August 19, 2019
Brand Publishing Is the New Content Marketing
Story-driven brands are now moving beyond mere content marketing and becoming publishers in their own right.
When Ottawa-based Shopify looked around in 2018 for a location to open its first brick-and-mortar storefront, Los Angeles was a natural choice.
More than 10,000 merchants in the greater LA area have their store on the ecommerce platform — the highest concentration of Shopify shops in the U.S. Even more impressive, more than 400 of these online retailers have each earned over $1 million in gross merchandise volume, and a handful of L.A.-based vendors have surpassed the $100 million mark in annual revenue. Wowza.
Shopify’s aptly-named Growth Lab is situated at the ROW DTLA, a complex of cool boutique stores, eateries and offices in an industrial area of downtown LA where the American Apparel factory was once anchored. Here, merchants can get business advice from Shopify “gurus” and take free classes on everything from email marketing to product photography. The light-filled space even has photography and podcasting studios for rent.
Now, the Growth Lab is launching masterclasses taught by e-commerce and marketing experts, and we’re thrilled to be among the first group of invited instructors.
We’re bringing our signature workshop to teach Shopify owners how they can leverage — wait for it — brand storytelling: Grow Your Shopify Sales with Powerful Storytelling.
If direct-to-consumer is the new retail, storytelling is the new marketing. Stories help brands connect with their customers, build engagement and loyalty, and cut through the marketing noise to position their products in an emotionally powerful way.
Shopify will also be providing expert-led training on email marketing, advanced SEO and search engine marketing.
The Growth Lab makes a ton of sense for Shopify. After all, the more successful the company can make its merchants, the more likely they’ll keep using the platform and growing the platform's utility and customer base. The lab isn’t just for Shopify users either; it’s totally open to the public.
We’re very excited to be part of the Growth Lab’s mission to empower online sellers. Come out to the ROW DTLA, meet our team in person and check out the Growth Lab.
