Great Content Marketing Examples (No. 2 is gold!)
Content marketing is the name of the game when it comes to scaling your business’s marketing channels online. Some mind blowing stats to back that up:
- The brands that utilize content marketing save about $14 for every new customer they acquire.
- On average, inbound marketing delivers approximately 54% more leads when compared to traditional outbound marketing.
- A staggering 67% of business-to-business companies report marketing content to be among the top priorities in their marketing strategies.
- At least 76% of marketers have increased their investments in content marketing.
Content marketing is a complex and diverse channel that works for both established corporations and startup businesses alike. Although content marketing works for every other business, it also operates in a different manner for every single business.
Great content marketing approaches are just as diverse as they are successful, and whatever works for an individual business is as a direct result of the targeted audience by that particular business. The needs and the manner in which the audience engages with the web factor a lot.
Let us take a closer look at a few of the most successful content marketing examples, analyze the reason they worked, and discuss the ways in which you can implement the same insights in your own business.
1. Bernie Sanders Is Selling Steak
Regardless of personal feelings towards Bernie Sanders and his guts, admiration for the job executed by his marketing team is in order.
In addition to the voter support, another key metric for running a successful political campaign is fundraising. After raising an astounding $73 million in 2015, Bernie Sanders’ campaign team surpassed the expected performance.
What makes this case an intriguing study is the fact that Bernie opted to use his campaign for something that no presidential candidate has ever tried before, which is to inform and educate on the main policy points through an extensive, comprehensive, and well-coordinated content marketing campaign. As a result, Bernie Sanders is essentially everywhere, on Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and various other websites.
Additionally, Bernie Sanders is doing something few politicians have dared try. He is selling steak. Sell the sizzle and not the steak is a classic sales line, which means instead of dwelling on whatever you are offering, focus on the most glamorous benefits and elements.
Meaningless and catchy one-liners, good sounding and out-of-context statistics, as well as targeted attacks on opponents, make the sizzle in politics. None of which contribute to whether or not a candidate is successful in office, but because the masses respond more to such sizzles, this is where politicians tend to focus more.
But in a valid and great content marketing form, Bernie Sanders’ campaign team skipped the sizzle and instead focused more on actual policy issues. All this started with the website in which Bernie has continually been collecting emails from the very beginning.
Bernie Sanders has an extensive section on his website for issues, as advertised in 2015. The section on issues breaks down Bernie’s policies into 22 different points including a full-page breakdown for every single point. The breakdown also includes easy-to-understand graphics, vital statistics, and a comprehensive synopsis of his view on the issues.
These pages are also complemented by a video campaign, which includes animated graphic explainer videos in which Bernie Sanders breaks down misunderstood issues and also provides the audience with his take.
All content is distributed through the campaign’s Twitter account as well as an outstanding and targeted email marketing campaign that includes an A/B testing system.
The number of angles in which Bernie’s campaign team is firing from is quite impressive, and it comes as no surprise that their fundraising endeavors are rather successful.
Why It Works
Bernie’s success is based on the fact that he delivers desirable content to his audience in ways such audiences are accustomed to. Bernie Sanders’ primary target has always been the millennial generation, and because this particular demographic usually learns through Twitter links, blog posts, and Youtube videos, these are the exact media types Bernie has employed in the distribution of his message.
Additionally, Bernie Sanders is utilizing a time-proven content approach; use of exposition and education to develop trust with his target audience. As opposed to merely asking for money, he also offers added value to the people interested in a better comprehension of the key policy issues.
Applying It To Your Business
The most significant element offered by Bernie’s campaign is the knowledge that content marketing works best when your content is similar to what you target audience is already consuming. For instance, Youtube videos are content, but if the targeted audience does not watch videos on Youtube, the development of a well-produced series of videos will consequently accomplish nothing for your business.
Identify what your audience consumes as well as where it spends time, and then provide them with suitable content. You may achieve better success by using a few graphics on Instagram than you could ever have had by using a 4,000 worded blog post since it all depends on your audience.
