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If your goal is to raise awareness and engage with your target audience, a solid content marketing strategy can be a good place to start in the digital marketing age.
What is content marketing? This Forbes article provides one definition: “Content marketing is a strategy with two obvious pillars: content and marketing. ‘Content’ means the creation of original content or the curation of content for the benefit of your audience. ‘Marketing’ means getting people to discover and engage with your content.”
Here’s one example of a retail organization offering valuable content to prospective customers, summarized from a recent Forbes article, Sears Explains its Success in Content Marketing. Sears now has FitStudio, an online community where they employ fitness experts to generate real advice for folks interested in fitness – all for free. Why would Sears want to do this? Because they understand that potential Sears customers don’t just want fitness equipment.
Here’s what Julia Fitzgerald, Chief Digital Officer, Fitness, Sporting Goods & Toys at Sears Holdings, told Forbes: “We realized that when shoppers come to Sears looking for a piece of fitness equipment, what they really are looking for is a 15 pounds lighter, fitter, or healthier version of themselves. And while the equipment is often a key component to their goal, they also need information and motivation to keep on track with a healthier lifestyle. FitStudio was the perfect solution for Sears to provide – free of charge – expert advice from fitness professionals and nutritionalists.”
A visit to FitStudio.com reveals workouts, a “find a trainer” feature, information on diet and nutrition and more. Of course, you can also buy Sears exercise equipment too, but that’s not the main focus. The FitStudio’s Facebook page has over 80,000 likes and its Twitter account has 3,994 followers, with tweets that drive folks to the FitStudio website. Since the information is generated by real fitness experts, consumers seem to find it compelling.
A stellar content strategy starts with creating quality content. Then social media can be used to subtly deliver the content, creating a much more powerful connection than the megaphone approach.
What are you doing in this area?
