Why do CPG Brands Need Content Marketing?

Content marketing and online advertising can bring immense brand awareness to your CPG brand. In a highly competitive industry, you want to find fresh and innovative strategies to launch a great marketing campaign. This is why content marketing could be your holy grail. 

In this article, we’re going to discuss everything you should know about CPG brands and content marketing and how you can utilize it to your advantage. 

What is Consumer Packaged Goods Marketing?

CPG marketing, or consumer packaged goods marketing, is a marketing technique targeted towards perishable items such as food, cleaning products, and body care products to name a few. 

Other consumer packaged goods include:

• Drinks and beverages
• Clothes
• Cosmetics and beauty products
• Alcohol
• Household products

Everyone consumes packaged goods on a daily basis which makes the CPG market highly saturated and very competitive. Especially when it comes to marketing your business and standing out among a sea of others. 

Because of this, CPG marketing takes a lot more work and a specialized strategy in order to build brand awareness. Do not worry though, if your product is of high-quality and customers love it, you can then shift your focus to your content marketing strategy. The CPG industry will always be in high-demand because it’s a necessity. So, that means the industry isn’t going anywhere as a whole which can be an advantage to you. 

Luckily for you, SEO Design Chicago takes a personalized approach to creating a content marketing strategy for your CPG business and can help you stand out. 

Digital Marketing for CPG Brands

Consumer packaged goods usually have been sold in traditional physical spaces such as grocery and convenience stores. Although, with the rise of ecommerce, online retailers have been selling CPG brands on internet stores like Amazon Prime. Even Walmart now delivers! This just comes to show that consumers are relying more on ecommerce each year. Meal memberships, make-up subscriptions, and food delivery services are more popular than ever. That’s why companies such as these do a lot of online advertising.

Online advertising has become crucial for the consumer packaged goods industry. As a matter of fact, it has become the standard way of marketing. Not to mention that consumers are becoming more conscious of their purchasing decisions especially when it comes to the reputation of a company. So, not only is online advertising important for brand awareness but also public relations.

CPG Content Marketing

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of CPG content marketing, let’s discuss what content marketing is and the many aspects of it. 

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is a method of marketing that generates and shares valuable and relevant content to attract and retain audience interest. The main goal is to earn profit from this interest. 

The kind of content created includes some below:

• Videos
• Blog posts
• Articles
• Social media posts
• Infographics

There’s a reason why top brands use content marketing. It just works. As a matter of fact, Forbes dubs it as the present and future of marketing because it has been proven to yield an increase in sales, saving in costs, and creating loyal customers. Now you can see why content marketing is important for CPG brands. 

Think about it. Companies try to sell things to consumers all the time. They try to tell you why you need their product and that you should buy it. Not only is it annoying, but it’s ineffective especially when customers are being fed all of this information that has no substance on the surface. Content marketing shines information in a more wholesome light. 

CPG Content Marketing Strategies

Now that marketers and businesses no long have to rely on supermarkets or print advertisements to reach out to customers, digital marketing has paved the way for content marketing. 

Before content can be created, though, marketers need to do research to gain insight on what their customers are really looking for. This is why CPG marketers are starting to rely more on analytics. They see the value in having real-time intelligence on their customers. 

Once all the data and information have been collected, now it’s time to start focusing on a content marketing strategy. 

There are multiple ways to planning a content marketing strategy, but just like every plan you need a goal. In this case of CPG brands, you want to raise brand awareness so that you expand your market. 

Here are some CPG content marketing strategies to keep in mind before and during the launch of a campaign:

Trial and Error

Chances are you might need to test different types of content to see what your target audience likes. As a CPG business, some content might work better for other products than it would work for you. That is okay. The trick to attracting customers and getting engagement is to find that sweet spot and it’s going to take some trial and error. 

Promoting Your Content

Creating and posting your content sometimes isn’t enough, especially with the amount of content that’s put on the internet on a daily basis. It’s disheartening to not receive the amount of recognition or engagement you were hoping to get after putting a lot of time and effort into your content. Therefore using tools like email marketing or influencers can help avoid your content from getting lost among others. 

Research Your Competitors

As mentioned before, the CPG industry is very competitive. That’s why doing extensive research on your competitors can help you get a good idea on what content would work for your targeted audience. 

Make a Content Calendar

Another strategic way to have effective content marketing is to make an editorial calendar so you can stay organized. Strong content marketing doesn’t solely rely on quality content but also on keeping your audience engaged. Having a calendar is a great way to be calculating about what and when content should be posted. 

CPG Content Marketing Examples

Kellogg’s Rice Krispie Treats Video

YouTube is a platform that a lot of CPG marketers are using to reach prospective customers. Why is this? Because creating videos is a great way for customers to be informed and entertained. 

Kellogg’s Rice Krispie Treats made a video about a case study during the back-to-school season and saw a 4% sales increase.

Del Monte Foods Inc.’s Green Bean Casserole Campaign

Del Monte Foods Inc. made huge success with its content marketing approach during the Thanksgiving season by cross-selling products and holiday cooking tips. Although, the major factor for the success was advertising this content through social media and TV.

These ads ran on PopSugar pages that were relevant to Thanksgiving. 

This campaign yielded an increase in consumer engagement rates by 220% which exceeded the industry average by 30.72%.

Oscar Meyer’s Unsung Bacon Campaign

In the age of health consciousness, especially for packaged foods, Oscar Meyer wanted to launch an awareness campaign about their brand reputation for turkey bacon. For decades, Oscar Meyer was only known for its pork bacon and they wanted to shine more light on their turkey bacon.