Remember, people are always willing to learn and regardless of your services or product, you will realize improved results by incorporating the possibility to learn in your content campaign.
2. HubSpot Publishes More Content Than A Combination Of Everyone Else
As mentioned earlier, content marketing works for small businesses with lower-cost strategies as well as for the larger companies that are looking to spend a lot.
HubSpot dominates the content marketing arena by investing time and money. It is equally important to note that HubSpot does not have a blog, but comprises of exactly seven blogs. Consequently, HubSpot publishes more content compared to everyone else combined.
These seven blogs post about five articles daily, which totals up to at least 35 articles published every day. Additionally, HubSpot’s social media accounts work overtime, a look across the various channels they employ shows the estimates listed below.
- Three posts on Facebook daily
- 35 blog posts daily
- One email sent out daily
- 25 tweets/retweets every day
- Ten posts on Instagram every week
- 22 Youtube videos every month
- A total of 2,400 Pinterest pins
This particular flood of content consequently led to a massive audience on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Youtube. It is, therefore, no surprise that having tons of content makes a significant difference. If you post thousands of articles yearly, you will definitely get traction.
HubSpot is separated by not only the amount of content generated but also by how they funnel the users attracted by the content.
Why It Works
HubSpot is proof that more can equal better, though most of their success depends on interaction with the traffic received. On top of the well-segmented lists, HubSpot also provides a variety of lead magnets, specifically designed to target users across a broad range of the major marketing topics. The broad spectrum includes well-organized, in-depth, and authoritative templates, guides, calendars, series, and ebooks.
One of the lead magnets matches every new blog post, offering a high-conversion rate for both the existing and new subscribers. Matching quality lead magnets to every blog post makes for an excellent way to increase your returns on content marketing efforts.
Applying It To Your Business
Creating a unique lead magnet for each of the new posts you publish provides an ideal scenario, even though there are some hang-ups to this particular approach.
- You most likely lack the time and resources necessary to create an in-depth lead magnet such as a new email series or ebook.
- Low-investment lead magnets such as checklists rarely convert as well as less targeted in-depth resources.
HubSpot’s playbook provides the solution here. Break your content marketing into several key topics and create a compelling lead magnet for every single issue as opposed to creating a single lead magnet for your entire website or a new lead magnet for every post.
For instance, you could break down your blog topics into freelancing, writing, and inbound marketing. Creating three separate lead magnets for every segment and then pitching an appropriate lead magnet for every new blog post you write makes better sense as opposed to creating a single lead magnet for every person who visits.
This approach can only make sense if the services you offer appeals to all categories, which means you should ensure every written blog post increases your business’ ROI.
3. Backlinko Makes Every Single Post Count
Brian Dean chooses to post once every month on his SEO blog Backlinko, a strategy that is precisely the opposite of the one employed by HubSpot. Backlinko publishes one article every month and receives more than 100,000 views monthly, an excellent bang for the buck.
After comparing the number of shares and comments on the articles posted by Backlinko and HubSpot on a specific day, it became apparent that Backlinko receives more traffic as a result of a single post than HubSpot receives after a 2-day run of about 70 posts. Of course, this is assuming comments and shares are indicators, although HubSpot does not display share data.
Brian Dean’s content has continually been among the most shared advice on marketing across the internet. The Backlinko domain has backlinks exceeding 230,000, an astounding number especially for what was simply a one-man operation a few years ago.
Although you might think some, if not all, of this success comes from Brian Dean’s social accounts, his Twitter account comprises of fewer than 30,000 followers while his Pinterest account has only 198 followers.
A look at the pins pointing to Backlinko reveals an endless wall of content, which might leave you wondering how Brian Dean makes it possible.
Why It Works
The answer to why Backlinko is able to achieve such success using just a few blog posts is three-fold.
- Highly valuable, linkable, and shareable content.
- Optimized backlink building and SEO targeting.
- A 20:80 promotional ratio.
First of all, Brian Dean wastes no time on forgettable posts, and every single post he publishes is the type people would want to read and share. He specifically targets influencers with his topics, writing posts they would want to share with audiences. He additionally writes in-depth resources that high-valued websites would want to link to.
