While the storyline might be fictional, the technology certainly isn't, and worked perfectly as an attractor piece for younger audiences who realised that GE was already producing this innovative ultrasound technology. It's this out of the box thinking of blending fantasy and reality that convinced us to put GE on our list.
The internet is flooded with content created specifically for marketing but not all examples of content marketing are inspired. Those that really stand out are rarer than you might think. For us, great content marketing combines technology and creativity to reach and engage a target audience in a fresh, new way. It’s really about storytelling and while I spend my time creating narratives with words many content marketers win at this game with pictures and videos.
Every company and brand out there is trying to tell their story and they believe they’re unique and deserve the airtime they demanding. Creating good content has less to do with how you do it and more to do with why you do it. Choosing the right medium for the audience you’re trying to target and creating the story that will align to their pain points and specific needs is critical. There are some companies who have just gotten it so incredibly right.
Here are my favourite six examples of the best the internet has to offer right now.
- Grant Thornton
An accountancy firm who long ago recognised they’re not in a fun or glamourous industry. But they knew they were a necessary service. Competing with the heavyweights in the financial sector was a no-go, so Grant Thornton positioned themselves as an easily accessible advisory firm. They specifically targeted companies seeking out their own growth opportunities and set about creating a brand together with a content marketing strategy that offers up advice, assistance and insights.
- Rolex
Rolex is not a brand that necessarily needs a lot of introduction. In fact, considering its prestige, it probably doesn’t need much in the way of marketing. However, Rolex nails the marketing thing time and again. In terms of content marketing, this iconic brand portrays its quality and its new products through professional, slick photography and smart captions on the likes of Instagram.
The timelessness of the brand means that the seven million followers they have on Instagram and the 6.6 million followers on Facebook, are happy with pretty pictures. When we speak of content marketing, a selection of gorgeous photography isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, but Rolex offers such gorgeous imagery you can’t help but want to consume it. All over the internet it’s being touted that video will be the choice of medium for content marketing going forward and a brand like Rolex is surely going to blow our minds with their video content.
- Hootsuite
Hootsuite is really good at content online and their YouTube channel is full of videos in a variety of categories that are helpful and fun. A few years ago when Game of Thrones found itself with an entire global community of fans, Hootsuite created a Game of Social Thrones case study. Check it out here.
If you visit Hootsuite’s YouTube channel today you’ll find a collection of videos that are insightful, helpful and comprehensive. They have featured content, training videos, customer stories, products and even social media marketing educational videos. Hootsuite does really well at telling a relatable story through their brand and you’ll leave every interaction with this brand feeling like you learnt something.
- Old Spice
Old Spice is a brand that has existed since 1937 and it’s still relevant. That fact alone is impressive and considering their product is a personal one, staying abreast of its target market has been critical to its success.
But this brand wasn’t always on top form, around a decade ago Old Spice was on its way out. Something had to be done. The agency who managed the account, Widen + Kennedy, turned to data to inform how they drove their marketing strategy forward. They considered that up to 70% of women were responsible for purchasing their male partner’s hygiene products. This simple fact was a game changer and the new advertising campaign addressed the right persona finally.
With Isaiah Mustafa leading the campaign, women were paying attention and suddenly Old Spice was no longer the smell of grandads. So through some strategic thinking and excellent content marketing that directly engaged with the target audience, this brand went from outdated to fresh, new and sexy. The content created for the brand didn’t always even include a mention of the name Old Spice but it was humorous and memorable and opened up a dialogue. The new ad appealed to both young men and their moms and according to YouTube has 56,061,259 online views currently.
- SAP
SAP is a service provider that doesn’t naturally get given any spotlight. Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management software is all about automation and data. Dry topics for most people. And yet, this service offering is necessary in most big businesses regardless of your industry – so marketing needed a creative angle to humanise the brand and appeal to the decision-makers. They managed to get themselves to the forefront of their industry through branching out into a project that’s all of our concern and has little to do with ERP. See the SAP Leonrado Plastics Challenge – this initiative address the use of plastic and aims to prevent single use plastic from even entering the supply chain. They also have branched off to launching initiatives eliminating poaching and protecting wildlife. These are noble causes and places the company in a very good light. From a content marketing perspective, these initiatives give them so much more to talk about, write about, make videos about and so on.
- HubSpot
HubSpot began with seven different blogs which is a robust content marketing strategy if ever there was one. Nowadays it only has three but that’s because they have decided to focus on quality rather than quantity. As far as content marketing goes, HubSpot is leading from the front. Their blogs are of a superior quality and this feeds through into all the content they create throughout the year. The video content that comes from HubSpot when they have their Inbound event annually, is something special. And if you don’t believe me look up the heavyweight celebrities and entrepreneurs that HubSpot is able to secure to speak at their events. HubSpot creates an ongoing strong content strategy that includes in-depth blog posts with relevant content, high-quality downloadable assets, a content sharing hub (inbound.org) and it creates videos for its social media platforms.
To be a great storyteller who is able to weave a narrative that keeps your audience engaged and interested takes skill. To do it in a way that turns prospects into purchasers is something special. Remarkable content is what you need to create to really sell your product and brand. You need to have a keen understanding of the power of storytelling, of how to be a good writer and curator and how to plan out a strategy that extends the value of the content you create. Your marketing efforts should be supported by every piece of content you churn out. And content marketing success really does equate to an excellent digital marketing strategy. The true payoff is when you begin seeing user-generated content out there positively touting your brand and product. Considering everyone online is, in their own right, an advert for the life they lead if your brand lands in the hands of an influencer or even just someone with a ton of friends you could see some rewards.
