Do you know what content marketing is?

Content marketing - is a long-term strategy based on building strong relationships with the target audience, providing constant high-quality content that is highly relevant to them.

After all, when customers make a purchase decision, their loyalty already belongs to you, and they show by buying your product that they prefer it over the competition.

Unlike disposable advertising, content marketing shows that you really care about your customers and they want to feel your interest more than ever before because the world is louder and more lavish than ever before and our attention is most valuable.

Now that you know what content marketing means, you can ask yourself: "How can I improve my content marketing myself?"

There are three main categories in which you can implement content marketing activities throughout the day: online, offline, and hybrid.

Let us show you 14 great examples of content marketing in all of the above categories. They can be modeled, modified and used in your own company.

First, we will start with the offline mode.

ONLINE

We will give three examples from the history of content marketing and then show their modern counterparts.

Offline example 1 - Comics and blogs

Stan Lee and his team have created Marvelas you know, in 1960. They tried to tell the best stories that could combine visual content with a great story. Their initial comics sold millions of copies every month.

Marvel is still dominant in comic terms, with a market share of around 30%, and orders for individual comics continue to grow.

Despite the fact that last year the comic book industry earned more than $540 million. This amount is small compared to sales of gadgets and goods other than books.

Reflection.

This means:

A good story = a lot of money, but....

A good story + a great product = 80% more money.

In the case of Marvel The story was a product, and more products came out over time. That reached the target group to a large extent. Even today, the story should appear long before the product.

Today, the easiest way to tell great stories and create interesting products is through blogs.

You don't need artists and printing houses to publish comics. If you know how to draw or create witty stories, you can create high-quality content that will attract hundreds of thousands of readers per month.

All you have to do is create a post every day.

Remember that your content should be valuable and relevant to your target audience.

That's why brands like Excedrin, have seen great success with content marketing for their headache pills.

In his blog on migraine Excedrin provides useful tips for all migraine sufferers, free software to track the root of the problem, and coupons for loyal customers and readers.

This marketing strategy is not just for big brands. This way, people can gain a huge audience.

James Altucher - is a great example of this. After writing articles every week for 5 years and posting them on his blog, his blog regularly receives thousands of shares on social media.

Over time, he made a huge leap and had everything he needed to sell his books or products online.

Because running a free blog - It's a good way to check whether your stories are good or need to be improved. You can also use this channel to get feedback from your audience in your niche.

What's more, you can do this before you sell anything to anyone, building loyal relationships with your audience.

The result will be a bunch of eager friends waiting to buy something from you right at the start of the sale.

Offline example 2 - From soap opera to Netflix

Do you know why soap operas are called that?

Well, the first soap opera went on the air in 1930. It was called "The Painted Dream" and was broadcast on the radio 5 days a week in the morning and evening.

The first target audience: housewives.

The open performances, which were often tense at the end of each episode, demonstrated some very dramatic elements previously known only from operas.

While listening to the broadcast, most housewives were cleaning their homes. Naturally, the commercial industry figured it out and, you guessed it, ran soap ads during her breaks.

The stories sold products, and the products were linked to activities that led listeners to hear even more stories.

Okay, so what does it look like today?

Well, any ideas what a soap opera is like today? Tense moments ... bingo watching series ... dramas.

Doesn't that sound as bad as Netflix?

With 60 million subscribers, $10 per month subscriptions generated visible revenue of about $6 billion in 2015.

A few years ago Netflix has started producing its own original series, such as House of Cards and most recently Daredevil.

Instead of just streaming great TV shows and movies to users around the world, the company decided to start telling its own stories, raising brand awareness and growing at a furious pace in the first few years.

See how content marketing is constantly changing for the better.

Note: Since then, Netflix has decided to make as many movies based on Marvel comics as possible, and most recently it was Jessica Jones.

Offline example 3: from advertising tricks to viral advertising

When. Hasbro released his GI Joe comic book series, he found himself in a dilemma.

They wanted to run TV commercials, advertise toys and comics, which was their new concept.

The TV regulations stated that toy commercials could only last up to 10 seconds, so as not to mislead children that toys could do more than they did.

To get around this problem, it was decided to focus on the story rather than the products. They gave up on toys and decided to promote a series of comics.

Never before has a TV commercial featured exclusively comics. By bending the rules, Hasbro was able to show 30 seconds of fully animated footage.

The original commercial video was posted on YouTube.