Secondly, he targets every post around high-value key phrases by incorporating such key phrases into linkable and shareable content. He accomplishes several key content marketing objectives all at once. Brian utilizes Ahrefs to assist him to analyze and identify key backlink opportunities.
Thirdly, Brian has a content rule: for each of the post he writes, he dedicates 80 percent of the time invested in promoting the post. For every 20 minutes spent writing a post, he spends 80 minutes promoting the post, which is the main reason why he is only able to write one article every month and also why he only requires one report each month.
Applying It To Your Business
As much as there is a chance you might be under-promoting your content, you may also be creating low-quality content. It is, therefore, important to perform the following when creating content.
- In your SEO strategy, target a key phrase.
- Create resources that people would want to link to.
- Create shareable headlines.
The key is to be omnipresent when promoting your content. Start by targeting all social forums and platforms that are highly concentrated with your target audience, and then target every other platform. Lastly, research and promote your business in new and never-heard-of platforms.
Think of any influencers who might have an interest in your content, mention them in your posts and remember to inform them about it.
4. GetResponse Skips Right To The Influencers
GetResponse is an email service provider that correctly performs a lot of the basics, including;
- A marketing blog that includes a new post every single day.
- A free and well-promoted trial offer for new sign ups.
- Lead magnet email courses.
The most impressive factor about the GetResponse’s content marketing approach is how they are able to leverage all the influencers using their service.
Influencer marketing is among the best ways to quickly hack a company to the next profitability or traction level. By leveraging the people with relevant and existing audiences, a brand can quickly be positioned in front of potential leads to ramp up the clientele base.
GetReponse comprises of a full-length, custom-designed page that details how this particular service benefits influencers such as those pictured above. The pages are story-based and revolve around a narrative by each influencer, highlighting their issues before, and their benefits after becoming GetReponse customers.
Excerpts from such influencer narratives are posted on the GetResponse content campaigns and website, right from the homepage to social media and sidebar advertisements. These Excerpts also include Youtube videos in which the influencers explain how they used GetResponse to boost their revenue.
GetResponse effectively spiked the numbers of their followers on social media into millions by focusing more on influencer content marketing and are consequently among the largest email service providers worldwide.
Why It Works
Having a high profile clientele does not guarantee success, relevance, on the other hand, is the key. Can you directly transfer the way influencers engage with your company to the targeted audience?
In the case of GetResponse, highlighted influencers match the targeted audience to perfection since they operate blogs on small businesses, marketing, blogging, and every other pursuit that requires the performance of an email service provider.
To the targeted audience, the pitch is simple; follow this influencer. And since this particular influencer uses our services to accomplish the same thing you wish to achieve, you should also engage our services.
Applying It To Your Business
Almost all types of businesses can take the advantage offered by influencer-based content marketing. Identifying potential fits and going after such connections is the key.
- Identify between 5 and10 relevant influencers in your market.
- In your content, feature and promote an influencer to your audience.
- Contact the influencer and inform them they have been highlighted. Offer them free access to your services or product.
- Repeat the same for each of the selected influencers.
If you provide services or products that solve real problems, at least one out of every ten influencers you contact will get back to you. To get the attention of an influencer you need to provide a compelling service or product.
After the influencers are satisfied with your service or product, it is then simply a matter of making your relationship profitable for them. It might be a free lifetime access or an affiliate arrangement in exchange for video testimonials.
5. GoPro Uses Stunning Visuals To Captivate And Compel
Although you might be thinking of written content with regards to content marketing, video content is now a primary mode in which online users consume media.
In 2015, consumers aged between 16 and 45 years spent on online video content time equal to what they spent on traditional television. The value of online video content increases every single year, and GoPro has effectively taken advantage of this trend.
Since the products offered by GoPro are video-creating cameras, this company is already strategically positioned to take full advantage of online video. GoPro distinguished themselves from the overcrowded market by becoming the ideal brand for action sports footage.
