Today’s savvy consumers have learned how to insulate themselves from many traditional marketing strategies. They skip over television commercials using their DVRs, turn the page on magazine ads and utilize “banner blindness” when surfing the Internet. Content marketing is a great way to keep products and their related value propositions in front of these consumers in a way that can be fun, informative and engaging while reinforcing consistent brand messaging to build brand equity and recognition. A recent report by the Content Marketing Institute showed that as of 2014, roughly 93% percent of B2B marketers have incorporated content marketing into their overall marketing strategy. Content marketing also offers a great deal of SEO value. With each new piece of digital content, you have the opportunity to bring new keywords into play to expand your search engine reach or reinforce existing keywords to keep your pages ranking highly in the search engine results pages (SERPs). A consistent flow of new content will also keep the search engine spiders crawling your pages to further boost your site’s SEO value. Some of the world’s most recognizable brands are thoroughly immersed in comprehensive content marketing strategies, and each one is seeing a payoff from the investment.
Coca-Cola
In late 2011, the Coca-Cola’s VP of Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence announced the company’s new mission statement, called Content 2020. He was betting the bank on content marketing being the best way to reach the company’s core consumers and engage them with ideas that are fresh and relevant. Marketing strategy has shifted away from the “creative excellence” of iconic images and commercials the company was known for and instead thrown at what the company calls “content excellence.” Instead of relying on 30-second television spots, it hoped to create the most compelling online content in the world to gain its share of popular culture. The company rebranded its website, created compelling stories to engage consumers and exploited the most popular social networks to stay relevant.
Birchbox
Birchbox, a subscription beauty and grooming products service, was able to spot an early trend where consumers were accessing the service more and more through mobile devices, including smart phones and tablets. Although it already had a strong content marketing program in place, it began to look at the similarities and differences between traditional content solutions and mobile messaging to put a cohesive plan into place. The company already has a strong strategy in place through its online Birchbox Magazine, a far-reaching social media presence, YouTube videos and its company blog. Its content varies, from interviews with industry leaders to workout tutorials and lifestyle hacks.
Amtrak
Amtrak has provided rail service across the US and Canada since 1970. Things have changed since the company was founded, and it needed to find a way to stay contemporary and relevant to today’s consumers. Content marketing turned out to be the solution. The company maintains a blog that showcases both stories and photos that talk about modern and historical travel, it has a strong social media presence and it keeps a consistent stream of engaging content flowing by sponsoring trips by both photographers and writers. From a consistent Twitter stream to engaging content that eschews any type of advertorial feel, Amtrak is shedding its stale image and becoming more contemporary, thanks to its content marketing strategies. When your company is ready to embark on enterprise content solutions to up your marketing game, choose a crowdsource expert like TripleCurve. Crowdsource platforms like TripleCurve can keep you in a consistent flow of content to fulfill your marketing goals. Whether you need social media posts, buying guides, feature articles or travel exposes, TripleCurve offers flexibility, affordability and a fast turnaround so you can quickly build your online presence.
