The Concept: Content Marketing. Issue #000012
Q: What does the term "Content Marketing" even mean?
A: It’s outbound communication designed to connect with consumers, not just to sell them.
Content marketing campaigns are built to solve a specific issue or to position a brand in a certain way. The goal of outbound communication is less focused on the bottom line and more dedicated to reputation and/or awareness. Testimonials, success stories, useful examples of a brand at work, relatable tales told in an authentic way.
Our agency is known for outdoor adventure destination marketing, but this team of hikers, skiers, and paddlers will probably scroll right past an ad for a backpack or anorak. However, we might just watch a piece of content marketing that’s less about the product and more about what that product can provide.
Let's put it this way: it's less about the cookware, and more about the incredible meal you’ll prepare with it and the fabulous friends who might come over to dine with you. Less about the logo on the hat, and more about what it means to represent a specific team, and why it matters to you. Less about the destination, and more about the core memories made there, year after year.
Some examples of content marketing on Instagram, Vimeo, TikTok...
Trampoline International Women's Day
Sure, social media seems easy. You take a picture, you post it, voilà right? Not always. While organic Instagram reels are a key way to increase engagement on your social accounts, you also need the idea, the content, and most importantly, the tools to leverage it.
We took advantage of recent staff headshots and posted a timely reel to show off our impressive women-led staff. The post had 845 views, reached 500 accounts, and put a few faces to our name.
The Everyday Legends series for Granite Peak
This series of social vignettes doesn’t really celebrate the mountain itself, instead we focus on the different characters who appear everyday on the mountain. Some are caricatures of ski culture, others are snapshots of little victories—both relatable and authentic.
Granite Peak features as the location where all of these stories take place, but there isn’t a ticket sales call-to-action at the close. It's the feeling you get of recognizing yourself, or a memory you may have, in these characters.
The Dempsey Center: A French Connection
Consider a single 10-second piece, shot off-the-cuff at a fundraising event for The Dempsey Center. Rather than a direct ask for donations, Patrick Dempsey agreed to a Parisian sound bite, the trend of that particular moment in time, uttering a single word: “Oui.”
Effortless, in-the-moment.
The video was posted, with the proper mentions, hashtags, and metadata included. It received 1.4 million likes. It has been shared 21,000 times. Most notably, it led to a jump of 5,000 followers on the Dempsey Center’s TikTok account, overnight.
Boats By George New Year’s Resolution
This season-swapping shoot, captured on Lake George during a chilly New Year’s Eve surfing session, was done just because the lake had not yet frozen. The content is way more about what it means to love boating to the frigid end, than about the vessel itself. No mention of features, financing, or value-adds, rather: access, lifestyle, and doing something wild that’s shareable.
Sales are important, brands are valuable, and culture and group dynamics factor into consumer decision-making.
Realistically, content marketing is more of a long game. Not a price-driven sales pitch, but more like a yarn you’d spin at a dinner party, with a wink and a smile. Think of it as an anecdote to someone who might use your product, visit your destination, or join your organization.
The message is more about presenting a lifestyle that your target market will relate to, and, even aspire to. This approach is leveraged FOMO, at its most demure.
– TRAMPOLINE DESIGN • 6/14/2024
