Take Control of Your Brand Story With Below-the-Fold Content

When lockdowns first started, brands that lacked strong online storefronts scrambled to move their products online. The crisis resulted in many brands failing to take advantage of below-the-fold e-commerce content, also known as rich vendor syndicated content. But now that the world is reopening, it’s time for brands to rethink the content they’re presenting to consumers.

If brands don't properly use below-the-fold content, they lose out on the opportunity to take control of their story and win market share. With standout below-the-fold content, brands can consistently showcase their products across e-commerce websites and give their customers an immersive, visual experience.

Opportunities Lie Below the Fold

On sites like Amazon.com and Walmart, above-the-fold content is structured to specific requirements, and every product is displayed in the same way. But for brands, magic lies below the fold — with ample space to be creative. When a consumer scrolls down the page, they can fully experience a brand’s products through rich media content.

Brands that don’t maximize their below-the-fold content with assets like videos and photos miss out on this critical opportunity. Without it, they lose control in telling their brand story. And as a result, a consumer might choose a competitor’s product instead because its below-the-fold content provides a more informative user experience.

In addition, if brands inconsistently use below-the-fold space across channels, they risk confusing their customers. If a brand sells on an online marketplace, for example, it needs to make sure the available product content matches up with the content on its own site, as well as commercial and social media content. No matter the channel, brand story and assets should remain the same so customers always have a consistent brand experience across different touchpoints.

Harmonize Your Product Content

You can take control of your brand story by properly using below-the-fold content. To optimize below-the-fold content, start by assessing the product content you currently have. If you’ve produced images and videos, ensure they’re high quality and compliant with different retailer requirements.

If you haven’t produced any content or don’t have compliant assets, you need to invest in compliant, high-quality product content that’s standardized across platforms. Clear and creative visuals are a great way to capture customers’ attention and help them feel more confident in their purchase decisions. In fact, more than half of consumers say they use video content to make purchase decisions. Videos and images of products help consumers visualize themselves using a product — an experience they can’t always get above the fold.

After assessing your visuals, consider how you want to distribute content. To provide a consistent brand experience, you should consider investing in a central platform with e-commerce capabilities that will help you harmonize product content across different channels. Don’t confuse your customer by having multiple experiences and brand stories — consistency is key. In fact, presenting your brand consistently across channels can actually increase revenue by up to 23 percent. Red Bull, for example, does a great job of consistently reflecting its brand promise by harmonizing content all the way from social media to Amazon.

With a central platform, you can deliver consistent content across each sales channel. Therefore, when you upload images and videos, that content will be syndicated and instantly updated across all channels. By investing in a central platform, you can also take control of your brand story by unifying product content across all customer touchpoints. And with omnichannel product content solutions, you can reduce time to market and lower your product content and shipping costs.

Outpace the Competition With Consistent Content

Brands that rushed online last year without giving their product content a second thought since are missing out on valuable opportunities that exist below the fold. Now is the time to invest in high-quality product content that showcases your brand’s story as well as a central platform that enables you to unify this information across all purchase channels. Without consistent and creative below-the-fold content, brands risk losing to competitors that accurately display their products and enable consumers to immerse themselves in their brand online.

TJ Waldorf is vice president, marketing and customer experience at 1WorldSync, a leading provider of product content solutions.