Content marketing is taking over the industry. But what are the actual activities behind this technique?
To give you a few ideas, we reached out to the experts for content marketing examples. Keep reading to see successful content marketing in action.
Blogging
One of the most popular content marketing examples is the company blog. A blog lets you reach new audiences and develop relationships with customers. Here’s Kenneth Burke from TextRequest on the power of blogging.
We’ve been publishing bi-weekly content targeting specific keywords and phrases for the last 8 months (we’d been publishing more sporadically before that). And since then, we’ve seen double-digit month-over-month growth in our traffic.
Our goal is to reach the top of SERPs to drive traffic and engagement (which we’ve done with several posts). We also always provide the next step in our posts using CTAs.
Our process is fairly simple. We look at what people are searching for that fits our voice. Then we create quality content on those topics. Content marketing for search benefits is often a battle against time, but it’s clear that creating quality content works consistently.
Social Media
Social platforms let you communicate with customers. you can do this by responding to queries, posting company updates, or sharing valuable resources. Joan Stewart from Publicity Hound uses Pinterest to share content and drive visitors to her site.
Search for publicity expert on Google and either my website or my Pinterest board titled 50 Tips for Free Publicity is near the top of page one search results.
The Pinterest board is an excellent example of how to use social media for topics that don’t lend themselves to compelling images. Each tip was created using PowerPoint and links to a post on my blog. The board description and the individual pin descriptions are loaded with keywords. This board ranks so well in search that when I hit 50 tips, I kept going. I have no plans to stop.
Online Courses
Content marketing is about educating your customers. This develops relationships and builds your authority as a thought leader. Shannon Mattern from WP+BFF shares a unique content marketing example to look into.
To capture leads, I created a free online course to teach solopreneurs how to build a website from start to finish with WordPress. And I get significant social media traffic from it because it’s such a comprehensive resource.
After providing highly actionable information to a lead, I then offer more targeted tutorials for sales in an email automation sequence. I also regularly create behind-the-scenes content on my blog, which engages my community and drives sales.
You might think showing a potential web design client exactly how to do it themselves would result in no sales. But many of my clients decided to work with me after seeing what it takes and deciding they don’t want to put the time into it. They trust that I can do it because they’ve seen my process in action. It makes for smooth sales calls!
Infographics
Infographics pack a ton of information into an aesthetic image. And when done right, your customers will share it, driving traffic back to your site. Hannah Moore from Intermarketing shares a content marketing example for one of her clients.
For my client instantprint, we carried out a survey involving 500 small business owners, asking them questions around productivity and business growth. With the data from the results, instantprint then created an infographic and blog post, which we used when outreaching. We gained over 40 pieces of coverage from regional and national newspapers, plus, business publications.
The great thing about something like this is that you can reuse this data in the future for more blog posts, social media updates, or to produce a different angle when outreaching to press.
eBooks
EBooks are a content marketing technique key to the lead-gen process. The idea is to create a valuable eBook and get quality visitors to download it. Elena Lathrop from CrownTV explains the details here.
Our most successful initiative has been creating eBooks that require prospects to enter their contact information and download. Some of the eBooks have broader subject matter, allowing us to target higher funnel prospects. Others are narrower with the intent to bring us highly qualified leads.
Even if the leads don’t convert right away, they enter the customer journey and continually see other resources we offer. Producing these eBooks has also cost us little to nothing. I’ve been able to create them myself using templates and free online tools. It’s been an automated source of leads for us so far – even the eBooks we released months ago still bring in regular leads.
Podcasting
Podcasting is taking off. You’re able to discuss topics thoroughly. They’re also informal in nature, which keeps listeners engaged. Mitch Brudy from Freiwald Law is taking advantage of this content marketing technique.
We use podcasts that talk about news stories and how they relate to the law and how our laws shape the story.
Our content strategy focuses on using trending topics to drive traffic to the website. Once people are there, we hope they will get a different point of view of the stories and understand them better.
Law is tricky because PPC is so expensive that we need to capture people earlier in the conversion funnel. We need to be there before they need a lawyer. So by the time they do need one, they are thinking about our firm.
Segmented Email Marketing
Email is still an effective way to reach your customers. And businesses are taking email marketing to new levels through segmentation. Conrad Magalis from Advance Acceptance shares examples of email marketing in action here.
A content marketing strategy we’ve implemented is segmented email marketing campaigns with industry insights and company information to each of our verticals. We use five separate email marketing accounts. This silos our customers and sales contacts to make sure we’re staying organized and able to track conversions at a granular level.
Video
Video is similar to podcasting. You’re able to pack information into a short clip. But video goes a step further and adds the visual component. Brian Davidson from Matchnode shares a content marketing success story here.
For one of our clients in the renewable energy market, we created an explainer video to introduce their business to those with interest in saving money on their utilities.
Their business model isn’t necessarily intuitive. So an explainer video was created to demonstrate exactly how they can help simplify the process. It also showed how the customer can save money while doing it.
Almost immediately upon launching the video, we saw website traffic spike, as well as an influx of new leads.
After some tinkering with the targeting and copy, we’ve brought the cost per lead down to some of the lowest levels they’ve ever seen.
And even more importantly, these are highly qualified leads who understand exactly what service they’re signing up for and are excited to get started.
This video served to sit at the top of the funnel, but it turned out to be a great lead magnet. It was also a way to create Facebook Custom Audiences for later retargeting efforts.
Content Marketing Examples from the Experts
Content marketing is broad. It’s a technique that groups together multiple marketing activities.
The take away from these content marketing examples is the goal of providing value to customers. Whether it’s through writing, sharing, or interactive content.
Thank you to our expert contributors for sharing their content marketing examples. Want to share your own example? Make sure to join the conversation in our comments below.
