Chris Shaffer’s appearance on The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast really reframed this for me. His point is that almost all ecommerce content fails because it’s written from the brand’s perspective, not the customer’s. We’re all trained to create content that is, at its core, about our products. It’s a solution looking for a problem, and customers can feel it a mile away. His argument is that this content gets ignored because it isn’t genuinely useful; it’s just a thinly veiled sales pitch.
The fix he proposes is to stop thinking about your content's job as selling a product and start thinking about its job as solving a problem. This means understanding the customer journey and creating different kinds of content for each stage. For someone just becoming aware of a problem, your content should help them understand it, without even mentioning your product. For someone considering solutions, it could compare different approaches. This builds trust and positions you as a helpful expert, so when they’re finally ready to buy, you’re the obvious choice. The sale becomes the natural outcome of being helpful, not the entire point of the exercise.
Eric Bandholz of Beardbrand is the perfect example of this philosophy in action. On his episodes of eCommerce MasterPlan and The My Wife Quit Her Job Podcast, he explains how he built his business with a content-first approach. He didn’t just start a blog about beard oil. He created a completely separate digital magazine, Urban Beardsman, dedicated to the lifestyle of his target audience. The content was about style, grooming, and identity, not just a list of product features. He built an entire world around his brand that people wanted to be a part of.
Bandholz’s strategy is the ultimate execution of Shaffer’s advice. By creating a destination that served his audience's interests, he established an authentic Brand Narrative and a real community. Sales of Beardbrand products followed because the company became the authority and the central hub for a lifestyle his customers identified with. That’s the real power of a great content and brand strategy. It’s not just an appendage to your store; it’s the reason people show up in the first place. This is what Content Marketing For E-Commerce is all about.
