This post was co-written by Shopify’s Casandra Campbell.
Imagine increasing revenue by 34.7% ($3.4 million in one year) from your FAQ section alone or growing conversion rates from your blog by 800%.
These aren’t made-up numbers. These are real results from real companies shared in response to our request for examples of awesome content marketing via HARO and other channels.
Let’s explore how six companies in six industries find amazing results from their content marketing programs.
IEEE GlobalSpec: Engineering360.com and Engineering in Motion
The world’s largest online destination for engineers and technical professionals, Engineering360.com, published by IEEE GlobalSpec, offers news and analysis to 8 million engineers.
Armed with data showing a high engagement rate for videos on the site and in newsletters – and a familiarity with its target millennial audience’s tendency to watch video on mobile devices – the IEEE GlobalSpec team designed a video-focused newsletter.
Why it’s different
IEEE GlobalSpec used a proprietary model to find people who interacted with its videos or webinars to develop the circulation for the newsletter, according to Zander Wharton, senior account executive of Finn Partners.
The methodology focused on selecting the audience most likely to interact with this type of content, not which industries they were in. The newsletter content includes video that’s interesting to a general engineering audience.
IEEE GlobalSpec’s video newsletter targets the audience not based on their industry but by format preference.
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Results
The Engineering in Motion Engineering360.com video email campaigns, according to Zander, earned:
- 36% email open rate
- 23% click-through rate
- 80% engagement rate
Lessons observed
Deliver content in the format your audience prefers. Don’t be afraid to be more general and less niche in your targeting.
Deliver #content in the format your audience prefers to consume it. @TheSearchGuru @Casandra_Camp
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Anthem BlueCross BlueShield: The Benefits Guide
Health insurance provider Anthem BlueCross BlueShield developed The Benefits Guide to provide objective, practical information to business owners looking to promote office health or to better understand the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
Why it’s different
The Benefits Guide serves Anthem’s small-business-owner audience through objective, simple, and actionable content.
A technology upgrade helped Anthem improve the visitor site experience by providing content recommendations based on the visitor’s interests and behavior rather than only on the currently viewed content topic, according to Lauren Cranston, PR and social media specialist at Skyword.
Try recommending #content based on visitors' interests and actions, not just the topic they’re reading.
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The team also designed a form for requesting more information that fit the site’s design. It felt more organic than a typical sales lead generation form and ended up capturing some of the highest qualified traffic coming through the page.
Results
According to Skyword’s Anthem case study, TheBenefitsGuide.com earned:
- 103% growth in page views
- 102% growth in search views
- 73% in organic traffic
Lessons observed
Anthem invested in empathy and objectivity, and it made all the difference to business owners. Personalizing content recommendations based on a holistic view of the visitor, not only the topic consumed in that one visit, led to significant growth.
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Shoes for Crews: The Gripping Blog
Shoes for Crews, a European producer and retailer of slip-resistant footwear for men and women in the service and hospitality industry, produces highly read The Gripping Blog for hospitality workers.
Why it’s different
Shoes for Crews creates its blog posts to address queries and keywords with a low search volume to achieve a higher ranking more easily, according to Tiffany Kalus, SEO executive at Digital 22. This approach not only drove quality traffic to the site but, through internal linking, provided a boost to other focus pages on the website.
Results
Shoes for Crews blog, according to Tiffany, experienced:
- 50,000 monthly blog visits, up from 500, over the course of 18 to 24 months
- 800% increase in conversion rate from organic traffic year over year
.@Shoes for Crews created #content for keywords w/ low search volume for a 100X increase in monthly visits.
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Lessons observed
Choose the topics that matter to your audience to create value. More specifically, focus on relevant keywords with smaller search volumes to achieve rankings quickly.
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oMelhorTrato experts at FAQ
oMelhorTrato, a financial comparison service in South America, aims to help people understand financial decisions. When visitors submit questions to the site, the answers get published as a blog post on its “FAQ ask an expert” page.
Why it’s different
All questions submitted get a thorough answer, according to Cristian Rennella, CEO and co-founder oMelhorTrato. These responses are not only sent to the visitor but also get published on the blog to serve as a resource for other visitors and to show the company’s expertise in the space.
oMelhorTrato answers every question submitted in order to be seen as expert resource in finance.
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Results
From the launch of this FAQ section, Cristian says oMelhorTrato has seen:
- 7% revenue growth representing revenue of $3.4 million per year
Lessons observed
Look for opportunities, including your data, to create valuable content assets. Identify how a response to a single audience member could be used to address many.
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SupplyHouse.com: Trades Built on Pride
SupplyHouse.com is an online retailer of plumbing and HVAC supplies whose target audience is industry professionals (plumbers, contractors, HVAC techs etc.). SupplyHouse.com launched a user-generated content campaign, Trades Built on Pride, to honor tradespeople and the work they do every day.
The marketing team reached out to a well-known Facebook plumbing community and asked members to record videos of themselves saying how long they’ve been in the trade, what they do, and anything else they wanted to add.
Why it’s different
After receiving 20 submissions, the marketing team developed multiple versions of the videos, according to Raquel Sosnovich, social media strategist at SupplyHouse.com. Some versions targeted website visitors, while others targeted HVAC Contractors and other industry professionals. The videos were also tailored to several content platforms.
Results
The Trades Built on Pride video campaign, according to Raquel, earned:
- $15.72 for every $1 spent in one month (from the consumer-focused video)
- 37% view rate on Facebook
- 42% view rate on YouTube
Lessons observed
Think of unique avenues to engage and ask your target audience to help create the content. Don’t take a one-and-done approach. Think about how to tailor the same original content for multiple audiences.
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BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo, which provides social engagement data for content marketers, faces stiff competition for content marketing attention. Yet it achieved impressive results from a single article – We Analyzed 100 Million Headlines. Here’s What We Learned (New Research).
Why it’s different
BuzzSumo used its own data to develop the top headline research. It also picked a topic it knew would generate a lot of interest among its target audiences and be referenced by expert-related sources in the industry.
Results
The BuzzSumo post earned:
- 13,000 shares
- 721 backlinks
- 272,000-plus page views
- 30 service sign-ups
Lessons observed
Think about what data your brand can offer that would most interest your audience. Evaluate where your backlinks would be most well-received by high-authority domains.
HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 10 (Mostly) Quick Wins to Steal for Your Original Research Project
Conclusion
These six examples illustrate how content marketing can be useful in nearly any industry at nearly any stage of the sales funnel. Taking your content marketing program from good to great means looking for ways to differentiate your content, focusing on your target audience, and constantly refining your methods to achieve your goals.
Differentiate yourself in the marketplace by joining the winter session of Content Marketing University. Register today.
Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute
The post How 6 Brands Stand Out and Get Results from Content Marketing appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.
