6 Ways to do ContentMarketing Rightby Paula Felps

C ommunicating with customers used to be

accomplished through one-way conversations:

television and radio commercials, newspaper ads

and direct mail campaigns. In today’s world, consumers

have become numb to such traditional methods.

They time-shift television programs and surf through

commercials; they find information online, paying little

attention to banner ads and buttons; and those who still

consume content in print form easily skip over ads.

As traditional marketing has become increasingly

ineffective, smart marketers have turned to an

alternative: content marketing. Content marketing is

about communicating with your customers without

trying to close a deal; it’s about storytelling rather than selling. Effective content marketing provides consumers

with information that educates them, engages them and

helps them make better decisions. It may be entertaining

and even tangential to selling your product, but it must

be memorable.

Brands have relied on content marketing long before it

had a name. In 1904, Jell-O gave out free recipe books—a

successful marketing plan which led to $1 million in sales

in less than two years. And soap operas are so named

because they began with commercials from Procter &

Gamble laundry detergents. Today, companies are using

new forms of communication, including infographics,

videos, mobile apps and interactive websites, to attract,

engage and retain customers.

According to the Content Marketing Institute, what separates

good content marketing from the rest is that “it makes a person stop…read…think…behave…differently.”

Many companies today are excelling at reaching out to

consumers in innovative, engaging ways. The following

analysis looks at six companies from different industries

that have used content marketing to start or change the

conversation in varied, but successful, ways.

With an emphasis on “innovation that excites,”

Nissan has been at the forefront of several

notable automotive accomplishments. In

2011, it introduced the Leaf, the first zero-emission

electric car; it also had led in such innovations as child

safety restraints, the Smart Rearview Mirror and even is

experimenting with self-cleaning paint.

In order to make its innovations known, however, Nissan

has had to change its marketing strategy and adapt it

to the digital age. By using the same outside-the-box

thinking it applies to its automotive products, Nissan

was able to find a way to reach out to consumers in an

effective and welcoming manner.

ChallengeIn a crowded market with lots of chatter, being the

voice that stands out has always been a challenge for

automotive companies. Creating content is the easy

part; getting that content to the proper audience is

increasingly more difficult. In traditional marketing,

car companies relied on advertising and automotive

journalists to spread their messages, but with fewer

traditional media outlets serving the automotive

industry, Nissan, like other automotive manufacturers,

had to find a new way to drive the conversation.

Content Marketing StrategyRather than relying on traditional media outlets to tell its

story, Nissan turned to the media relations agency Wieck

for help in assembling an in-house team of journalists.

By repurposing existing content as well as creating fresh

new stories, Nissan effectively turned the newsroom

section of its website into a multimedia masterpiece. It

employed multiple languages, crossed all geographical

boundaries and markets, and set out with the stated goal

of “making the journalists’ life much easier.” To do that,

Nissan created content that was easily accessible and

Automotive: NissanNissan Motor Company Ltd, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan.

#contentmarketing

Automotive

useful for journalists, including sales reports, backgrounders

on each model by year, video reports and images.

Using fluid, state-of-the-art design and populating

the site with ready-made, click-worthy stories further

enhanced the overall experience and made the media

center easy and enjoyable to access. Knowing that word-

of-mouth marketing is crucial to its business, Nissan

made sure that the stories, videos and images were easy

for site visitors to share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter,

Reddit and email.

Results » The site easily accomplished its goal of attracting

more attention from automotive journalists and

won PR Daily’s 2013 Media Relations Award for

“Best Online Newsroom.”

» It also won big with customers, going from an

average of 90,000 unique visitors per month before

the launch of the online media center to more than

300,000 visitors one year later.

» Their YouTube videos have surpassed

100,000 views.

SummaryNissan turned its focus away from traditional automotive

marketing/journalism and began using digital formats to

tell its stories. Those stories by in-house journalists focus on

the cars as seen through the eyes of professional drivers, car

designers and customers .The content feels authentic and

accessible instead of being filled with hype, and it lives up to

Nissan’s tagline of “innovation that excites.”