Back then, TV commercials still worked. In today's ADD world, where our range of interests has shrunk significantly, we are hardly excited about TV commercials.

Viral advertising is a major draw for us, as is the Champions League final.

Think about it with Volkswagen, a German car brand.

Advertising Volkswagen, which was broadcast on the American Super Bowl.

Not only was it seen by hundreds of millions of viewers during the Super Bowl itself, it also went viral on YouTube, garnering hundreds of thousands of views and shares on social media.

Customers are satisfied that they can keep themselves entertained for hours, and Volkswagen is satisfied that they are maintaining relationships with their target audience while management sleeps.

ONLINE

Okay, so offline translates to online in one way or another, but hasn't this been true of content marketing from the very beginning?

Yes.

There are many brands, and some do really good work.

That's why it's worth taking a look at some of the best examples of content marketing that have appeared on the Internet.

Online example 1 - The first viral video

In 2005, when most users downloaded videos to watch offline, the first viral videos appeared.

IT company LiveVault hired two marketers to create an entertaining video that would stand out among IT professionals, their target audience.

In the end, the backup system for corporate disks wasn't very exciting, so they chose something interesting.

John Cleese, a famous actor and comedian, had to make sure they got them.

Cleese demonstrates the serious consequences of a fictional disease called Backup Injury and leaves the viewer with many opportunities to continue exploring the company's products and services by clicking buttons at the end of the video.

It was great content because it was fun and interactive and kept promoting their services.

The movie was downloaded almost 300,000 times in the first few months after its release - and that was 13 years ago!

Obviously, it's harder to stand out from the massive number of videos published every day. However, if you create high-quality video content, you have a chance to stand out.

Online example 2 - what is code?

"What is Code?" was the title of an article published by Bloomberg Business Week in June 2015. Let me rewrite - this is not an article.

This is a book.

This article is the longest of all published. It contained 38,000 words.

However, it was not published as a book, nor as a magazine, nor in a newspaper.

It was released online. For free.

It includes animated graphics, sections, examples, notes, statistics, and more.

Estimate. 93,000 shares on social media. That's 93,000 people who know about Bloomberg.

They are likely to come back to read more and one day become subscribers.

Does it hurt that they posted it for free? We doubt it.

PROPOSAL: You don't need to run as frantically as Bloomberg. Take a look at this 7000-word completion guide to stop multitasking and focus on what matters.

This is an example of an extensive list, as Brian Dean of Becklinko put it.

Instead of listing all the items, simply add detailed instructions to each item on the list, which will make your entry 10 times more valuable - and before you know it, you'll have a big chunk of content for your article.

Online example 3 - Infographics

This is an easy way to collect valuable information, summarize it, and present it clearly.

A robust content marketplace strategy is not only about written content, but also visual, audio, and more.

When will the future of blogging become visual? Infographics exist to bring up a topic that is difficult to explain in words and explain it with pictures.

It's easier to understand the value of a click in an email than it is on Facebook and Twitter when it's displayed like a beer in a bottle, rather than just saying "email is more engaging."

They usually get a lot of shares, and the referral section is a great way to influence the opinion formers you want to connect with.

They want to share with their audience, on their blogs and social media, because you mentioned them.

In addition, when your audience has questions about the same topic, guess who they will turn to?

To you

Online example 4 - Podcasts

Podcasts - is 21st century radio and a very powerful content marketing tool. There are fewer ads and more value.

As a rule, most podcasts have a sponsor or advertise a product at the beginning and end of the show, but that's it.

People love them because they can listen to their idols and heroes talk about things that interest them.

If you think interviewing people is a waste of time, you're wrong. The best counterexample to this is John Lee Dumas, host and founder of Entrepreneur on Fire.

All he did was interview one entrepreneur a day and publish them. In this way, he quickly built up a treasure trove of records, and with them, a huge success.

Is this a business that starts with picking up a microphone and calling a group of people on Skype?

Isn't that a mean thing to do?

Online example 5 - Manuals and books

You've done it - you've created a real product for your online business.

Have you created a sales page and sent it by mail, but no one is buying?

Something is missing.

Copywriting! You need to learn copywriting. All you have to do is just turn to Google, right?

You type in "copywriting training" and voila, several hundred pages appear where you can find the information you need, all for free.

You can learn copywriting in a week from these guides alone. If you need more, it's possible that a copywriting school will be your next stop.

Online example 6 - Red Bull Stratos

It is noteworthy how Red Bull created its own mini-version of the Champions League final.