Their video footage is everywhere, and GoPro partnered with a few high-end producers to produce a series of stunning videos that mainly highlight the action, fun, and adventure desired by their target audience.
Additionally, GoPro receives free advertisement from customers. By promoting and encouraging customers to upload, and by targeting audiences that want to record their exploits, GoPro sees tons of users uploading branded content. Other users regularly edit and compile these uploads into “People are Awesome” videos as well as non-sponsored GoPro compilations.
Comprising of a multitude of followers across social media platforms, in 2015 GoPro registered $1.6 Billion in revenue, which was a 16% growth from their 2014 revenue despite an unexpectedly weaker 3rd quarter showing.
Why It Works
Getting your customer to work for you is among the quickest ways to grow your business, and a referral system offers the best way to achieve this. GoPro has consequently achieved remarkable success by simply getting their customers to upload adventurous videos captured using the company’s products.
While a significant quantity of GoPro’s success is as a result of being first-to-market with a portable, durable, and mounted camera, they have successfully leveraged their initial success into continual growth by simply using promotions, awards, and a string of viral videos to encourage their customers into participation.
They understand that their clients buy their products to share a particular experience with the whole world. Thanks to campaigns by GoPro, users are aware GoPro could republish any recorded epic video. As a result, users always mention how they recorded such exploits and often submit these videos directly to GoPro.
Applying It To Your Business
From GoPro’s success, the best takeaway we get is a two-way content marketing approach. The type of content your audience produces and how you can incorporate such content into your campaign.
Although it is not that hard, performing this requires a little creativity. If whatever you sell is related to cooking, run video tutorial contests, recipe awards, or present free items to the individuals who post great videos while using your product. In case your business is the provision of services, create incentives that will encourage your customers to record and share video testimonials or reviews about the services you offer.
Some companies might find it easier to incentivize while some might have to be more innovative. Spending some time to brainstorm on how to take advantage of consumer-created video content is worth the effort.
6. Beats by Dre Is Proof That Branding Still Works
Even though Beats by Dre sold to Apple in 2014, it is still a powerful example of the possibilities offered by branding. The idea to simply creating an image around a brand that sells is not as prevalent as it was during the television era. Today, a compelling value proposition, as well as customer trust, tends to go further when it comes to most of the audiences.
However, Beats by Dre is proof that branding is still relevant, especially since they were able to sell a set of $30 headphones for about $300, based primarily on image.
Beats by Dre used a lot of celebrities to sell the trendy, big money, and fashion-first lifestyle with an expensive looking design and packaging.
You are bound to succeed if you have the ability to employ famous personalities for your product advertisement. The most interesting factor is that Beats by Dre did not pay a lot of celebrities during the initial stages. Beats by Dre simply gave away their product, and most of the celebrities wore them on their own.
Why It Worked
The Beats by Dre Company effectively identified a massive and untapped market. After the iPod, Beats by Dre realized the existence of avid music enthusiasts who were not particularly knowledgeable or interested in the quality of sound.
This demographic was extremely conscious of fashion and willing to spend on items that enhanced their appearance even though they were not particularly interested in any technicalities about headphones.
The key was to associate Beats by Dre with success and swag, which is why celebrities were incorporated. No fashion-focused headphones existed before Beats by Dre was introduced to the market, and by creating custom sets for special stars, this company was offering a valuable service to every celebrity in need of a fashion statement.
Beats by Dre was on a roll merely a few sightings later.
Applying It To Your Business
Beats by Dre identified the need for a product no one else had considered before. Headphones were listening devices and manufacturers never thought of them as fashion accessories. You can change the game by identifying a high-margin or alternative use for a commodity.
Spend a little time thinking about your products and how to relate it to your target audience. Think of whether you can create a new angle and from what direction you should approach such an angle. Think of where you could highlight a desirable benefit unassociated with your product.
Conclusion
Content marketing can only increase in value with time and whoever commands attention will have the power to make profits.
The best content marketing approaches are usually a mixture of both proven and creative methods. Identify how best to resonate with your unique audience and deliver.