As an international expert in business-critical IT

systems, Sungard Availability Services is unique

in that it provides a full spectrum of technology

services. In addition to helping customers imagine and

build secure, flexible IT systems that can take them into

the future, Sungard also provides IT consulting, business

continuity management software, managed IT services

and disaster recovery.

ChallengeSungard has faced an ongoing marketing dilemma:

selling managed IT services and other essential-but-not-

exciting technology means reaching a narrow audience

of buyers with products that are more about specs than

sex appeal. With so many companies offering a range of

B2B technology, Sungard wanted to find a way to break

through the noise and clutter clogging the marketplace

and bring attention to their services in a positive and

memorable way.

Content Marketing StrategySungard chose an unexpected route, capitalizing on the

ongoing popularity of zombies in pop culture. They used

the threat of a zombie apocalypse to illustrate the need

for having a resilient business infrastructure. An awareness

campaign featured a zombie infographic and e-book

and compared the task of a business preparing to move to

the cloud to its ability to fend of zombies.

The 2013 campaign was timed to align with the summer

release of the zombie-themed movie, “World War Z,”

which added to the buzz surrounding zombies. Using

multiple marketing channels, the campaign was loaded

with potential ways to go viral, and that’s exactly what

happened: A targeted promotion for LinkedIn, Facebook

and Twitter resulted in more than 2,000 shares.

B2B: Sungard ASSungard Availability Services (Sungard AS) is a provider of information availability through managed IT, cloud and recovery services.

#contentmarketing

B2B

Sungard also ran direct mail and email campaigns that

encouraged recipients to join the campaign via social

media, and gave away 25 Zombie Survival Apocalypse Kits

to help boost its profile on social media platforms.

In addition to creating awareness about its services,

Sungard hoped to retarget companies they hadn’t worked

with in a while, and used the zombie theme to inquire if

those one-time customers were “now among the walking

dead”—or if Sungard could assist them.

Results » The campaign helped drive the success of this effort,

gaining not only customer interest but earning a Killer

Content Award from the Demand Gen Report, which

recognizes cutting-edge marketing campaigns.

» Most importantly, it was effective in engaging

customers, earning higher click-to-open rates of up to 3 percent in two of its campaigns and generating a

reactivation of 2 percent among contacts who had not

interacted with Sungard in the past six months.

SummaryBy taking a unique approach to its services and finding

a way to tie into a popular culture theme, Sungard’s

innovative content marketing was able to draw attention

to its services in an entertaining and engaging way that

involved multiple marketing channels.

From humble beginnings in 1973, when it made

tools for climbers, Patagonia has grown into a

popular active wear brand that’s known around the

globe. Catering to non-motorized sports such as climbing,

fishing, skiing, snowboarding, paddling and running,

the company clings to an environmentally friendly

mindset and works diligently to spread this philosophy.

It is so intent on becoming part of the solution to the

environmental crisis that its founder, Yvon Chouinard, has

even advised customers not to buy his products without

first considering their impact on the environment.

In 2005, Patagonia’s launched a blog named “The Cleanest

Line” that focuses on sports and environmental issues,

which has found a following among outdoor enthusiasts.

On Tumblr, it has blogs on such topics as climbing,

fly fishing, trail running and more. The company’s

commitment to environmentalism over consumerism has

allowed it to share its message and educate the masses—

while finding a devoted following in the process.

The company’s focus on the environment is evidenced by

its website, which includes a section on “Environmental

and Social Responsibility,” and by such campaigns as its

Black Friday “Worn Wear” swap, in which it encouraged

customers to trade in gently used Patagonia clothing for

someone else’s slightly worn clothing.

ChallengeCompany leaders have identified their unique position

as an opportunity to lead by example and to share a

message of environmental responsibility that it hopes

consumers will take to heart. Realizing that the only

way to make progress on the environmental front

would be to elect leaders that support environmental

practices, Patagonia used its position to encourage

customers to learn more about the candidates and their

environmental position in advance of the November

2014 mid-term elections.

