Are you doing content marketing right? Are you sure?
More than 85 percent of businesses do content marketing, according to the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), yet 69 percent of marketers are not confident in their content marketing strategies.
Why? Most do not know what successful content marketing looks like. In fact, only 44 percent of B2B (business-to-business) marketers responding to a CMI survey said that they don’t know what content marketing success even is.
Perhaps the best way to recognize good content marketing is to look at examples of successful campaigns and implement some of their strategies into your content marketing plan. Here are three great examples of good content marketing and their takeaways.
3 Examples of Good Content Marketing
Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke”
Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” is one of the most successful content marketing campaigns from a big brand. The idea was simple – give every customer the opportunity to personalize Coke bottles with his or her name, either by visiting the Coca-Cola website or by looking for their name at their local gas station or supermarket. The “Share a Coke” concept was to encourage customers to buy bottles bearing the names of their friends.
The campaign went viral almost immediately, as consumers began posting pictures of themselves with their personalized bottles on social media. Coca-Cola strengthened the content marketing campaign by sharing videos showing friends getting together to drink their personalized Cokes, using the hashtag #ShareaCoke.
The takeaway: Personalization works because it makes your customers feel special and appreciated.
Make-A-Wish Batkid Campaign
The Make-A-Wish Batkid Campaign underscores the power of local content marketing. The non-profit Make-A-Wish Foundation puts together special experiences for children with cancer or other serious medical conditions. Like many non-profit organizations, Make-A-Wish relies on content marketing and other forms of advertising to promote their work in ways that attracts the attention of donors, volunteers, and others.
In their Make-A-Wish Batkid Campaign, the Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area worked together with the City of San Francisco to grant the wish of 5-year-old Miles, who had leukemia. The foundation made Miles’ wish to become Batman come true in very special way. Through content marketing, the organization gained help from the mayor, the police and fire departments, the San Francisco Giants and many others to turn the city into Gotham for one day.
Thousands of people showed up that day to cheer the little boy on as he clashed with villains, thwarted crime, and even rescued the Giants’ mascot, Lou Seal. President Obama and astronauts on the International Space Station even sent message of encouragement. The Make-A-Wish Foundation even created a short documentary film about the Campaign, which has helped the foundation reach even more donors and volunteers for their organization. The event helped the participants present their community and organizations in a positive, caring light.
The takeaway: Connecting with likeminded people and organizations can propel your content marketing to a new level.
Forks Over Knives
Until recently, Forks Over Knives was a small meal planning service that focused on delivering delicious whole foods using plant-based recipes, and showing consumers how to make these vegan meals at home. The company’s goals were to teach everyday people how to lead a vegan lifestyle and the benefits of doing so.
There are a number of vegan meal planning services, such as VegReady and Veestro operating today. Many of these companies cater to vegans who are already familiar with the benefits of veganism and who already know how to prepare foods without any animal products – existing vegans are already committed to veganism and are already cooking for themselves.
Fork Over Knives wanted to talk to people unfamiliar with veganism and wanted to brand themselves as a solution to obesity, chronic illness and an overburdened healthcare system. They accomplished this by creating a visually appealing website that puts facts over promotion, features pictures of delicious plant-based foods, an online cooking school, a blog, eBooks, a documentary, and user-generated content.
The approach paid off – Forks Over Knives has more than 994,000 followers on Instagram and more than 1.2 million “likes” on Facebook.
The takeaway: Understanding the target audience is the first step towards creating a product that will attract interested clients.
For more information on creating successful content marketing, contact WriterAccess. Our content marketing professionals can help you identify your target audience, connect with leads, and boost your bottom line by personalizing your goods and services.
Lynn H has been a professional writer, providing exceptional content online and offline, for nearly 20 years. In that time, she has penned thousands of articles for doctors, universities, researchers, small businesses, nursing organizations, sole proprietors and more. She writes everything from blogs to white papers; her specialty is putting complex scientific concepts in simple terms. She specializes in medical writing, creating informative and engaging content for professionals in medicine, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, medical manufacturing, chiropractics, optometry, emergency care, plastic surgery and others.
