One sells energy drinks, the other sells tires, and the last one sells beer.
They can’t seem to have too much in common, or do they?
Extreme sports competitions, a restaurant guide, and a book of records
You remember the first one because of its extreme sports competitions.
The other is known for grading high-end restaurants in a famous Michelin Star restaurant guide.
And the last one is known for not less than a world book of records.
They are all also known for something else than their original businesses. And, it’s this something else that does the advertising for them.
The Power of Content Marketing
It’s a very long time since some of these companies revolutionized the way advertising is done.
In 1900, Michelin started their guide because they wanted to increase demand for tires.
Guinness World of Records book was first published in 1951, and helped Guinness stay top of the mind in every pub around the world.
Since 1997, Red Bull is organizing extreme sports competitions to promote a “cool” public image and raise brand power. And they seem to have succeeded – Red Bull is the company with the highest market share of energy drinks in the world.
The kind of marketing these companies are using (in some cases for more than one century) is called content marketing.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a type of marketing where content (written articles, audio podcasts, videos, images, etc.) is created and distributed to an online audience of loyal customers.
Why use content marketing to promote your business?
Your target audience is flooded with promotional messages. The advertising world has become very loud. It’s increasingly difficult to cut through this noise.
On the other hand, if you stop bombarding your customers with promotional messages and start talking about what is interesting for them, your chances to have an audience increase.
You can use content marketing to:
- Expand your customer base
- Increase demand for your products and services
- Reduce advertising costs
- Increase brand awareness
- Attract attention and generate leads
- Create and engage a community of loyal customers
If you want to try something “unconventional”
If you want (dare) to try something unconventional (still rather unconventional after more than 100 years of good results), give this method a try.