Consumer Products: PatagoniaPatagonia, Inc. is a clothing company which focuses mainly on high-end outdoor clothing. The company is based in Ventura, California.

#contentmarketing

Consumer Products

Content Marketing StrategyThe “Vote the Environment” campaign was launched one

month before the elections. Patagonia used the hashtag

#becauseilove and encouraged people to tweet about

the ways they were voting for the environment and why

it was important to them. In addition, it provided photo

booths in its stores, where customers could take a photo

of themselves holding a sign that explained why and how

they were voting for the environment. Those photos were

then shared on Twitter.

Results » As a direct result of the campaign, about 110,000

consumers registered to vote.

» Almost 9,000 tweets were made using the

#becauseilove hashtag, and nearly 4,000 people

took pictures in Patagonia stores and shared them

on Twitter.

» In all, the campaign garnered around 12 million total impressions.

SummaryPatagonia is intent on having great conversations with

customers rather than simply going for the sale. In the

process of deliberately ignoring the hard sell, and in some

cases actually encouraging people not to buy, the brand

has cemented its sincerity and has found unprecedented

loyalty with environmentally minded customers

Originally launched in 2009 as a financial

planning service for women, LearnVest’s easy-to-

understand approach to finances quickly found

favor with both genders. In just six years, this company

has gone from an unknown startup to a thought leader

in the financial industry, and much of that is due to the

company’s open, friendly approach to financial planning.

It has become a leading example of how a successful

content strategy can change the conversation.

Although LearnVest sells personal finance software and

offers planning services, it also gives away a tremendous

amount of information that helps consumers make

more educated decisions and learn more about the

financial planning process. And, thanks to more than

50 syndication deals, LearnVest content appears on

a number of trusted and highly trafficked websites,

including Huffington Post, Forbes.com and The Wall

Street Journal.

ChallengeMoney has traditionally been a private topic, and creating

an environment, particularly online, where people feel

free to discuss their financial concerns, problems and

successes hadn’t been done before. LearnVest wanted to

change the way people approach the conversation about

money and give it the feel of an entertainment brand

with all the authenticity of a trusted financial planner or

family banker.

Content Marketing StrategyLearnVest’s biggest asset is the ability to talk to

its audience in a way that is encouraging and not

condescending, and manages to be personal without

invading their privacy. The company relies heavily

on social media, for example, starting and following

conversations on Twitter and also using it to promote

owned content; going deeper into the conversation on

Facebook; and driving traffic back to articles through

Pinterest. To strip away the sterile images generally

associated with financial companies, LearnVest relies on Instagram, where it posts images of what’s going on

behind the scenes, and it uses LinkedIn to showcase its

more professionally focused content.

An email newsletter and content on the LearnVest site

both share personal stories of people struggling with

money issues and explain how they overcame them.

There are also how-to stories allowing people to gauge

where they’re at in their financial outlook and determine

what steps could be helpful.

Finance: LearnVestThe LearnVest Program focuses on behavior change and “takes you from cutting expenses to budgeting for goals to investing your money.”

#contentmarketing

Finance

Results » Visibility on social media has been essential; the

company reports that it gets a surprising number of

referrals from Pinterest.

» Giving away content through other sites has also paid

off; two years ago about 4,000 new visitors came to

the site monthly; today that number has ballooned to

about 150,000.

SummaryLearnVest has solidified its reputation as a trusted financial

planning company in three vital ways: By providing

consumers with the information they’re looking for and

presenting it in a way that’s relatable and attainable;

building relationships with other publishers who promote

and distribute the content; reaching out to customers in

the space where they live, whether that’s Pinterest, LinkedIn,

Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. By going out to greet the

customer, LearnVest has brought the customer home.

Formed in 1982 by a team of computer scientists,

Symantec has grown both in size and services over

the past three decades. With more than 18,500

employees around the globe, it is one of the world’s

largest software companies, providing security and

storage solutions for both businesses and consumers.