On October 14, 2012, Austrian paratrooper Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a balloon floating in the stratosphere. He jumped from space to Earth.

He jumped from more than 24 miles and broke the world record for Mach 1 and 3 - the first person to jump Mach without a motorized vehicle, with only the highest balloon jump.

No one has ever done this before.

Red Bull was the sole sponsor of the event.

They made up a story and sold it.

This event sparked not only interest in social media, but also harsh criticism from the media community, as well as an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.

Excitement, getting used to the tension, entertainment at its best, and needless to say, it's all for Red Bull.

Online example 7 - GoPro sponsorship

"Hey, when you break this next wave, do you want to film it? Here's the perfect camera for that!"

Go Pro is everywhere with sports, literally everywhere.

Since their product is a way to create visual content, the best way to introduce it is to show how great it is at what it does.

So they sponsor all kinds of events, athletes, and entertainers, such as surfers, cyclists, and even Rubik's Cube champions.

Their marketing strategy is to give people back their cameras and film what they do.

Their product does the rest for them. Basically, it's a market by itself.

All you have to do is edit the video, put some cool background music, and you have millions of views.

Online case study 8 - Social media campaigns

An important issue when creating a social media campaign is to follow the context of the platform.

You can't post a series of 10 tweets on Twitter because no one will see them all.

If you decide to join a particular social media channel, make sure you know how users use that platform.

Disney decided to campaign on Twitter. There, you have only a few seconds to grab the attention of others.

They did a great job playing by the rules that work on the platform.

Because Twitter limits the number of tweets in a message, Disney decided to create "The ultimate Twitter hashtag in 140 characters"

It's a Disney sign. He rounded up his stars to 140 by creating a hashtag, taking a photo, and tweeting it.

The result: over 2000 posts on Twitter and 3000 likes.

So, familiarize yourself with the social media platforms where the campaign is being launched. It's not just about providing valuable, high-quality content, but also about delivering it in the right way.

Online case study 9 - British Airways and the life of billboards

British Airways came up with a really cool way. He installed billboards at London's Piccadilly Circus, which shows a child pointing to the sky after a British Airways plane has flown over.

Not only did this appear on the board, but also information about the flight and its number.

Imagine seeing your sister's flight when she goes on a trip to Europe.

Isn't it amazing: "Hmm, wouldn't it be interesting if my family could see my next flight like this?"

British Airways has just arrived at your place. All it took was a few LEDs and a creative idea to promote the flight information.

HYBRIDS

Finally, we would like to show you 2 examples of what we call hybrid marketing. We have already shown that online goes offline and vice versa.

Some companies are already using this principle and building their content marketing strategy on it.

You can use the Internet as an entrance to offline marketing and vice versa.

For example, you can use social media to raise awareness of offline events, or you can run offline events and share them online.

Hybrids, example 1 - Gary Vaynerchuk calls on fans

Gary - is a true master of content marketing.

This guy is always on the Internet to make sure it's valuable.

When he was going to interview Chase Jarvis in 2013 and had a few minutes to drive from the airport to the studio, he wrote a simple message to his fans to give him their number and he would call them.

It seems that he created a mini-event offline and used its huge 1.18 million potential Twitter followers to raise awareness.

In a matter of seconds, he had several answers, which he would talk to for a minute or two, and then move on to the next one.

Such a simple gesture, but as Gary later explained, a short one-minute conversation can lead to increased loyalty from these people.

Hybrids, example 2 - tweets during the broadcast

The broadcast, during which Gary spoke with Chase Jarvis, lasted 90 minutes.

During the live broadcast, in addition to asking questions to the studio audience, people were also asked to send questions via Twitter using a specific hashtag.

Instead of a boring offline event for an exclusive minority in the studio, there was suddenly a Worldwide Live that everyone could participate in.

Only answers to our personal questions make us more engaged in Livie, we listen carefully and process the information we are given.

Hybrid forms of content marketing are becoming increasingly popular, and social media apps and sites such as Periscope, Snapchat, and others are making it easier to be online.

Summary

There are many examples, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, you'll get a good idea of what it takes to be a good content marketing specialist.

Moreover, we hope you've realized that you don't have to have a huge marketing budget. Today, everyone can use content marketing to their advantage.

Soon, we will all have to do this if we want to succeed, as the world gets louder.

Those who focus on telling good stories, no matter what platform or context, will win in the long run.

So what's your story? Are you going to use content marketing already?