggest player in your industry. An effective content marketing strategy differentiates you from your peers, so emphasize what’s unique to you.

2. Don’t navel-gaze

Compare these two approaches:

• Twenty engineers spent a decade developing a melon baller using high-performance steel and a biomechanical analysis of hand mechanics.
• Professional chefs need both efficiency and precision. Our melon baller delivers uniform melon balls 30% faster than traditional models.

The first is about the company. The second is about what the customer gains.

3. Don’t write (only) for search engines

SEO is a powerful tool, but content written for algorithms rather than people tends to read like it. Search engines are also getting better at identifying and ranking content that demonstrates genuine expertise.

Prioritize writers, in-house or freelance, who have real knowledge in the subject area. Writing that serves the reader’s actual need ranks better than content that simply packs in keywords.

*Based on a 2025 survey of 500 Shopify merchants conducted in English across Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States. Respondents were established merchants with two or more years on the platform. Results reflect the experiences of this specific sample and may not be representative of all merchants.