Best known for its Norton Anti-Virus consumer software,

Symantec’s name is instantly recognized. But the

company felt it had a bigger story to tell and that it wasn’t

properly conveying the message that it could provide

customers with greater security than any other company

in the world.

ChallengeSymantec’s approach to social media was much like its

security: low-key and sensible. That meant they weren’t

getting noticed in today’s information-driven world, and

they felt their offerings were being overlooked. In particular,

they were interested in increasing awareness about their

enterprise mobile device management services.

The BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device, debate is one that

many businesses, both large and small, have struggled

with. Symantec was eager to position itself as a leader

in the device management space, but also knew it

had to get its message out in a way that differed from

competitors, who were using long, explanatory blog posts

and articles or boring white papers to discuss the topic.

Content Marketing StrategySymantec knew it had to cut through the noise and

clutter to grab the attention of customers and change

the conversation. Working with branding experts Render

Positive, they set out to create content specifically with

the purpose of going viral.

Technology: SymantecThe LearnVest Program focuses on behavior change and “takes you from cutting expenses to budgeting for goals to investing your money.”

#contentmarketing

Technology

After identifying all the most important pieces of creating

a BYOD policy, Symantec streamlined the message into a

simple, visually appealing infographic that made it easy to

understand. The move was designed to make Symantec

synonymous with the BYOD trend, and to re-establish

brand recognition.

Results » Within the first few days of the infographic’s release,

it had been shared across networks several thousand

times, reaching nearly 2 million people.

» It gained the top position on Google under the search

“Create BYOD Policy,” ranked in Twitter’s top news

for searches on BYOD and trended in the Computer

Software section of LinkedIn, where it reached some

330,000 subscribers.

» In addition, the infographic received front page

coverage on VentureBeat.com as well as picking

up coverage in publications like CMSWire and

AppsTechNews.

SummaryBy taking a topic that was top of mind both for corporations

and the people who work for them, and then distilling it

down to a simple, easy-to-understand format, Symantec

effectively moved to the front of the line. They once again

prove that cutting through the clutter and delivering a

message in a simple format is the most effective way to

stand out from competitors.

Celebrity Cruises built its reputation as a lifestyle

brand, a position it solidified when it merged

with Royal Caribbean International in 1997

and created Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. The main

differentiator between Celebrity Cruises and other lines

is its commitment to modern luxury and providing

an experience that embraces that notion at every

turn. Spacious accommodations, attentive service and

exceptional cuisine are all part of the cruise line’s mantra.

Ensuring that customers are enticed by that luxury and

pampering is key in the Celebrity Cruises story, and

by employing new tools from the digital space, the

company has found new and effective ways to make it an

immersive experience for consumers.

ChallengeAs with all industries, Celebrity Cruises knew it needed to

connect consumers with the brand’s promise of modern

luxury. In today’s competitive travel marketplace, that

means Celebrity needed to find a convincing way to

communicate what differentiates it from lower priced

vacation options and other cruise lines. Since the average

cruise enthusiast takes a trip every 12 to 18 months,

Celebrity wanted to find ways to keep existing customers

already familiar with the company’s offerings, but also

create that same excitement in customers who have

never set foot on a Celebrity ship.

Content Marketing StrategyOne of the first steps Celebrity recognized was that it

needed to bring the experience to life in a compelling

and memorable way. Celebrity transformed its four static,

printed brochures into an app that allowed customers to

explore their dream destination interactively on a tablet.

An iPhone app, called Xplorer, lets users digitally

Travel: Celebrity CruisesCelebrity Cruises was founded in April 1988 as a subsidiary of the Greece-based Chandris Group to operate upmarket cruise ships to Bermuda.

#contentmarketing

Travel

visit more than 150 destinations, take a tour of the cruise

ships, plan each day of their vacation and more.

