8 Content Marketing Examples – Learn How To Get It Right (2023)
Content marketing has become the key to solving many marketing woes but can be a bit difficult to get right. There are almost 3 billion people on social media (where content should be shared), so your audience can be massive. If you think about it, creating high-quality content is really important to impress people who see content all day. With that in mind, we decided to gather our favourite content marketing examples and share them in one place.
We will look at why these examples worked so well for their brands and what you can learn from their strategies. We suggest that you take what you learn here and make the most of it but don’t try to copy everything exactly. You need to come up with strategies that will work for your brand specifically.
You will notice from these content marketing examples that you don’t need a massive budget or elaborate ideas. However, you do need creativity and determination with a dash of good luck. The luck is something you can’t really do much about but as long as you create content that is aimed at your audience, you’ll be fine. Be consistent and reliable and you will be on the road to success in no time.
Also, don’t forget to promote your content. That’s a very important step.
Before we get into looking at the content marketing examples, let’s discuss briefly how to spot these examples. You will want to find some of your own when you’re done here so it’s a good idea to know how you’ll find them. There’s no point in trying to find success in a bad example, after all.
What Is A Good Content Marketing Example?
The first criteria that a content marketing example has to meet is being well-designed. A marketing plan and content that were badly designed certainly won’t attract much attention. And if it does, it will likely do so for the wrong reasons. A good balance of utility and design is usually what helps the content to be popular.
Try to find examples from different industries and in various formats. You’ll learn more when you see the diversity of them all. Besides, a great content marketing strategy is spread out over different platforms. You should not limit yourself to just one format at your disposal. There is video, apps, articles, ebooks and more that you can use to your benefit.
The audience should find the topic of the advertisement interesting and relevant. That’s what makes or breaks your strategy – will people want to see what you’ve created? Fresh ideas and new insight are always welcome and highly recommended.
How can you make sure your own marketing campaign becomes as successful as our examples?
Here’s a brief breakdown of the steps you will have to follow. If you want a more in-depth discussion, be sure to check out this article we did. It covers the many ways you can ensure that your content marketing strategy is as awesome as it can be.
Define your mission and make sure there is someone in charge who can handle what you’re expecting. Then, make sure that the content that you’re creating and publishing is what your audience wants to see.
Consistency is key – we always stress this point. You have to publish new and fresh content regularly for the best results. Cover unique topics – these are more likely to grab the attention of your audience.
Your design must take into account utility. If you can strike a good balance between serving an advertising purpose and looking good, you’re on your way to creating content that will attract more people.
Creating content that will reach and entertain your audience is a lot of work and requires patience. It won’t happen overnight but if you learn from the following examples, you will get there.
So pour yourself something to drink, look at our list, get inspired and take notes.
Our Favourite Content Marketing Examples
Here they are – the content marketing examples that made our list. We’ve listed them in no particular order because they’re all equally great, in our opinion.
McDonald’s
Although it’s a big company that needs no introduction, McDonald’s knows the value of good marketing. This particular marketing campaign was all about honesty and people loved it. By answering the questions asked by their audience (this one was focused on Canada) McDonald’s improved its relationship with customers.
The transparency shown by the company is something not often found, regardless of the size of the brand. It greatly increases trust and credibility – important for all companies.
What Can You Learn From This?
Never underestimate the power of good customer service. Engage with your audience and get onto their level. Show them in your content marketing that they matter and that it’s not just about your brand.
Superdrug
With its ‘Perceptions of Perfection Across Borders’ marketing campaign, Superdrug was able to get hundreds of thousands of shares. Who wouldn’t want that? The campaign was focused on something that matters to women – how they are seen.
Female graphic designers from different countries were asked to edit photos of women to make them look more attractive. The results were vastly different and were shared in the campaign. It showed that the perception of beauty is different for everyone and that there is no such thing as a ‘perfect body’. It also showed that what is considered beautiful differs from one country to the next.
Body image is something that everyone is talking about for the past few years. Body positivity has become very important, which is why Superdrug’s approach was so successful.
What Can You Learn From This?
Topics that are important to your audience will always do well when used in marketing campaigns. As long as you keep things professional and positive, you can address sensitive subjects and benefit from the resulting discussions and debates about it.
Muji
This retail company made use of user-generated content (UGC) and it really worked in their favour. UGC works great as a marketing strategy and can increase click-through rates with up to 4 times. On top of that, people like engaging with brands they know use content from their customers or supporters.
UGC is great for growing loyalty too. More than 90% of consumers find this kind of content useful when they make decisions about purchases. For a more detailed discussion of the benefits of this marketing strategy, check out this article. We share our knowledge on how to use UGC with everyone who wants to know.
Muji created an art contest and called on the users of Muji Pen to create content for their marketing campaign. People shared their art pieces and uploaded them to Instagram with an accompanying hashtag.
Then, the favourite submissions were voted for until a winner was announced. It was a brilliant strategy and many people submitted their work, hoping to win.
What Can You Learn From This?
The promise of a prize is a great motivator and if you can hold competitions that will give away stuff your audience likes, you will get a lot of engagement. Muji was able to create brand awareness with their campaign and you can too. The interactiveness of this competition is what made it so successful.
Coke
Another big brand that made our content marketing examples list because it knows how to market. The ‘Share A Coke’ campaign was a big one and it was a huge success. Few people have not heard about it.
