Content marketing is the concept of creating blogs, videos, and any other type of content that speaks to your target customers. This content should offer them solutions to the challenges they face as customers in your industry as well as help them build on opportunities to reach their goals. It's a form of marketing because this content can be distributed to your customers, such as via email, or it can be used to draw them in from search engines by providing answers to their search queries.
Content marketing is great for building your company up as a trusted authority in the industry and it also makes people more likely to trust that your company is one the best in the business. The goal of content marketing is to make customers more comfortable and informed with their final purchase decision, while slowly introducing them to your own products and services.
Business Insider did a feature on several successful tech startups and most of their websites feature content marketing. If even companies receiving over $150M in funding still take the time to do content marketing, what’s stopping any business at any level?
Shippo is a company offering shipping services for e-commerce businesses to their customers. When visiting their website, clearly visible in the main menu is a section for blogs. There are blogs that provide tips for lowering shipping rates, running an e-commerce business, as well as tips on how to improve customer experience through shipping.
Their blogs have a strong focus on addressing customer concerns and challenges when it comes to e-commerce shipping. One of Shippo’s blogs also provides aspirational content, with a look at how Amazon Prime became what it has today. Prime has been a big draw for Amazon and many businesses are eager to duplicate its formula to success.
Ripcord helps businesses manage their paperwork by using robots to scan and create digital records stored on the cloud. There is a video explanation of what their company does on the front page that is under 2 minutes— which is a good length to keep people who are only mildly interested in watching the video to continue watching until it’s finished.
It also has blog content for customer concerns. One blog addresses the people who are still questioning whether they should take their business paperless in the first place with reasons to make the change. Ripcord's blog section also features more articles on the environmental benefits of digital records, customer testimonials, as well as how digitizing reduces disaster recovery risk for companies. Ripcord's content does really well with balancing customer concerns and steering potential customers into choosing the company as a solution.
Figure-Eight provides AI, and more specifically, machine learning solutions for companies. It offers customers everything from training to implementation. The company also calls eBay, SAP, Spotify, and Home Depot customers.
Their official website is a beacon of content. They offer pages of blogs, eBooks, podcasts, webinars, videos, event write-ups, and even an AI glossary of terms. Figure-Eight has made it clear that they are committed to helping their customers get the most out of their product. They have content for beginners all the way to an advanced level. They’ve produced introductory content for people new to machine learning and AI and content that addresses concerns about bias in the results.
Their customer testimonials cover many different industries; from real estate to music streaming. This shows how the company has made the effort to emphasize that AI is the type of technology that can be applied to many different fields. Every business needs to observe trends, maximize profits, minimize costs, forecast into the future, and the many other solutions that AI can provide.
Zoom, a company working to make phone and video conferences simple. The company offers several how-to videos for common video conference tasks, like joining a meeting, scheduling a meeting via Google calendar, or sharing multiple screens.
Don't assume that your customers can just immediately jump in and use your product. Research and observe them. Successful onboarding is a key part of retaining them. Zoom's blog section continues providing supportive content for its customers. The company also offers webinars to help their customers impress with their presentations. One blog highlights video communication best practices.
Zoom also offers live training videos where they take on customer questions in exchange for their contact information, which can help the company do two things. First, this will help Zoom follow up with customers to see that their questions were answered fully, but they could also use this information to nurture these customers. Nurturing includes sending these customers related content they might find useful and informative while sneaking in a few more products or services they might be interested in.
Illumio is a cyber-security company tasked with catching and stopping hackers during an attack and not long after everything is said and done. Their website is video-heavy, with many explanations of security risks, security strategies, and technology standards in stopping breaches. Illumio also takes the time to address specific markets, with a video delving into cyber security risks specific to the healthcare industry.
Illumio also provides customers with many options for making a final decision between them and another cyber-security company. They offer video comparisons with rival companies, showing off the capabilities of each. They also upload demos of their products in action that were shown at various events. This is the kind of content that helps customers who are weighing their options narrow down which company speaks to their needs and preferences the most.