Top 4 Takeaways From Successful Content Marketing Brands Around The Globe!!

  • By Andy Fox

Content Marketing has come a long way and proven itself to be that ‘silver bullet’, for the growth of businesses in the digital space, it sure isn’t easy for brands to stand out and find success amidst the inconceivable volume of content we see every day.

Those businesses making it big are clearly able to create a ‘connection’ between their targeted audiences and their brands/products. 

And to truly ‘engage’ your audience, spraying random content via your marketing channels doesn’t quite cut it. Well-crafted content that addresses users’ most-pressing ‘pain points’ and serves their burning need, is the only ‘winner’ that immediately bonds with prospects and customers.

It's believed that content marketing costs 62% less than outbound marketing, but it generates more than three times as many leads. No wonder everyone seems to be jumping on this ‘content marketing’ band wagon, including 70% of B2B marketers, who plan to create more content in 2017 compared to 2016;

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Courtesy: CMI

How can you then craft meaningful content, that resonates with your target audiences and guide them through their ‘buyer’s journey’? Brian Clark from Copyblogger says; “What you say is crucial. But how you say it can make all the difference.”

Today let’s take a look at some of the ways successful brands have applied their content marketing skills to win the hearts and pockets of their loyal customers:

1.  Marriot’s VR Teleporter

Marriot partnered with Oculus early on to catch the Virtual Reality (VR) buzz, and created a breathtaking marketing campaign.

‘Teleportation’ booths were established in the streets, people were randomly selected and offered to step into one of these booths, put on a headset and headphones, and off they went into the virtual reality world, where they were transported to the destination of their choice.

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All who stepped into the booth were instantly blown away by the ‘almost real’ experience they had with their preferred holiday destination, which even had even more realistic appeal accompanied by relevant scents, mists and breezes.

The Campaign was so well received that Marriot launched a VR Room Service to follow, which allowed hotel guests to have a Samsung Gear VR headset delivered to their room for 24 hours.

Marriot’s understanding of emerging new technology and its creative stint to accompany VR to market its presence has been a welcome change, making it an innovative and well placed brand in the Travel and Tourism Industry.

2.  Extra’s Interactive Site

The chewing gum brand Extra, brings a new perspective on the seemingly ordinary product, which is normally associated with ‘fresh breath’, ‘romantic encounters’, ‘healthier gums and teeth’, etc.

With its #giveextragetextra campaign, Extra is moving beyond the obvious to relate the product/brand with its ‘omnipresent’ nature – meaning, it accompanies you in all precious moments of your life.

Whether it’s a hiking trip with friends, your favourite band’s concert, the family picnic, or an engagement, #giveextragetextra is about celebrating each of those life’s memories by converting them into art.
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The site encourages you to submit pictures of those everyday moments of your life so they can be turned into sketches. Some of these sketches are printed on the inside of the Extra wrapping.

Users can visit the site where they can view the images, see videos of artist’s sketches, browse through the gallery and check to see if their picture has been made into an art.

All in all, Extra has given a new meaning to ‘intimacy’ and ‘closeness’ that surpasses what a ‘mint-gum’ can do for a fresher breath, by assisting customers to participate and celebrate life’s every moment with ‘Extra’ on their mind.

3.  Home Depot’s DIY Projects

Home Depot is essentially a home and garden supply store, selling everything from grills, solar garden lamps and turf builder fertilizer, to fences for your home. It caters to a wide range of demographics. from the professional carpenter looking to redesign your patio to an inspired father looking to build a treehouse for his family.

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Their marketing drive is all about what their supplies can do for you and not what the supplies are. In other words, they're all about inspiring customers to create DIY projects. The brand’s site is filled with DIY ideas for you to try. And the strategy is simple, the more you try new DIY projects, the more their supplies will sell.

Their dedication to fulfilling customers’ needs can be easily determined by their infographic, as shown below (Grow a Living Salad Bowl), which teaches consumers to grow their own salad, providing complete information on which vegies are best, what supplies are needed and how to go about it.

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(Click here to view the full infographic)

Also note there is very little branding, if any with the infographic, which shows how they are non-intrusive/interruptive with their brand messaging, but highly empathetic to customers’ needs, encouraging them to take required action.

4.  Jet Blue’s

Flight Etiquette Videos

Jet Blue is another such brand in the airline industry whose customer service is well known, so they too can afford to offer a different perspective with their marketing messages, and go beyond the ‘regular touting’ of their services.

In the Flight Etiquette videos, Jet Blue takes the humorous side to showcase and relate to the many common experiences we face during air travel.

The brand has given a ‘sarcastic’ angle of  ‘How not to…’ to illustrate their brand voice and humour by telling stories of chatty seat mate, overzealous flight boarding and other inflight incidents we encounter so often with air travel.
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(Click here to view the video)

The brand has successfully ‘connected’ with its audience by sharing the common unpleasant experiences of flying and having a laugh about it. Whether it’s ‘How not to walk the aisle’ or ‘How not to board a plane’, the video campaigns takes an ‘empathic’ stance with peoples’ pains and provides some degree of education and solace with the humour.


To Sum it Up…

For marketers to truly connect with their audiences, a complete understanding of your prospects and buyer personas is critical. A content marketing strategy that's geared to ‘listen’ to and put consumers’ needs and issues before your services, will always win.

If you'd like further assistance or would like to discuss anything covered today, we'd love to hear from you.

Call Andy Fox (me) on (03) 5249 5570 or email andy@element7digital.com.au

Our Website is element7digital.com.au 

Andy Fox - Author

I have a firm belief there is only one great challenge in life… And that is… To be the best version of you possible. I have lived my whole life to this tune. I love that I am not perfect and I love that every day I get up and make at least one change in my life that makes it better, one change that takes me closer to my life’s goals.

More about me, visit: andyfox.com.au