The place There’s a Objective, There’s a Method: 4 Technique-Led Content material Applications

This much-repeated mantra bears repeating: You’ll be able to’t succeed at content material advertising and marketing except you realize what targets you’re making an attempt to attain.

It’s not simple to distill the potential advantages of content material advertising and marketing into one laser-focused aim. But, nailing down your driving function makes it simpler to discover new potentialities to attain it.

Nailing down your #content material’s function makes it simpler to discover the chances to attain it, says @joderama through @CMIContent. Click on To Tweet

Need proof? Look no additional than the accomplishments of the 2022 Content material Advertising and marketing Awards technique class winners and finalists.

These examples illustrate how strategy-led campaigns can amplify a model’s persuasive energy, excite its viewers, and obtain targets at each stage of the customer’s journey. Although their industries, audiences, funding ranges, and artistic approaches differ, every presents a lesson to information your content material advertising and marketing efforts.

Objective: Model consciousness

Model: Glenfiddich

Media accomplice: Forbes

Method: Distill information, storytelling, and multiplatform distribution right into a content material cocktail that shifts viewers perceptions.

Single-malt Scotch whisky is a powerful drink strongly related to highly effective popular culture characters like Mad Males’s Don Draper, Anchorman’s Ron Burgundy, and Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson.

However does the liquor’s energy give it the facility to win the preferential consideration of high-net-worth people and discerning spirit connoisseurs? That was the aim Glenfiddich, a luxurious whisky distiller, aimed to attain with an built-in multimedia marketing campaign constructed across the fortieth anniversary of the Forbes 400 listing.

The compelling pitch for his or her novel premise? It’s time to redefine what it means to be rich and profitable.

Glenfiddich kicked off the marketing campaign with an unique analysis examine, Skilled Success in America: Private Priorities and Social Misunderstanding. It probed U.S. attitudes on the traits that outline success. The model created its inaugural #Richest25 Checklist, profiling influential achievers who embody these traits.

@GlenfiddichSMW carried out an unique analysis examine as a part of its #ContentMarketing plan to seize a rich and profitable viewers, says @joderama through @CMIContent. #CMWorld Click on To Tweet

The ensuing tales have been revealed and promoted throughout media accomplice Forbes’ ecosystem. Belongings ranged from premium branded content material and editorial tales on the Forbes web site to social media adverts and a print sponsorship of the Forbes 400 difficulty. That included adverts that raised thought-provoking questions, with an overlay of Glenfiddich’s stag emblem as illustrated within the picture under with the phrase, “Title or respect? Ask your self, what’s subsequent?”

The important thing ideas and associated imagery have been integrated into Glenfiddich’s web site content material and product pages to tie all the things again to the model’s Scotch whisky.

Outcomes: In line with Forbes, the built-in program garnered over 20 million cross-platform impressions. It additionally modified perceptions: Glenfiddich noticed a carry in model consciousness (18%), identification as a luxurious model (60%), and affiliation with the stag emblem (25%).

The content material options acquired almost 300,000 views – over 2,700 got here via natural search. Additional, the journal Fortune 400 difficulty reached over 3.8 million readers, with 77% taking motion after seeing the advert inventive.

This challenge received the Most Modern Content material Distribution Technique class.

Objective: Enhance attain

Model: McCain Meals

Media/company companions: Food24, New Media

Method: Mix print and digital know-how to forge a private, long-lasting reference to customers.

Whereas manufacturers generally scale their attain and interact new audiences within the digital house, don’t overlook the facility and attraction of old-school strategies like print. They can assist you forge a extra private and tangible reference to customers.

Then once more, why not mix the storytelling benefits of each mediums? That’s the concept behind the creation of McCain Household Cookbook Dropped at You by Food24 – a first-of-its-kind direct-to-consumer cookbook delivered via a print-on-demand platform.

Frozen meals model McCain approached South African foodie website Food24 to drive attain amongst household meal decision-makers. Food24 (with assist from its content material advertising and marketing company, New Media) answered the decision by growing a customized cookbook creation device. Shared with the Food24 viewers on its web site, the device was promoted via social media, newsletters, and extra articles and video content material.

As defined within the marketing campaign video above, the Cookbook Creator device lets customers add six favourite household recipes, together with notes and images. Then, they selected a recipe class and named their guide. Prime recipes from Food24 and McCain have been added to spherical out every assortment. Every guide was printed and delivered to the patron who created it.
Meals model @mccainfoods let customers create customized cookbooks, importing six of their household recipes and including ones from the model and @food24, says @joderama through @CMIContent. #CMWorld Click on To Tweet

The trouble helped place McCain as a mealtime thought chief whereas offering Food24’s viewers with an progressive and thrilling interactive characteristic. Additional, the printed cookbooks introduced the McCain model into individuals’s houses, creating a long-lasting bodily touchpoint.

