5 Great Content Marketing Examples

Content marketing involves the creation and sharing of content with the goal of increasing awareness.  It’s been around for hundreds of years but only recently has the concept been popularized.  Common examples would be email newsletters, corporate blogs and videos.  Think you can’t drive measurable business goals with content?  In some of these examples, you’ll see how content marketing has helped businesses grow revenues. 

Marketing activities and content can (and should) be mapped into a marketing funnel.  At the top you have awareness, and at the bottom you have conversion (for example, a purchase). So it stands to reason that if you are generating more awareness, and efficiently converting those that are aware of you into customers, you will grow your bottom line. 

Wine Library TV

Some of you might know Gary Vaynerchuk as the brash CEO of the the digital marketing agency Vaynermedia or as the host of the Ask Gary Vee Show, but his backstory is truly remarkable.  He grew his father’s liquor store in New Jersey from a $3 million dollar business to a $60 million dollar business in about 5 years.  The corner stone of his content marketing strategy was a Youtube show called Wine Library TV.  

Gary has written many books on his strategies so I won’t go into great detail, but I will say that Wine Library TV showed that content that’s both entertaining and educational, delivered on the right platform, can drive tangible business results. 

Buffer’s Blog

I’ve often joked that nobody gets marketed to more than marketers.  But if there’s one blog that consistently publishes useful, actionable content for marketers, it would be the social media scheduling tool, Buffer.  No wonder it wins awards.   I would also like to point out how good their blog’s design and functionality is.  Overall, you’ll notice how visual it is, and in particular, notice how well designed the “cards” are that promote the most recent stories. 

Hootsuite Academy

Social media monitoring and publishing platform Hootsuite builds awareness for their tool through Hootsuite Academy, which is full of comprehensive educational resources.  Not only do they teach you how to use Hootsuite, they also help you learn how to succeed at Social Marketing.  Hootsuite understands that your success is their success, and they have taken the time to develop free resources to help get you there. 

I should also point out that for a fee, you can also get certified in advanced topics like social advertising, strategy and selling. 

Patagonia

I grew up wearing Patagonia jackets, shorts and pants.  I love talking about how they make quality products because my family still has many of the items we bought over 30 years ago.  Patagonia is a company with a conscience, and they even encourage people to have their Patagonia items fixed instead of replacing them.

Back in 2013, they launched the Worn Wear campaign to showcase how well their products are made.  They encouraged customers to trade in or sell their used gear instead of buying new stuff.  To launch the campaign, they commissioned professional filmmakers to create films about “the stories we wear”.  Wouldn’t you say the quality of the execution matches the quality of the products?   Something to think about when you are creating content for your own brand…

Anderton’s Music Store

A few years ago, I noticed how many music and guitar brands have gotten into content marketing and it’s been interesting to see two of my interests collide.  You see, I used to play guitar in bands when I was high school.  I don’t play much these days but I still watch a lot of guitar videos on Youtube.  Eventually, I stumbled upon a UK-based guitarist named Rob Chapman and then noticed he started creating videos with a store called Anderton’s in the UK. 

For years they have been consistently putting out high-quality videos where they demonstrate gear, do blindfold challenges and other crazy things like see how loud they can play.  The results?  They recently won best online engagement and dealer of the year awards at an industry trade show. You might say they are the number one music store in the world!

Here’s what Lee Anderton himself has to say about content marketing and its effect on his business:

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed these five great content marketing examples.  Hopefully, they have sparked something in you to go out and use content for your company or brand. 

If  you need help with content marketing, please get in touch with one of our marketing consultants for a free consultation.