Contrary to what many digital marketers think, the emergence of the Internet did not give birth to content marketing. It just enhanced its accessibility. The truth is content marketing has been around for a long time - since the late 19th century to be exact.
It can be as simple as sending out an educational publication to a target audience. That’s what some businesses have done to reach sales in the millions and billions of dollars. The goal of this blog post is not to just inundate you with historical context but to show you what we can learn from the business giants of the past that not only used content marketing but succeeded with it.
The Earliest Content Marketing Pioneers
In 1895, John Deere started publishing a magazine called “The Furrow”. The purpose was to educate farmers on how to better manage their crops and produce and not to sell product. It was published during a time when there was no television, radio or Internet. Magazines were a great way to reach out to your audience with something tangible to read. Again, I want to harp on this idea of John Deere publishing this magazine for the purpose of educating and not selling. By providing this content to ordinary farmers and ranchers, John Deere wanted to be a thought leader and used content marketing to closely align farming with their brand.
“The Furrow” is now published in over 40 countries and in 12 languages. It has been fully built out online and related content is published over their social media. John Deere established their brand as synonymous with farming and that helped grow sales.
Michelin's Guide To Everything Cars
In 1900, Michelin Tires created “The Michelin Guide”, a 400 page document dedicated to educating car owners about the best ways to take care of their vehicles and maintain their tires. It even offered travel and accommodation tips, encouraging people to use their cars. The publication was distributed for free but was later sold for a price.
How did this publication drive sales? By encouraging people to travel more by car, deep down, Michelin was encouraging people to wear out their tires more and thus replace them with Michelin tires. Content brings prospective customers closer to a brand. The content itself does not need to sell directly but does play a role in eventually selling offerings. When you’ve read 400 pages of helpful information about cars, the next time you need to replace a related part, who do you think about - the creator of that content: Michelin Tires.
Jell-O's Last Hope: Content Marketing
In 1904, Jell-O owner Frank Woodward was having a tough time managing his gelatin company. The business was on life support and struggling to break even. He had tried everything. What was his eleventh hour idea? Content marketing. Well, I’m sure he didn’t say those words exactly but he created a publication of Jell-O-centred recipes. Suggestions on how to creatively make a masterpiece using Jell-O were given and people used them. It became a success and company sales grew to $1 million by 1906, a large amount of money at the time!
And even to this day, people still consume Jell-O in a variety of ways. It’s synonymous with the average childhood. Jell-O’s content marketing strategy has passed the test of time with flying colours. Content marketing works.
So How Can You Make Content Marketing Work For You?
These early 20th century businesses made content marketing work. And guess what? There’s a simple recipe:
-
Publish useful content. This should go without saying. However, there have been countless times where I’ve seen blog posts littered with keywords or pieces of writing that simply don’t help the reader.
-
Make sure your content connects with your target audience. If you’re an Internet marketer, your blog posts or ebooks should be targeted at who you want to sell to but without directly selling to them (I will address this shortly). Michelin wanted everyone who had a motor vehicle to read their publication. John Deere wanted every homeowner with a lawn or farm owner to read their content on how to be better producers. For the content to be useful, it needs to be read by the right people.
-
Educate, don’t sell. Intrinsically, people like to ‘buy’ and don’t like to be ‘sold’. So, don’t sell them on your product directly. ‘The Furrow’ spoke to farmers and homeowners about farming and producing with the assumption that they either had the tools to farm or were in the market for them. Giving people more information and educating them brings them closer to your brand by presuming some level of interest in the industry and product offering. So all in all, content marketing is more about educating rather than selling. Providing valuable content builds trust and people will buy from those they trust.
-
Be consistent. Remember: You’re creating a following with content marketing. Whether it’s a whitepaper, e-book or blog post, your readers are going to be wanting more (provided that they liked your first publication!). You can’t leave them hanging but you also shouldn’t publish too much too soon. It’s easy to do the former when times are busy with your business. It’s equally easy to do the latter when you have all these ideas swirling in your head. Create a consistent flow of content so your audience knows what to expect. Don’t be afraid to use a digital calendar or a similar planning tool to organize your content.
Since the turn of the 20th century, businesses have been using content marketing to grow. Others have used it to save themselves from extinction. With the Internet, it’s now even easier - and it works. Stay tuned for more on content marketing and actionable tips for you to make it work for your business.
Like what you’ve read? Subscribe to our blog here!
About the Author:
Ramesh Ranjan is the Inbound Marketing Specialist at LocalTrifecta Internet Marketing, where he helps businesses across Metro Vancouver increase sales and revenue through Inbound Marketing. His marketing heroes are Marcus Sheridan, John Caples and John Carlton. In his off time, he can be found playing roller hockey in Richmond, blogging on his personal website, and at the top of the office hockey pool. You can follow and connect with Ramesh over Twitter and Google+