Outcomes: In line with the company New Media, the trouble acquired 1.4 million banner impressions (far exceeding its goal KPI of 400,000), reached 4.3 million customers on social media, and achieved a 13% conversion fee.

This challenge received the Greatest Use of Expertise as A part of a Content material Advertising and marketing Program class.

Objective: Lead nurturing

Model: Epcon Communities Franchising

Method: Ship a focused, print-based pitch – with a personalized digital twist.

B2B model Epcon Communities Franchising supplies designs, experience, and gross sales assist. It allows actual property builders to capitalize on an underserved demographic – consumers 55 and older seeking to downsize their houses and revel in life amongst a group of their friends.

Franchised grownup communities are a fast-growing trade sector, however they’re a comparatively new enterprise mannequin for builders and development firms. A lot of Epcon’s prospects could have little expertise with these tasks. That problem, when mixed with the event time and monetary funding concerned, makes overcoming buyer reluctance troublesome.

To determine credibility amongst this B2B goal, ship useful training, and speed up its path from certified result in transformed buyer, Epcon launched a singular video mailer marketing campaign.

Figuring out customers usually throw away conventional print mailers with out studying them, Epcon gave the mailing an attention grabbing digital improve. A 5-inch video display turned the typical brochure right into a deeply immersive storytelling car, as proven on this picture:

Utilizing an account-based advertising and marketing technique, Epcon despatched the mailers to pick high-value prospects. It additionally personalized the audio and visible content material for every recipient.

Upon opening the brochure, prospects may click on play on the display to view 4 put in movies. They included important firm info, testimonials from franchise builders and residential consumers, and interviews with firm management.

Outcomes: By way of this persuasive, immersive, and academic marketing campaign, Epcon put the proper content material in entrance of the proper prospects on the proper time. After its launch, the corporate achieved an 84% follow-up contact fee with prospects and exceeded its franchise builder gross sales projections by greater than double.

This challenge was a prime finalist within the Most Modern Content material Distribution Technique and Greatest Use of Expertise as A part of a Content material Advertising and marketing Program classes.

Objective: Buyer satisfaction and loyalty

Model: ServiceNow

Method: Mix e-mail automation with behavioral modeling to ship one of the best post-purchase steering.

Good content material entrepreneurs handle customers’ informational wants at every step of their purchaser’s journey – from preliminary consciousness via last buy. However nice entrepreneurs reinforce their model’s worth by delivering related, useful steering lengthy after the buying checks have cleared.

Enterprise software program supplier ServiceNow effectively fulfills that promise via its telemetry data-driven digital buyer journey (DCJ) program. The platform delivers the exact info and help every buyer account must implement their purchases extra shortly, optimize their utilization, and maximize their model satisfaction.

ServiceNow makes use of automated behavioral advertising and marketing to ship customized e-mail content material throughout a broad vary of finely focused audiences. These segments span the three levels of Service Now’s post-purchase lifecycle – preliminary onboarding, activation and deployment, and renewal and growth.

For instance, ServiceNow analyzes product utilization and applies telemetry information and modeling to categorize mid-cycle buyer accounts into teams outlined by utilization stage: no use, low use, medium use, or excessive use. ServiceNow makes use of its advertising and marketing automation system to establish and deploy the suitable e-mail content material for that account. It additionally routinely pauses e-mail supply till the client completes the decision to motion from the earlier marketing campaign.

Outcomes: ServiceNow experiences wonderful e-mail efficiency metrics, with international open charges of 53% to 61% and click-through charges of 10%-16% throughout all digital buyer journey campaigns in 2021. Extra importantly, these focused accounts use their merchandise 70% greater than ServiceNow’s baseline (non-targeted) accounts.

This challenge was a prime finalist within the Technique – Greatest Content material Advertising and marketing Program, Greatest Content material Advertising and marketing Program in Expertise, and Content material Advertising and marketing ROI/Measurement Program classes.

A transparent technique opens up infinite potentialities

These 4 manufacturers achieved outstanding outcomes by remaining centered on a aim and utilizing a mixture of creativity and tech ingenuity to satisfy it. Don’t have a documented content material advertising and marketing technique available to information your model’s efforts? Try our technique hub for all of the insights, ideas, and instruments you should create one.

Cowl picture by Joseph Kalinowski/Content material Advertising and marketing Institute