While marketing to consumers who were planning

a vacation (but had not yet booked) was crucial,

an essential component of success was convincing

customers to book their next cruise while still enjoying

their current vacation. The Future Cruise Sales App,

designed in conjunction with JWT/Casa Miami, allows

the on-board sales team to capitalize on the excitement

and enjoyment of guests on the cruise. Using iPads

loaded with the app, the sales team can show guests

other destinations, complete itineraries, take them on

tours of specific cruise ships and thelp them imagine

themselves on their next cruise.

Results » With more than 2,000 guests on an average cruise,

being able to market to them while still on board

provides Celebrity Cruises with a tremendous

advantage. Offering customized quotes, trip planning

services and personalized attention nurtures and

expedites the sales process.

» While Celebrity has not released specific numbers on

how their content programs have affected sales since

being introduced in August 2014, the cruise line says

it has made the sales process “exponentially more effective” and has allowed Celebrity to generate more

leads and close more bookings.

SummaryIn today’s world, where travel options are seemingly

unlimited and growing by the day, Celebrity Cruises

has created a way to catch and keep the attention of

its customers by putting the live, interactive experience

directly into their hands.

1. Show and Tell Don’t Sell. Every company has a story – what’s yours?

Involving customers in the story behind the company

or certain products can help build brand loyalty and

increase interest in what you have to offer. Interesting

stories can easily go viral and create valuable, revenue-

generating word-of-mouth marketing.

2. Make The First Move That means giving customers something of value before

asking them to invest in you. Providing customers with

information they can use allows them to build trust in

your product and feel more engaged with your company.

3. Utilize New TechnologyThe way you can share your message is constantly

evolving in today’s world. Social media and video—when

used properly—can make the difference in how well

you reach customers. Know where your market is, and

find the most effective and engaging way to deliver your

message to them.

4. Blaze New TrailsJust because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it

can’t be done. In successful content marketing, thinking

outside the box and creating innovative, buzzworthy

campaigns can bring the kind of attention that money just

can’t buy. Need ideas? Check out AdWeek’s “AdFreak” blog

for the best (and some of the worst) in creative marketing.

5.Be Patient Very few things happen overnight, even in today’s rapidly

changing world. But a great content marketing strategy

informed by the needs of your target market is your best

bet for retaining existing customers and creating new ones.

Take AwaysDespite the difference in industry and customers, the above companies shared one thing in common: all of them used content marketing to get their message out to the masses and reaped tangible returns. Together, they also provide best practices to use in content marketing:

http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/what-is-content-marketing/

http://www.adweek.com/prnewser/4-trends-in-content-marketing/112340

http://www.marketing-interactive.com/events/comes-nissans-innovation-exciting-mantra-get-right/

http://www.prdaily.com/Awards/SpecialEdition/218.aspx

https://flipboard.com/topic/mantra/nissans-mantra-for-content-marketing-success/a-CXspI7voSBiKdkMO_-9_4Q%3Aa%3A33115858-c4fd579a92%2Fmarketing-interactive.com

http://www.sungardas.com/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article/case-study/zombie-themed-campaign-sungard

http://www.sungardas.com/company/news-and-events/pressreleases/pages/sungard-availability-services-recognized-for-creative-marketing-campaigns.aspx

http://contentmarketingallstars.com/post/104684257922/content-marketing-all-stars-strick-walker-of

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/ad-day-patagonia-136745

Sourceshttp://www.thecleanestline.com

http://blog.xivic.com/how-patagonia-does-content-marketing-right/

https://scripted.com/content-marketing-2/learnvest-content-strategy/

http://www.branddrivendigital.com/learnvest-social-media/

http://www.symantec.com/about/profile/

http://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/discover

https://renderpositive.com/docs/case-studies-symantec-131108.pdf

http://tv.adobe.com/watch/digital-publishing-symposium-2014/celebrity-cruises-connecting-with-customers-long/

http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/Adobe/en/customer-success/pdfs/celebrity-cruises-case-study.pdf

https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/2015/02/adobe-dps-makes-onboard-bookings-smooth-sailing-for-celebrity-cruises.html

http://www.adweek.com/adfreak