Ben Skute
We reached out to marketing experts across the globe to find clever ways you can use content to promote a product. Here is what they said…
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#1 Use Animated GIFs
Turning an average photo shoot to an engaging video using animated GIFs: If a picture says 1,000 words, then a GIF says 2,000. Video content and GIFs get over twice as much engagement as opposed to regular pictures. If you have a product based business, pictures are imperative for promo online, especially on social media. Turn a picture into an animation by creating a looping GIF or short video. You can beef it up even more by including a text overlay of a testimony from your best customer.
Contributors: Laura Cheek from Insperience It
#2 Create Online Quizzes
My favorite way of using content marketing to promote a product is through online quizzes. You can structure the quiz so they are fun and shareable but still tie into your product. Everyone loves to take quizzes and learn about themselves, so this is a great way of marketing to them without them even knowing. A few examples of this would be a personality quiz that matches you to a perfume or lipstick color, a quiz about your day-to-day routine to recommend a night-time skincare routine, or an entrepreneur quiz like we created on our site to recommend different online classes.
Contributors: Elle McCann from Curious Themes
#3 Create An Interactive Experience
Create an interactive content experience featuring your product. This is a high stakes, expensive play but if done in a creative and beautiful way it could get tons of press. One example would be an interactive infographic using JavaScript and CSS to show how your product is part of a larger ecosystem and how it interacts with the other component. Imagine a drip coffee maker show in a hipster coffee shop and how you could interact with a visual display of the environment.
Contributors: Joseph Robison from Green Flag Digital
#4 Think Four Dimensionally
I'd suggest thinking Four Dimensionally about content marketing. There's the well-known (and time-tested ways) strategy of pushing blog content to Amazon books, videos, or slideshows, which can be come revenue-generating products in their own right, meaning that these impression-generating products can potentially support their own marketing budget.
Contributors: Werner G Krebs from Acculation
#5 Tailor Content To Small Market Segments
If you know your target markets, then keep slicing them smaller and smaller.. Write variations on a theme that work in details that will resonate with that audience. For example, if you have a product that would appeal to female shoppers, then think about adding a version referencing sorority women. Further refine that by considering individual sororities, such as Alpha Xi Delta, and then work in references such as their colors (double blue and gold), their philanthropy focus (Autism Speaks) and their tag line (Inspiring Women to Realize their Potential). You can roll this out for each group. How many other groups might apply?
Figuring out a way to approach and where to customize content to make it more relevant can help get your message in front of the right people and to encourage a positive association with your brand.
Contributors: Lynne McNamee from Lone Armadillo Marketing Agency
#6 Position Yourself As A Thought Leader
Offer the content your competitors are too scared to give away for free. Thanks to the internet customers are now accustomed to conducting their own research before choosing to purchase product or service.
By providing those customers answers during the research phase of their buyer's journey, you'll have the opportunity to get in front of them before your competitors do and to show them you know what you're talking about.
Positioning yourself as a thought leader in your space is a powerful marketing technique.
Contributors: Chris Hornak from Blog Hands
#7 Sponsored Content
Sponsored content makes sense for some larger businesses with larger pockets. The outlet is paid to write a promotional piece with high standards (with full disclosure) and the writing and focus on the product is much higher than a casual mention.
Contributors: Joseph Robison from Green Flag Digital
#8 Customer Videos
I sell my coloring books on Facebook. The customers post how they colored the pages from my books and they volunteer to make vidoes show how they color. Others watch and get intriqued and buy the books so they can follow along with the colorists. They also post them on youtube.
Contributors: Jess Perna from JessPerna
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