The Internet has turned marketing strategies on its head. It has leveled the playing ground and has crowded the market. It is much tougher to stand out in the current markets as there are so many companies fighting for breathing space. Brands now have to attract audiences on their own – without the help of big advertising companies or PR firms.
Although less than 21% of technology companies are maintaining blogs, content marketing is being embraced by leading companies and is showing very impressive results. So how can you get your perfect content marketing strategy? Learn from these brands that have managed to stand out.
1. General Mills: Perfect content marketing recipe
Photo by CoolKid1993 at en.wikipedia. Later version(s) by Kalel2007 at en.wikipedia, from Wikimedia Commons
General Mills is one of the biggest food brands in America but they have kept their content marketing strategy simple – provide family friendly recipes to customers. The company maintains a separate site for content marketing known as “Tablespoon”. This site has a massive collection of fun, family recipes that not only look good but are very easy to make. The homepage is not cluttered with text but is filled with attractive, mouth-watering photos of food. Users can click on the images to view the recipes. As an added bonus, all Tablespoon content can be easily shared on Pinterest and other social networks.
2. Kate Spade: Stylish digital experience
Photoby Kate Spade™.Shrek05 at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons
The Kate Spade Company is known for its designer handbags, apparel and accessories. The company has placed its blog at the heart of its content marketing initiative. Instead of telling readers what they should wear, this blog tells them how to wear items of clothing and what are the current trends. This strategy has been a huge success for the brand. To enhance the digital experience of readers, the blog and website includes multimedia content like music.
3. Instagram: Pictures tell a thousand words
Recent legal disputes and Twitter wars aside, the brand has turned simplicity into a billion dollar company. The function of Instagram is simple – it lets users add filters to pictures and share them easily. Users can create beautiful, Polaroid-style images using their smartphones.
Photo by Karl Nilsson/ CC license
Instagram uses similar images to fill its blog with beautiful visual content. The brand does not promote itself. Instead it allows its users to share their stories via images. The blog features the most breathtaking pictures from its user base and also includes tips on how to use the product more effectively.
4. Patagonia: Keeping it clean
We featured Patagonia in our “Top 5 Corporate Blogs that Make Us All Look Bad” and its blog was rated as the best. The company sells sporting gear and clothing and started content marketing way before anyone else did. Its blog is named “The Cleanest Line” and shares the stories of athletes and environmentalists. The blog is filled with music, images and videos from various contributors. Through its blog, Patagonia has managed to bring forth its commitment to the environment and promoting outdoor activities.
5. SEOmoz: Creating valuable content
SEOmoz is one of the leading providers of search engine optimization tools. This brand shows that you can have immensely share-worthy and valuable content without including flashy multimedia components. The company creates and publishes content that is essential for any company or individual wanting to learn SEO techniques. The Beginner’s Guide to SEO that the company has published is legendary. The brand publishes the widely-read Daily SEO blog, user generated YouMoz Blog and Whiteboard Fridays posts from CEO Rand Fishkin.
6. GE: Cater to all
Photo by General Electric Company (w:File:General_Electric_logo.svg [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
GE is one of the biggest companies in the world and creates products that are present in every household. Its products span various industries – health, technology and heavy machinery and GE ensures that there is more than enough content for each. So much so that the company maintains three blogs – Healthyimagination , Txchnologist and Ecomagination to promote sustainable and green living that goes hand in hand with economic growth. Each of these three blogs has highly original and attractive content that is shared through separate social network accounts. The fact that GE is able to create content for diverse readers - makes us rank its content marketing strategy as the best.
7. IBM – Futuristic marketing
Photo by Paul Rand [1] [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
IBM is already one of the best content publishing companies and its blog is one most visited blogs on the Internet. The IT services giant is able to produce high quality textual content for its blog by allowing employees to contribute and manage the blog. However, the company is in this list because of its excellent content marketing campaign that was so engaging and innovative that it was able to reach people in over 130 countries around the world. IBM went and created a game for its campaign – something that very few other companies have tried, and made it into a global success.
The game was titled “ CityOne” and this Sim City style game asked players to solve problems in the banking, energy water and retail sectors. This game was created to help players understand the realworld implications of business decisions and their effects on the future of the planet. IBM managed to use online gaming technology – rarely used by content marketers – to promote its brand and to get user engagement. People are always looking for new and innovative marketing campaigns and this one hit the spot. This just shows that if you want to stand out, you need to be brave. Use new marketing channels and techniques and people will appreciate it.
8. Red Bull – Adventure is out there
Photo by MediaPhoto.Org (mediaphoto.org Own work) [CC-BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Red Bull ’s content marketing strategy is so successful that most people know them for their excellent adventure-packed videos and images than for the energy drink that the company manufactures. Why is it in the list you ask - because the company promotes a lifestyle and not its energy drink. Go to their website and you will see a “Just Epic” tab where one can find HD videos and images about extreme sports like parkour, surfing, sky-diving, etc. without a single mention of the energy drink. The company logo can only be seen on the clothing or sporting gear of these athletes – subtle yet effective marketing of the energy drink!
Their most effective content marketing strategy - the Red Bulletin magazines that the company publishes for sports lovers. The company is a publishing brand as much as it is an energy drink manufacturer.
Most companies may not have large marketing budgets like that of Red Bull but we can all learn some important lessons from their campaigns. Red Bull is one of the few companies that have been able to tell stories effectively. Red Bull gets behind an event – such as the 24 mile jump by Felix Baumgartner – and then weaves a story behind the event by creating websites, social media pages and blog posts about the people, history and technology associated with the event. The Red Bull Stratos was one of the most successful content marketing events and their live broadcast of the jump got millions of views worldwide.
9. Oreo – Pop Culture Marketing
Photo by Robbgodshaw / Oreo (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0), Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
You think Oreo is so popular only because it is a delicious bite-sized snack that you can dunk in your glass of milk? Nope. Oreo is a hugely popular brand on the Internet because of their content marketing strategy. Unlike other food brands that cultivate family values, Oreo has managed to become cool and hip. This is because the company – or rather its marketing team – is able to create campaigns around the most talked about events. Also, they don’t come out with long articles or eBooks – one high-impact and whimsical image is enough to get them thousands of likes, shares, comments, etc. on various social networking platforms.
One of the most talked about Oreo campaigns was its cheeky Super Bowl ad “You can still dunk in the dark”, which took a jab at the unfortunate power outage at the game almost in real-time. Another popular Oreo campaign that sealed its image as one of the coolest bands is the gay pride ad, where the brand posted an image of an Oreo cookie with rainbow colored filling.
Oreo is a brand that is not afraid to be controversial. Take their gay pride campaign that came out at a time when there was a huge debate about homosexual rights in America and around the world. It is also able to spot the most talked about topics and convert it into smart visual content that immediately strikes a chord with anyone who sees it. Perhaps the most important lesson is that Oreo exclusively uses images that are extremely creative and packs a punch.