Oscar Meyer launched the website unsungbacon.com, including a YouTube video with the same name. This campaign asked people to “stand up for unsung bacon everywhere” and to follow Michael Bacon on Twitter.

Michael Bacon is an Emmy-winning film and television composer. You might know him as the actor of Kevin Bacon, but he’s definitely the lesser known brother. Michael wrote the music for the campaign.

This campaign yielded an increase in sales and 7,929 new organic twitter followers.

Mountain Dew’s Living Portraits campaign

Another great way to utilize content marketing is through digital storytelling and interactivity and that’s what Mountain Dew did through its Living Portraits campaign.

The campaign featured top athletes such as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and had a collage of animated GIFs in the videos. In these videos, there were Easter eggs for fans to find the quote “delve deeper into the worlds of the Dew All-Stars”. This campaign ended up winning the 2014 National Addy Award in the category of digital advertising, websites, and consumer. 

SEO Design Chicago CPG Marketing Case Study

SEO Design Chicago offers content marketing for CPG companies and has a track record of launching successful campaigns.

For instance, a local CPG company was in need of advertising a new product line due to expansion and wanting to increase their market. The company mostly relied on word of mouth and wanted to increase brand awareness by attracting new customers.

So, what did SEO Design Chicago do?

• Content creation: SEO Design Chicago first studied the trends in their industry to see what would be most successful for their product. Then, the content creation team created a content plan.
• SEO: All header tags, meta descriptions, title tags, and page names were optimized in order for Google and Bing to properly scan and index the company’s webpages.
• Advertising: SEO Design Chicago created an innovative and unique campaign to generate interest in the new product and offers. Both Google PPC and social media advertising that were used to attract a target audience.

What were the results?

• The campaign brought awareness to 14 new products, thanks to organic search and social media.
• The company’s products ranked on the first page for both branded and non-branded searches due to content creation.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How is content marketing different for CPG brands compared to other industries?

CPG content marketing faces unique challenges due to highly saturated markets and necessity-based products with shorter purchase consideration periods. Unlike luxury goods, CPG brands must focus on building consistent brand awareness and creating emotional connections with everyday items. Content must be highly visual, recipe or usage-focused, and mobile-optimized since many purchase decisions happen in-store or during quick online shopping. CPG brands also need to educate consumers about product differences in crowded categories and demonstrate practical benefits quickly.

2. What types of content work best for CPG brands on different platforms?

YouTube excels with recipe videos and product demonstrations. Instagram and TikTok perform well with quick recipe videos, behind-the-scenes content, and user-generated content. Facebook works for longer storytelling and seasonal campaigns. Pinterest is ideal for recipe collections and lifestyle imagery. Blog content should focus on seasonal trends, health benefits, and usage tips. The key is matching content format to platform behavior—quick, visual content for social media and detailed, SEO-optimized content for owned channels.

3. How can small CPG brands compete with major companies in content marketing?

Small CPG brands can compete by focusing on authenticity, niche targeting, and community building rather than matching big brands’ production budgets. Leverage your brand story, founder’s journey, or local roots to create emotional connections. Partner with micro-influencers who have engaged audiences in your target demographic. Focus on quality over quantity—create fewer pieces of highly engaging content. Utilize user-generated content and customer testimonials extensively. Target long-tail keywords and specific audience segments where you can rank higher than major competitors.

4. What’s the typical ROI timeline for CPG content marketing campaigns?

CPG content marketing typically shows initial engagement metrics within 1-3 months, but meaningful sales impact usually takes 3-6 months for established brands and 6-12 months for new products. Brand awareness metrics improve fastest, followed by website traffic and social engagement. Sales attribution can be challenging since CPG purchases often happen offline after online research. Seasonal campaigns may show results more quickly during peak buying periods. Long-term brand building through consistent content marketing typically shows compound returns after 12-18 months.

5. How should CPG brands handle seasonal content marketing throughout the year?

Develop an annual content calendar that aligns with major holidays, seasons, and cultural moments relevant to your products. Plan seasonal content 2-3 months in advance to allow for production and promotion time. Create evergreen content that can be repurposed across seasons while developing timely, seasonal-specific campaigns. For food brands, focus on holiday entertaining and seasonal recipes. Beauty brands should align with seasonal skin concerns or holiday gift-giving. Build content libraries around major seasons that can be refreshed annually, and don’t forget smaller, niche holidays with less competition.

6. What metrics should CPG brands prioritize when measuring content marketing success?

Focus on metrics that connect to business outcomes: brand awareness lift, website traffic from content, social engagement rates, email list growth, and sales attribution where possible. Track content performance by product category and seasonal trends. Monitor share of voice compared to competitors in your category. For video content, watch time and completion rates are crucial. Track user-generated content mentions and hashtag usage. Don’t ignore offline metrics—track in-store promotions that reference online content and QR code scans linking digital to physical touchpoints.

7. How can CPG brands integrate content marketing with their retail and distribution strategy?

Create content that supports retail partners while building direct consumer relationships. Develop co-marketing opportunities with retailers, like exclusive recipes featuring products available at specific stores. Use geotargeted content to drive traffic to retail locations. Create QR codes on packaging that link to exclusive content or loyalty programs. Develop content that educates retailers about your products. Coordinate seasonal content campaigns with retail promotional periods. Balance owned content that builds brand equity with retailer-specific content that drives immediate sales while ensuring your strategy doesn’t conflict with retail partner relationships.

Contact SEO Design Chicago for Your Content Marketing Needs

If you’re a local business wanting to raise your company’s presence and brand awareness, SEO Design Chicago can help create a content marketing campaign strategy that is personalized just for you. Contact us today!