Content marketing has been making the rounds for a few years now. Some brands have been cautious about plunging into content. While a few others have successfully created history through content marketing. CMI says that over 72% of marketers reported an increase in engagement, leads, and customer retention through content marketing. But the question remains. How did these brands hack content marketing to skyrocket their growth?
If you’re wondering how content marketing can turn your business around, then a look at these 3 content marketing case studies might help inspire you into action.
Each brand mentioned below started from zero. They had no audience. No paying customers. No money to invest into paid marketing. And yet today, they’re behemoths in their industries. SaaS companies such as HubSpot, Salesforce, SAP, Lead Pages, and Kissmetrics have grown into household names through the right content marketing strategy.
Let’s dive right in!
3 CONTENT MARKETING CASE STUDIES TO INSPIRE YOU
HubSpot
HubSpot, started out of the MIT campus as a digital marketing company, has evolved into a $12.4 billion martech company employing over 2000 people worldwide. Much of its crazy growth can be attributed to a viral content marketing strategy that helped establish itself as the leader in digital tools. They’ve perfected the art of creating sales funnels powered by the right content. It is estimated that the customer journey is 70% over by the time they are ready to hear a sales pitch. And HubSpot specializes in creating content that is geared to drive a customer through this journey. It focuses on giving out free value to create brand recall amongst its audience.
Their blog gets over 1 million unique visitors every month. This fact alone speaks volumes about the quantity and quality of the content they put out. Their content is trusted amongst every circle. HubSpot is a true leader in creating blogs, articles, case studies, infographics, and other content pieces centering around the digital world.
Another aspect of content marketing that they use is to provide free services and tools. These free tools are attached to guides and information banks to help users get the most out of them. It’s no wonder HubSpot is one of the biggest martech startups in the world.
Salesforce
When you think of CRM, you think Salesforce. That’s how impactful the content marketing strategy of Salesforce is. Their name is synonymous to the best CRM software in the world, a software that is used by over 150000 people to drive sales, service, and marketing. They are currently valued at $226 billion making them one of the biggest companies in the world.
Here’s a story to show just how innovative the content marketing strategy of Salesforce is.
Back when their UK operations were taking a hit due to a rising number of competitors, they decided to create digital content assets that changed the game. Their content wasn’t just educational, it was also fun and engaging which helped attract the right audience.
Salesforce created a video series talking about sales and marketing apart from the world’s first stop-motion slide share and presentations showcasing customer success stories.
And was this strategy a resounding success. They witnessed a dramatic 80% increase in web traffic, more than 10000 downloads of their ebook, 6500 email sign-ups, and a 2500% rise in social media traffic.
It just goes on to show the staggering effects a perfect content strategy can have on any company.
Lead Pages
Lead Pages is another company in the martech domain that has seen considerable success through content marketing. Even though Lead Pages is much smaller than other giants in this sector such as HubSpot and Semrush, it has managed to cement its own place. When they started off, the company was well aware of the fact that they didn’t have the resources, manpower, or money to compete head on with bigger names. That’s why they implemented a unique content strategy that focused on organic growth and virality to succeed.
They started off with creating a ton of free e-learning resources including marketing courses, e-books, case studies, and infographics. They also catapulted their blog to the top of Google though SEO and quality content. They started a podcast, held several webinars, and went all in trying to add value to the lives of their customers.
Their strategy paid off big time when they generated $16 million in revenue in 2015 through 35000 onboarded customers.
Content marketing is by far the best way to reach your marketing goals – website traffic, social media followers, leads, conversions – while keeping your costs at a minimum.
Through these content marketing case studies, one can clearly gauge the importance of having a content marketing strategy.
