In the world of marketing, emphasis is being placed on "content marketing," which goes beyond simply selling products to provide useful information and deepen relationships with users.
This time, we will introduce some examples of content marketing that have been successful in the BtoB and BtoC fields .
What you'll learn in this article
- Understanding content marketing through case studies in existing companies
- Key strategic points for BtoB and BtoC cases
- How to implement content marketing
This article is recommended for these people
- Those considering introducing content marketing
- Those who want to improve their company's marketing strategy and want to know success stories
- Those who want to gain a deeper understanding of BtoB and BtoC marketing strategies
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Content Marketing Basics
Content marketing is not a one-off campaign, it's a long-term strategy .
The aim is to increase brand awareness, deepen customer relationships and ultimately drive sales.
What is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is a marketing technique that involves creating and distributing informational and valuable content that is useful for promoting sales and increasing brand awareness .
By providing customers with valuable information, we aim to build trust and generate interest in our products and services.
This will help you improve customer loyalty, generate new leads, and increase brand awareness .
Characteristics and types of content marketing
Content marketing is considered to be "pull-type" marketing, in which customers seek information of their own volition, and is distinct from traditional "push-type" marketing such as advertising.
This reduces customer resistance and helps build deeper relationships .
Another feature is its integration with SEO .
Content marketing allows you to achieve high rankings on search engine result pages.
This is because useful and relevant content is valued by search engines.
Content marketing comes in a wide variety of formats and content, including blog articles, social media posts, videos, webinars (online web seminars), and white papers (specialized materials).
Domestic B2B content marketing case studies
Here are some examples of content marketing that has been successful in the B2B sector in Japan.
LIG Blog | LIG Inc.
"LIG Blog" is operated by LIG Inc., a creative agency that handles corporate branding and web design.
This blog provides information on a wide range of topics, including corporate branding, web design, marketing, and corporate culture, and the content is of very high quality and provides useful information.
It boasts around 5 million page views per month, making it a prime example of a successful BtoB owned media .
What's unique about the LIG blog is that it publicly shares specific projects the company is working on and their results, sharing success stories and points of reflection.
This allows readers to concretely understand what LIG does, how it does it, and what the results are .
This transparency creates trust and ultimately leads to business opportunities.
The secret to LIG's success is a content strategy that clearly defines its target customers .
(Reference site) LIG Blog
Management Hacker | freee, Inc.
"Management Hacker" is operated by freee, Inc., a company that provides accounting cloud services.
This is a media outlet that provides a variety of business-related information, including management, accounting, and human resources and labor, targeting managers, accountants, and entrepreneurs.
By providing this useful information free of charge, we are able to raise awareness of the freee brand and services, as well as highlight its expertise and reliability.
This will help acquire potential customers (leads) for freee's flagship product, cloud-based accounting software .
What sets them apart is that they build relationships with their target customers by providing them with valuable information free of charge , and then guide them to their products.
(Reference site) Management Hacker
Marketing Blog | SATORI Inc.
The "Marketing Blog" is operated by SATORI Inc., a company that develops and supports the implementation of marketing technology.
The blog features a wide range of topics, including the latest trends in digital marketing, marketing automation (MA) implementation cases, and information on upcoming webinars.
We promote our track record and reliability by introducing specific implementation and success stories that utilize the marketing technology and consulting services that SATORI offers.
Another feature is that they provide opportunities to communicate directly with customers through regularly held webinar information .
These are good examples that embody the main purpose of content marketing: to attract attention, build trust, and encourage action on products or services .
(Reference site) Marketing blog
Domestic BtoC content marketing case study
Here are some examples of content marketing that has been successful in the BtoC sector in Japan.
"Hokuo Kurashi no Doguten" is an online store that sells lifestyle products, mainly from the Nordic countries, but it also focuses on content marketing.
The company's online media, "Classicom Journal," is operated by Classicom Co., Ltd. and provides information on how to think about and use lifestyles and tools.
We do not just encourage product purchases, but also strive to deepen connections with customers by eliciting empathy for the lifestyle that is proposed along with the products .
Our focus is not just on the features and usability of the product itself, but also on conveying the experiential value of the kind of lifestyle that can be achieved by using the product.
This is one successful example of how a "story," the experiential value provided through the purchase of a product , can increase customer purchasing desire and encourage repeat purchases .
(Reference sites) Classicom Journal Nordic, Living Tools Store
Lidea | Lion Corporation
"Lidea" is operated by Lion Corporation, a major Japanese consumer goods manufacturer.
It is a lifestyle-oriented web media, and its unique feature is that it delivers articles on various lifestyle-related themes, such as "cleaning tips for keeping your room tidy," "cooking methods for making delicious food," and "lifestyle habits for staying healthy."
This information is often presented along with specific examples of the use of Lion's products.
It serves to deepen readers' understanding and interest in the company's products, while providing them with useful knowledge to improve the quality of their lives.
In this way, by providing concrete ideas for lifestyles that utilize our products, we are able to increase our points of contact with customers and raise awareness of our products.
(Reference site) Lidea
SUUMO Town | Recruit Co., Ltd.
"SUUMO Town" is operated by Recruit Co., Ltd.
As part of the real estate information media "SUUMO," it provides lifestyle information for each region and offers property information to people looking for a new home.
Its distinctive feature is that it comprehensively conveys the charms and characteristics of each region, the lifestyles of its residents, surrounding facilities, tourist attractions, and gourmet information.
The information on "SUUMO Town" includes contributions from local residents and writers, so it reflects the real voices of the locals and allows for a deeper understanding of local characteristics .
In this way, SUUMO Town not only provides property information, but also conveys the appeal of each region, thereby deepening customers' understanding of housing and lifestyle and increasing trust in Recruit's services .
Additionally, the free magazines available at stations and other locations of "SUUMO" are also very popular, and it can be said that print media also plays a large role .
(Reference site) SUUMO Town
Key points for successful content marketing
The key to successful content marketing is to "set objectives and goals with a medium- to long-term perspective" and "identify appropriate target customers and develop a content strategy to match them."
Taking a long-term view
Content marketing is a strategy that aims to build relationships with customers from a medium to long-term perspective, rather than aiming to sell products or services immediately.
Therefore, it will take time for the results to become apparent and it is inappropriate to expect immediate results .
In particular, video content marketing requires continuous activity and a long-term perspective , and it is important to understand this and share it within the company.
Deliver content tailored to customer needs
It is important to understand your target customer's "persona" and create content that they will want to read .
The content can vary greatly depending on the persona's age, gender, and other characteristics.
Methods for identifying these needs include holding roundtable discussions or creating customer journey maps .
Design a flow to acquire leads
Once you have created your personas, mapping out your customer journey will help you clarify what content you should offer, when and how you should present it.
We place CTAs in appropriate locations within the content, conduct A/B testing on the designed flow, and use the results to improve the design to deliver the best results .
Content Marketing Case Studies Summary
We have looked at examples of content marketing in both BtoB and BtoC.
In both cases, the keys to success are understanding customer needs, valuing information, and building relationships .
As mentioned earlier, we need to continue to operate the system with a long-term perspective.
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