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This, my friend, is one of the greatest examples of content marketing of all time.
I bet when you hear “content marketing,” you think about blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and viral YouTube videos.
However, content marketing has been around far longer than the Internet.
Sure, it might sound like a new strategy, but the truth is, content marketing is a tried and true method that stands the test of time.
Do you know why it works so well? Because content marketing isn’t about selling to people: it’s all about storytelling, and humans have been telling stories for as long as they could speak. Naturally, our attention goes to the best storytellers.
For example, when Hasbro and Marvel cooperated to launch their comic book series “G.I. Joe – A Real American Hero!” in 1982, they had a simple marketing strategy.
They wanted to create what Kenner Toy Company’s Star Wars action figures already had: A rich backstory for their action figures.
Within two months of releasing the first comic book, about 20% of their target audience, boys between the ages of five and twelve, had two or more G.I. Joe toys. At that point, the comic book only had two stories.
Fast forward seven years, the series was one of Marvel’s strongest titles, and two out of three boys in the same age category owned at least one G.I. Joe action figure.
How’s that for using content to market a product?
A lot has changed since then, and what worked back in the 80s won’t necessarily work today. However, with new marketing channels like social media popping up almost daily, opportunity is knocking.
This brings me to content marketing today. Let’s look at what content marketing means now in my detailed guide. Feel free to skip ahead if one topic catches your eye:
