What is content marketing?
In short, content marketing involves creating and distributing content online to your target audience. In a more defined sense, it is a strategic marketing approach that entails researching, creating, publishing and distributing relevant and valuable content online to your target audience, with an aim to attract and retain new customers to your business.
Content is varied depending on the company or organisation, and can include anything from regular blogs, to e-newsletters, to Facebook posts, all with an aim to attract new customers and retain current customers.
Content marketing is not simply advertising, however. It’s important that you are delivering relevant and valuable content to your customer that will enrich both their relationship with your brand, and their knowledge of your brand’s key messages.
Taking a look at some successful examples of content marketing around the world, it’s important to notice the key message being sent to customers. The organisations are not pushing their products, but are instead focusing on creating content that their customers can engage with, and relate to. By doing so, the organisation is enhancing its relationship with the customer by showing them ‘we get you’. The organisation understands its customers wants and needs, and creates content that is applicable to these wants and needs.
Virgin Atlantic’s ‘Between Meetings’ blog
A well known airline, Virgin have created content marketing that doesn’t focus on selling flights or destinations. Instead, their ‘between meetings’ blog is designed to appeal to one of its biggest customers; the business traveller. The blogs entail quick activities that can be done in major cities between meetings, providing valuable knowledge to a customer, without advertising its services as an airline.
It works because: Virgin doesn’t need to sell its services to a business traveller that will continue to fly year-round for work commitments. But by Virgin showing that it understands the wants and needs of a time pressed business traveller, it enhances its existing relationship and helps to curate brand loyalty.
Uber’s ‘Driver Stories’ blog
Despite its success with younger generations, there is still a lot of hesitation to use a service such as Uber, particularly as it’s a relatively new company. For some people, the prospect of getting into an unmarked car and accepting a ride from a stranger is too uncomfortable. This is where Uber’s ‘Driver Stories’ blog plays a part. Appealing to new or potential customers, the blog interviews current Uber drivers, and allows them to share why they decided to become a driver. Putting a name and story to a previously faceless driver helps to put new customers at ease.
It works because: Uber is helping to reassure new or potential customers that their drivers are normal, everyday people. By doing so, it allows new customers to have their concerns answered, whilst laying the foundations for a potential relationship between the organisation and potential customers.
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