Coke gave their consumers the opportunity to personalise the drink and added the most common names to the bottles. This way, people could buy a Coke that felt more personal when giving it to someone who’s name is on the bottle or can. People loved it.
What Can You Learn From This?
That special, personal touch is very important. If you can involve your audience in your marketing campaign, they’ll love you for it. Just like Coke, you should aim for the things that matter to your consumers and supporters. In this case, it was their names. Use people’s emotions to sell your brand.
Tasty
This is a YouTube channel that is all about food and recipes. Tasty has videos that are entertaining as well as educational. They are so good that people share them all over the internet, driving traffic and views.
Tasty’s videos get millions of views and thousands of subscribers thanks to everyone sharing them online. The channel has only been around for a few years but already managed to get billions of views.
What Can You Learn From This?
Consistency pays off. Because Tasty is uploading content regularly, they’ve become trusted with viewers. Their thumbnails are also really good – you should make the most of the platforms that you use. Tasty also used a unique video format and people loved seeing something they haven’t seen before.
Hootsuite
This is a social media management tool and has become very popular in the past few years. As such, they’ve managed to market their product (that can sound rather boring if we’re being honest) with the use of a very popular video.
Hootsuite created a fantastic video to show off their product by tapping into the popularity of the HBO series, Game of Thrones. Their marketing campaign, ‘A Game of Social Thrones’ was very creative and well-done.
What Can You Learn From This?
Spark emotion from your audience and they will admire you for it. You will grow brand awareness and loyalty in a flash. Hootsuite showed us that you can have fun while using the latest trends to create your content marketing campaigns. We encourage such creativity and suggest you be as innovative as you want to be. Find new and exciting ways to reach out to and connect with your customers.
Cars.com
This vehicle-selling company was able to attract new visitors to their site by offering something that they all look for. Many people in the market for a new or used car have to calculate how much they can spend and if they can loan what they need. In came Cars.com’s Auto Loan Calculator.
The calculator was easy to use – enter your car price, the down payment and the length of a loan, along with a few other details, and you get a number. The smart part was that once an amount has been calculated, an auto-generated search box would let people search for cars in that price range.
What Can You Learn From This?
The words ‘car loan calculator’ are a popular search on search engines and gets searched hundreds of thousands of times a month (in the US). Cars.com made use of this knowledge and drove traffic to their page – very clever. If you can find the most popular topic in your niche or industry, you can quite literally ‘hit the jackpot’.
Microsoft
Yet another ‘big gun’ out there that knows how to do content marketing the right way. By using something as simple as a blog, Microsoft was able to tell a good story that resonated with users. People love good stories – it’s how we were made.
With their blog titled ‘Stories’, Microsoft was able to target that need for a good story and evoke emotions. It may be a very simplistic approach but it really does work. Think about yourself as an example – you can likely think about brands that got your attention because they had a good story to tell.
What Can You Learn From This?
Storytelling lets people feel good, whether they’re telling or hearing (reading) the story. We can get emotional from the right words and that is what content marketing should always keep in mind. The better your stories, the better your connection with your audience. So make sure that the stories you tell are exceptional ones. Be human and show it off to your audience.
And there you have it – our top content marketing examples. Once you’ve studied the strategy and success of these examples, you should look at your content again. What can you apply to your content that helped these brands stand out? You can use your knowledge gained here to create new content that will tick all the right boxes.
Bonus Tips On Content Marketing
We’re feeling generous so here are a few extra tips on how to create the best possible content for your marketing strategy. Use this info and add your own unique spin to it. Create something awesome that represents your brand.
Evoke Emotions
When you tell stories through your content, be open and honest. This will help you create powerful stories that will touch and move your audience. Be personal and relatable so your audience can feel like you understand them.
Quality
Remember, quality over quantity, always. Don’t drown your audience is content that has no value for them. And use as many visuals as you can, people love visual stimulation.
Set Goals
You must have goals for your content strategy. Be that KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) or a list of aims, just know what you want to achieve. You have to be aware of the things you hope to achieve with your marketing.
Know Your Audience
You cannot cater content to someone that you don’t know. Have an understanding of the people that make out your target audience. What are the problems they face and how do you solve them? When you know your audience, you will know what kind of content marketing will be successful when targeting them.
Have A Distribution Strategy
This is very important because you don’t want to create a marketing campaign that’s getting shared on inappropriate platforms. Before you create your content, you should know where you want to distribute it. This might influence how and what you create because not all content works equally well on the available platforms. You have to get your content out to where it will be seen.
Proper content distribution needs the right kind of planning. You should know where your audience is hanging out so they can see your content. That’s why you have to know your audience well.
Make Use Of A Content Calendar
Having all your ideas and plans stored in a way that is not confusing or frustrating is very important. It can actually make or break a strategy. For the best results, we suggest that you use a content calendar. It will help you plan and keep track of your marketing campaign. SocialPlanner is a great tool for this and has extra features that you’ll love. From a drag-and-drop calendar to helping you find trending content, this tool offers you a lot of value to add to your strategy.
Final Thoughts on Content Marketing Examples
We’ve shared some great examples with you and what you do next is entirely up to you. Take what you’ve learnt and mould it to suit your unique needs. Spend a lot of time on your content marketing strategy so you can get it right. Don’t rush anything and remember to be creative and honest. Good luck!
