Content creation is one of the most important aspects of today’s digital marketing industry. What’s changing is the way we create and deliver the content.
So let’s take a look inside the European market and some of the most lucrative strategies that were adopted by brands active in this market. Let’s take note of the similarities and the differences and hopefully, we will provide a solid ground of inspirational material for companies that want to share this market and adapt to it in the near future.
1. Storytelling is and will be important
Swiss beverage brand, Schweppes, has covered immersive territory with the digital culture and lifestyle magazine Villa Schweppes, which features articles on music festivals, Parisian bars and fashion trends along with cocktail recipes. DJs, designers and mixologists designed to inspire readers to adopt the brand’s hip nightlife vibe.
This is a no-fail approach that will allow you to get closer to your audience and at the same time, it will ensure a no-fail campaign. It does not matter the industry you work with. As long as you are capable to tell stories and at the same time, to sell your stories to the audience, you are good to go. They will love it. They will understand it. They will dig it.
2. Create news-worthy content
You have to always keep yourself informed and learn everything there is to learn, especially when it comes to changes brought forward by technological evolution. This is where our next example comes into place. Bitdefender, the Romanian antivirus software producer, is one of the most successful and reliable security resources available today.
How does it manage to nail this content marketing thing? Well, it created a website that is aimed at spreading news related to its main activities: security threats and other related topics. It is a great source of valuable content for people who share an interest in this kind of information.
3. Create video experiences for your audience
Global video traffic is expected to reach 82 percent of the overall Internet traffic by 2012. You can achieve great things in content marketing by creating and delivering videos to your targeted audience, whether they are advertisements, presentations or vlog series. A great example comes from Hornbach, a popular European brand in the hardware store market — here’s an example.
Apart from its popular YouTube channel, Hornbach was able to create a website that is also video based. Each piece of the visual collage presented on the first page features a promotional video that can serve as an inspiration to any marketer who seeks to perform on a diversified and competitive market such as the European one.
4. Build a community around the brand
There are many ways in which you can build a community, starting with social media and up to releasing content that is able to trigger the formation of a community around it. In this case, follow the example of Lego, which managed to build a community with content creation and used these tools to increase sales and market value.
Lego invested a lot. It worked on building a young community around the brand via video games and movies. For instance, The Lego Movie was a huge box office hit. Besides the box office hit, Lego invested in micro websites, a web-based miniseries, community digital platforms and an official magazine.
5. Change a culture with your content
Always, one of the most powerful brands among women, created #LikeAGirl, which breaks through the traditional approach in marketing and comes with a new type of social message.
The campaign featured static and video ads to educate girls on a specific topic. For instance, the last phase of the campaign talks about emoji and their failure to celebrate female achievements.
