Some of the best content marketing out there is done in a way that not only makes you want to buy a particular product or service, but also makes you covet the very lifestyle espoused by the brand.
Online furniture retailer One Kings Lane achieves this masterfully with their website and their blog Live Love Home. One Kings Lane founders Alison Pincus and Susan Feldman started the company as a place that combined both inspiration and shopping.
Here are seven tips that content marketers can take away from OKL:
Be Aspirational
For most of us, our homes are never going to look like the rooms and designs featured on One Kings Lane. But one can always dream—and that’s the point. We all aspire for our homes to look like a gorgeous, inviting oasis with nothing out of place and where everything adheres to a cohesive design. Scrolling through One Kings Lane and the Live Love Home blog, you almost believe it’s possible to live in a house without piles of mail or toys and with a dog that never gets on the couch. And it’s that belief that influences your future purchasing decisions.
Go Big with Gorgeous Photos
The majority of posts on Live Love Home feature a gorgeous photo at the top of the page that span the width of your browser. Big, beautiful photos are used throughout, making it feel more like you’re reading a magazine than scrolling through a blog or website. The site and blog look equally as gorgeous on mobile and the iPhone and iPad apps. (No app currently available for Android.)
Provide Helpful Information
Sure, One Kings Lane wants you to buy their products. If you have enough willpower, you could be a regular visitor and just peruse the Live Love Home blog for inspiration and the helpful decorating and lifestyle tips. But if you’re on the site often, you’re most likely going to fold and buy something.
For example, you might find these tips on summer entertaining to be truly helpful and you’ve been thinking about getting a new patio umbrella. And what’s this? The umbrella featured in the blog post would look perfect in your backyard? Sounds like a win for everyone.
Make the Sell Subtle
The emphasis by One Kings Lane on content over buying almost makes one believe you’re not on an e-commerce site. Instead, much like beauty and lifestyle magazines, the buy seems more like a suggestion, with calls to action subtly interspersed throughout.
Copper and pastel office supplies?! Currently obsessing over this @tomdixonstudio sale. http://t.co/jpAUEsoz0Z pic.twitter.com/lMiBVfMdh4
— One Kings Lane (@onekingslane) July 2, 2015
Mix Price Points
You may not be in the market for a $2,700 outdoor sofa, but purchasing a $15 vase or $29 Mermaid bookends is an easy way to “Get the Look” and is a small commitment on the part of the consumer. It also lets One Kings Lane convert someone who may have been window-shopping into a direct email subscriber. With a small purchase, that customer is now part of the One Kings Lane customer network, giving the company a greater opportunity to target the customer through email.
Be Social
One Kings Lane’s blog posts are not only tailored for social—they make it simple for you to share their content on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. You can also Pin the furniture and housewares featured in the posts. Having that kind of connectivity, particularly to Pinterest, is a no brainer for a lifestyle retailer. Folks interested in interior design are regular Pinners and it’s an easy way for One Kings Lane to have continual influence on what customers may be looking for down the road.
And because their content fits into the lifestyle category, one doesn’t mind when their posts pop up in Facebook or Twitter feeds. And have you seen their Instagram feed? It features lots of photos from customers who are showing off their One Kings Lane purchases in their home, creating a community around the products.
https://instagram.com/p/4IVOU3llun
Use Celebrities
It helps your street cred to have celebrities featured on your site. “Celebrities” mean different things in different industries. One Kings Lane regularly gives readers a look inside the home of designers and artists and even recently featured a room the retailer decorated in the summer home of former First Daughter Jenna Bush Hager. Having such connections helps to legitimize the brand. And isn’t it kind of cool to have the same rug featured in Hager’s summer home?
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So, going forward, make sure that everything you do provides “inspo” for your customers, as OKL and its fans would say. If you’re not doing that, you’re missing out.
By Amy Dominello Braun
