Generating ideas for your content marketing
strategy can be extremely tough. It gets even harder when you focus so much on
your brand goals that you get tunnel vision. Fortunately, there are plenty of
brands out there doing an amazing job with content marketing and getting great
results.
You should totally steal from them. Really.
Think of it as evolution rather than
imitation. You see what works for them, and try to put your own twist on it. As
you measure results, you refine your campaigns over time to become a better
version more-suited for your unique branding and goals. If you’re doing it
right, someone will steal from you someday.
To get you inspired by others’ inspiration,
here are five amazing content marketing campaign strategies that are completely
worth ripping off.
Focus on Storytelling and Client Successes
Some content fails to hit the mark because
it’s too deeply embedded within the brand. It lacks a human touch, and people
may therefore end up trusting the messages less.
To come across as more authentic, pull back.
Think less about your brand or product and more about what your particular
solution _does_
. Or, focus on a pain
point it solves.
An amazingly creative example of this is the
Fixodent video “ [Saving\\
Aslan](https://vimeo.com/140981314)
”. It covers the struggles of a gorgeous white lion who
suffered from a loss of his canine. To save the lion and ensure he enjoys a
good quality of life, Fixodent sponsored wildlife activists efforts to perform
surgery on the lion.
The video hits tons of high points: emotion,
gorgeous animals, environmental advocacy, people performing powerful acts of
kindness, redemption. It has all of the ingredients to go viral, and it
communicates a parallel message to the branding without beating you over the
head with it.
Another great example comes from REI. It’s Co-Op Journal
site highlights feats and lifestyles for people who live to have outdoor
adventures. The stories are human-focused and promise to show readers things
they’ve never seen before: a powerful recipe to draw clicks. People get
inspired, they learn a lesson, and they get to learn about new heroes worth
keeping track of.
You don’t have to be quite as ambitious as
these two brands to find your own version of storytelling success. Just take a
step back to focus on your clients or the difference you make in the world.
Tell a great story. Highlight great things
happening in your industry. Demonstrate what your philosophy or business
approach can do. Clicks will naturally follow.
Crowdsource Content
Crowdsourcing is an brilliant way to win
engagement, improve the appeal of your content, and develop relationships with
your audience.
Airbnb, for instance, [combines\\
storytelling with crowdsourcing](https://www.airbnb.com/community-stories). They let their own user base tell
them what makes the platform special, and then they add a layer of gloss to the
story so that it fits their brand standards. The stories end up coming across
as more authentic and interesting as a result.
Another option for crowdsourcing is to let
your own audience decide on your next campaign. Makeup brand Bobbi Brown
allowed its social community to vote on the lipstick shades
they would bring out of retirement.
Coca Cola let people submit entire marketing
campaign ideas for a slew of their campaigns.
You don’t have to have huge audiences to get
this type of traction, though. Simply let people feel like they are
participating in something and that their voice matters.
A stellar example would be to highlight a
particular community or organization through crowd input. Or, you could donate
to charity and let people decide on their favorite cause. Campaign strategies
like these build momentum as they continue and have huge payoffs when people
see their own ideas come to life.
Be Quirky, Go Viral
For a time, brands tried oh-so-hard to be
weird with mixed results.
Yet, weird, humorous and unusual content often
gets the most attention through social channels.
The key to success with this strategy is to
approach content like a normal social user would. Think about what would be
genuinely be funny, intriguing, or at very least worth a closer look. Let go of
your professionalism (but don’t be offensive!), and see what happens when you
let your own interests or weird ideas come to life.
Denny’s has found huge success with the
strategy. Quirky posts like this Twitter photo
earn tons of attention
and retweets. They barely have anything to do with a traditional ad goal, but
they get people interacting.
An auteur-type strategy works especially well
if your content can find appeal within a niche community. Arby’s use of
packaging and branded imagery to create artistic references to video games,
anime, and popular pop culture franchises has been a huge hit with online communities.
People go online for good art and entertaining
content, after all. Give them something they would love to see, but keep your
brand visible so that people understand a connection is there.
Create a Subtly Branded Publication to Build Trust
Not to give you whiplash, but this strategy is
in many ways the opposite of the above one. Rather than offering amusing or
beautiful diversions, your content can become one of the most trusted and
valued resources among your audiences.
Turbotax company Intuit offers a great
example. Taxes and financing are a dense subject not too many people feel
comfortable with. A [handy blog that answers their questions and defines key\\
concepts](https://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/)
is therefore likely to bring them a sigh of relief.
American Express’s small business blog
expands
on this concept even further. In addition to advice and introductory
information, they provide news, highlight success stories, and offer opinions
on important matters in the small business community.
The true mark of success for these blogs is
that people will readily link to them and click on them in search results
without bracing themselves for an ad pitch. Provide value. Satisfy your
audience’s needs. If you can, they will trust you wholeheartedly.
Collaborate With Micro-Influencers
Now is the time to stop ignoring
micro-influencers.
Chances are almost 100% that there is someone
in your field with more followers and perceived authority than you. Your job is
to locate these influencers and find some way to collaborate with them.
A “collaboration” can be something as simple
as a request to share your content or review something you send them. A subtle
way to do this is to include a quote or reference to the person in a piece of
content and tag them when promoting the content on social media.
Collaboration can go much deeper than that,
though. Many makeup companies are finding huge success by partnering with
YouTube channels that offer makeup tips and reviews, for instance.
Makeup brand [MAC even asked top beauty influencers to come up with\\
unique shades and product types](https://www.racked.com/2017/2/23/14551526/influencer-collaborations-manny-gutierrez-shayla-mitchell-mac)
related to their content channels.
The brands get to share exposure and motivate the audiences of the channels,
and the influencers get to feel like they are now a part of the products they
review and interact with.
Just make sure to follow best practices for influencer marketing campaigns.
The most important is to align your campaign to your goals and prioritize
things like conversions over vanity metrics.
Steal to Succeed
Every business idea is an iteration on
something that came before it, and that includes content marketing strategies. By
using the above ideas or looking to the examples to come up with your own, you
can branch out and try new things.
Well, they’ll be new to you at least!