The value of content marketing for your CPG brand cannot be understated. This is because being digitally active is essential for companies that sell consumer packaged goods (CPG). Strong and effective content will capture the audience’s attention and eventually lead them to becoming loyal customers. However, there is a lot to consider when creating content that works. In this article, we will show you why content marketing is so valuable, give you tips to keep in mind when creating content, go through some of the biggest CPG brands today, and finally, provide you qualities that top content marketing companies have.
Table of Contents
CPG Brands
The Consumer Packaged Goods industry today is worth about $2 trillion in the United States. According to a study conducted by the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), the CPG industry is considered the largest manufacturing employer as it supports one in ten jobs in North America. The products sold may include food, beverages, personal care, cosmetics, household items, and toiletries. These products are all consumed and sold quickly at low prices.
Think about it like this – if you buy it often, it probably belongs to CPG. 76% of CPG shopping trips begin online – regardless of whether the product is actually bought online or in store. Many new markets are established in CPG ecommerce, such as offerings like online grocery shopping or meal prep kits. As customers grow accustomed to online shopping for small inexpensive CPG products, the more comfortable they are becoming with paying delivery fees and waiting on shipment – particularly during the current COVID-19 pandemic we are living through.
Many challenges face CPG brands. Firstly, the extremely competitive and crowded online setting has made it more difficult to stand out. Secondly, CPG brands must learn how to generate a demand for new products by staying hyper-focused on audience needs. To outline this second point, a study from Harvard business school by professor Clayton Christensen states that every year there are 30,000 new consumer products created – and 80% of them fail.
With such big stakes and intense competitions, CPG marketers need to focus on content marketing – specifically, direct-to-consumer communication and delivery. So what are some of the top performing CPG brands, and what can we learn from them?
Dove
Dove, the beauty and health brand, is owned by Unilever Company and considered among the top 10 CPG brands. Essentially, their campaign message involves empowering confidence and self-esteem in women between the ages of 15 and 45.
Importantly, this is what Dove is known for: generating social initiatives that resonate with their audience and building strong brand associations. Their most recent campaign titled Real Beauty Productions does exactly that. What was the demand? Well, 69% of women feel that they don’t see themselves reflected in advertisements or films. Recognizing this, Dove implemented user-generated content (UGC) whereby real women discuss what beauty looks like to them. Providing fans with a platform to speak about important topics establishes brand trust and places Dove as a solution for these issues.
Pampers
Up next we have Pampers, which sells baby and toddler diapers and is owned by Procter and Gamble. Pampers is present in over 100 countries across the globe in both developed and developing countries. They are focused on understanding customer needs in order to continuously improve their brand and products. Their overarching message is targeted to parents who seek to provide care for their babies health and development.
Being a parent means facing challenges and making tough decisions. So, upon recognizing this demand, Pampers established the Pampers Village Parenting Panel, a free service offered by a group of professionals on topics like pregnancy, childbirth, baby yoga, child development and well-being, and more. The experts on this panel give advice and guidance to parents who might be lost and unsure. Here we can see how pampers fulfilled a need in their audience while creating brand trust and loyalty.
Pepsi
Owned by PepsiCo, the famous soda brand has reached markets all across the world. In particular, they have used social media content marketing to reach people in over 200 different countries. One example is via their YouTube channel – whereby famous celebrities are asked to act in small ad videos. Another example was a campaign pushing consumers to buy the Emoji Pepsi limited edition product-line and join the #SayItWithPepsi conversation via social media. This was done by partnering with highly recognized influencers who distributed and created highly relevant content. Importantly, their content was also captivating – as this is what drives engagement.
Proving the Value of Content Marketing
Still not convinced that content marketing is valuable? Here are a few statistics and facts that will change your mind:
- Small businesses who have blog posts generate 126% more lead growth than those who don’t.
- Upon reading blog recommendations, a staggering 61% of online customers in the U.S. followed through with a purchase.
- 70% of consumers would prefer to learn new information about a company from an article or blog rather than a traditional advertisement, according to Demand Metric.
- When it comes to SEO, content creation is the most effective technique.
- When it comes to conversion rates, content marketing wins over other methods by six times.
- 87% of consumers stated that they would like to see an increase in videos from brands.
The point being drawn in all these numbers is that content marketing is valuable because it drives leads. If you want your audience to engage, you need to provide them with interesting, high-quality content. The more you connect to your target audience through strong story-telling, the greater your potential sales are for your CPG brand. Now, let’s talk about what it takes to generate excellent and valuable content.
Content Marketing Lessons
Lesson 1: Personalized Content
First and foremost, it’s important you create personalized content in your content marketing strategy. After all, you are speaking to human beings who all have different interests, behaviors and geographical locations. Discover what those are using visitor data and show your customers that you not only appreciate them, but also speak directly to their passions. One way to do this is motivating customers to create and share content about personalized experiences they have with your product or brand.
An example of where personalized content should be used is the subject header of an email. Do you think that saying “Hello Subscriber” is a personalized way to contact customers? Not really – I mean, there are so many software that can actually add the first name of the customer in the subject line. For instance, on Campaign Monitor you can use the personalization option and select “insert first name.” This will allow the subject header to include each customer’s first name accordingly – some examples are “Hello [first name], We Miss You!” or “[first name] Your Coupon Code is Waiting.”
Lesson 2: Host a Voting Campaign
Do you want to get feedback from your audience when launching a new CPG product or product line? Then your content marketing should include voting campaigns, where customers can voice their opinions and you can show them that they matter! This will generate excitement, buzz, and build brand awareness. At the end of the contest, you can reward the winners (which will encourage more people to join). Throughout the voting campaign, make sure to keep your followers up to date with the status of the vote or contest.
Lesson 3: Your Content Must Reflect Your Brand’s Voice
It can be a challenge to continuously pinpoint and maintain the “voice” of your brand in your content marketing strategy. With that being said, you should always review editorial standards and check the tone and quality to ensure brand consistency. You can ask questions like: does the following piece of writing reflect my company’s overall values? Or does the following piece of content advance and develop my brand’s voice?
Top Content Marketing Companies
With such a huge number of content marketing companies available today, it’s important to keep in mind what qualities it takes to be considered among the top:
- Reliable and Professional Content Creators: Get to know the content writers you’ll be working with and seek a team-work based approach.
- Measurability: You need results-driven content, so find a content marketing company that has a clear plan for measuring results (such as KPIs.)
- Availability: You want someone accessible and ready to hear out any concerns or questions throughout the process. Be up front about this and ask: “How can I best reach you when needed?”
- Check out Testimonials and Case Studies: One of the best ways to evaluate a content marketing company is by looking at previous works and valid testimonials. These are usually found on an agency’s website and provide relevant info regarding what industries they’ve worked in, including CPG brands.
SEO Design Chicago Values Content Marketing
Here at SEO Design Chicago we tailor a custom content marketing strategy for each of our individual clients. Our experienced copywriters and content writing service team know exactly how to make words sell and generate leads. Out of our many case studies, one that’s particularly relevant is a CPG Ecommerce Web Design case study – where there was a 254% increase in online sale and 220% increase in organic web traffic. Contact us for help with CPG marketing today!
Contact Us Today!