Content Marketing Blog mint

Content Marketing Blog

5 Beacons of Light in the Content Marketing Sea

The world of content marketing is like the Pacific Ocean. It is vast (most businesses today use content marketing in some form), it is stormy (lots of competition) and it is mostly the same from Los Angeles to Tokyo.

Even with all the competition, there are a few companies that are making a splash and getting great results by doing things differently.

In this blog post, we’ll explore the content marketing strategies of 5 big brand companies, as well as how YOU can use these strategies in your business.

  1. Create Expert Content and Command a Position of Authority

IBM understands that their customers crave technical and expert level content. Serving a range of industry verticals, their blog content reflects the various areas they cover. Every piece that IBM puts out across online channels is expert level, technically accurate and authoritative.

When you fulfill a customer’s need, they trust, respect and like you more and they will see you as an authority. You can emulate IBM’s content strategy by giving your customers what they really want; not what you think they want. When your customers talk to you, listen intently. The more you understand what they want, the closer you get to delivering it. Create content in a voice that reflects your brand’s authority and expertise on the subject matter.

  1. Lighten Up

HootSuite is a brand that specializes in producing content that is visually interesting and that people want to read. One thing they do wonderfully is using humor.

For example, their viral video from 2014 called “A Game of Social Thrones” is a play on the name of the popular TV show, Game of Thrones. You can take away from HootSuite that even if your content is about serious matters, you can still be light-hearted and have fun with your content marketing.

  1. Create Content that is Meant to be Shared

Social media is an integral part of marketing strategy today. You don’t just want people to read your communications; you also want them to engage with you and share your content.

Buffer has done a great job with this. They have carefully tested every area of social media so that they aren’t just a blog, but a social sharing machine. They have outstanding content which is a prerequisite in content marketing, but they angle every part of their strategy to increase shares, likes and ReTweets on social media channels.

  1. Tell A Good Story

People learn and remember information best when it comes in the form of a story. Stories are emotionally engaging and a simple yet effective way to grab attention and keep your audience hooked.

Microsoft does this with great success. Most of their content tells a story, but not a story about their software as you might think. They tell stories about real people, and their struggles and triumphs. They then tie in this emotion by bringing the readers’ attention back to software.

You can use this in your own business. Not by telling stories of how you came up with your business idea, but by sharing the stories of your customers, and how your product or service solved their problems and improved their business or personal life.

  1. Gain Trust Through Customer Service

McDonalds understands that they have room to improve when it comes to how the public views the company. The company has created a content marketing campaign that invites people to ask whatever question they may have regarding their food and service, and they answer honestly. This shows that the brand cares deeply about customers and wants to be known as a trustworthy source.

If you can answer your client’s questions and start a discussion, you’ll gain their trust, and more business will come your way.

Want More?

If you find yourself floundering in the world of content marketing, then be inspired by some of the world’s top brands. If you’d like to learn more about brands paving the way to their customer’s hearts and minds, read this article:
http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/03/content-marketing-innovations-brands/

Interested in a discussion about turbo charging your content marketing and rapidly increasing your results? Talk to us at MintCopy. Call 888-646-8003 or send us an email.

Share


Recent Posts

Sheetal Pinto - 5/25/2023 06:00

In the past month alone, our team has worked with more than a few small businesses all fired up to jump on the content marketing bandwagon. Because guess what, they have heard of ChatGPT and other ‘magical’ content creation tools that fill them with confidence that they too can dish out content like a pro. Of course they can, with one caveat though—digital content, whether created using generative AI or by professional copywriters must serve a human audience for whom it proves undeniably valuable. So, we’ll take this opportunity to go back to the basics and cover the essentials of how to function effectively in the realm of digital content marketing.   

Sheetal Pinto - 5/11/2023 06:00

What Kind of Material Should I Read for Business Insights?

Reading is like the spinach of the writing world, except instead of bulging muscles, it gives you bulging vocabularies! The more you read, the more you absorb the written word and the better equipped you are to string together coherent sentences that engage, convert, and transform. It's like a superpower, except instead of flying or shooting lasers out of your eyes, you can craft an epic tale that will make people laugh, cry, and question their existence all at once. So don't skip your literary greens, folks. Your writing muscles will thank you!
Are you struggling to write compelling content for your business? Don't worry, you're not alone. But before you hit that panic button, remember what Stephen King said, "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that." Yes, that Stephen King. The horror writer. If he can dish out writing advice, so can we! And the advice is simple: read. Here are 3 reasons to build a reading habit.

Sheetal Pinto - 4/13/2023 08:11

Affordable Content Marketing for SMBs - FREE eBook

Every small and medium sized business has unique challenges. Building a strong customer base is a common struggle for SMBs. The content writers at MintCopy have put together content marketing best practices and useful tips to help your content marketing efforts deliver the right results. Download this free eBook - our essential guide to creating content that will transform the way you attract and engage customers.

Sheetal Pinto - 3/30/2023 06:00

How to Avoid Making these Mistakes in Your Content

When you invest time and money in creating content for your website and other digital assets, you want to ensure you get a good ROI. Whether you hire a content agency, write content in-house, or hire a freelance copywriter, it’s important to monitor how published content is performing. Content that isn’t ranking well on Google might be ridden with mistakes that turn customers away and deter positive engagement. Here are three common content mistakes made by copywriters that could be keeping your content from reaching its full potential.

Sheetal Pinto - 3/16/2023 00:00

Content Marketing Best Practices that Garner Attention

Remember the movie, “Field of Dreams”? It made popular the phrase, “If you build it, he will come”. Shoeless Joe and other baseball legends may have magically appeared on a cornfield-turned-baseball diamond. However, when it comes to content marketing, your audience will need more than a field of dreams to attract their attention. If you’re trying to get more traffic to your website, don’t wait for your local SEO efforts to direct your audience. Give them a hand with these proven content strategies.

Sheetal Pinto - 3/2/2023 06:00

How to Use a Pillar Page to Improve your Content Quality

Consider the dictionary meaning of ‘pillar’ – “a firm, upright support for a superstructure”, also defined as “a fundamental precept”. Your content marketing campaign is your ‘superstructure’ that requires a ‘firm, upright support’. That’s the key function of content pillar pages. Without these essential supports, your ‘content superstructure’ will neither stand strong, nor will it attract the right attention.

Sheetal Pinto - 2/23/2023 06:00

Two Proven Ways to Organize Products with Similar Keywords

In business, cannibalization typically refers to a loss of sales. A company introduces a new product that displaces sales of an older, usually more outdated, product. Instead of having an increase in sales, the market growth remains stable. What does this mean in the world of SEO and content marketing? Keyword cannibalization occurs when two products have similar keywords or phrases and confuses the search engines about which page is right for which query. Instead of competing with other businesses for search traffic, you’re competing with your own web pages. Here’s why keyword cannibalization is bad for business and how you can overcome it.

Sheetal Pinto - 2/9/2023 06:00

How to Optimize your Content for a Global Audience

The global market is much smaller than it once was.  Statista reports over 5 billion internet users globally, or about 63.1% of the population. Reaching out to a broader market can help your business grow, but it’s not as simple as updating your website in a new language and simply hoping your audience finds you through search.

Sheetal Pinto - 1/26/2023 06:00

How to Build a Functional Content Marketing Funnel

Most people don’t wake up and think, “oh, today is the day I buy my new mattress,” unless they’ve researched different brands and checked pricing at different stores. Modern customers often take their time with major (and even minor) purchases. Using that information about today’s shoppers can help you design a content marketing map, or funnel, that guides the customer to your product.

Sheetal Pinto - 1/12/2023 15:49

Draw Insights from Your Competitors' Success 

According to Ahrefs, organic search drives over 53.3% of global traffic. Creating an SEO strategy is key to increasing your reach through search. As you’re setting new SEO goals for 2023, it may be useful to analyze what is working for your competitors. Also look at what they’re missing, to build that effectively into your own SEO strategy.