We reviewed dozens of content marketing examples in different formats and from multiple channels. And handpicked the 22 most inspiring examples to share here with you.
Take a look at what was launched, what worked, and what you can borrow from each example to create winning content marketing campaigns of your own.
Innovative Blog Posts
Your blog isn’t just a play for search engine optimization (SEO).
Posts can be written to communicate your industry expertise. Build thought leadership. Or create link-worthy content.
Here are a few innovative content marketing examples for your blog:
1. Backlinko’s Skyscraper Technique 2.0
Backlinko’s founder, Brian Dean, wrote the “Skyscraper Technique 2.0” blog. A sequel to his original piece introducing the skyscraper technique.
The blog previews the new landscape in which backlinks aren’t enough to win at SEO.
Brian shares his insights on creating and optimizing pages based on user intent. Referencing case studies from his own blog posts.
The “Skyscraper Technique 2.0” blog post was shared over 1,600 times and gained over 600 backlinks.
Here’s why:
Readers get a hands-on understanding of the Skyscraper 2.0 method with three clear steps for using it.
Each step is illustrated with multiple examples to contextualize the recommendation. Instead of simply sharing a tip, Brian shows exactly how he implemented it in his work.
Like here, he tells readers to “change the format” of a piece of content. And he uses a screenshot to visualize how he acted on this advice—changing a step-by-step case study into one with checklists.
This example makes the concept easy to understand and execute.
Do It Your Way
Choose blog topics that are directly aligned with your expertise. Then, create blog posts on those topics using real-life examples of your work. This makes the content actionable for readers.
2. Buffer’s Open Salary System
Buffer is a social media management tool with a distributed, remote team. The company’s founder and CEO, Joel Gascoigne, introduced one of their most innovative policies in this Open Salary System blog.
In the post, Gascoigne shares his ideas and beliefs about the policy. He reveals to readers how the open salary system emerged, evolved, and currently works.
He talks about how the team ran several experiments to calculate salaries based on the cost of living for every location. The post refers to this concept as “the Good Life Curve.”
The piece doesn’t read like your usual blog post.
Rather, it’s an exhaustive essay that walks the reader through every logistical detail of the policy. And, in doing so, gives them a peek into Buffer’s brand values and compensation principles.
Do It Your Way
This is a great example of thought leadership content.
Replicate this idea by creating blog posts like these that share perspectives from your company founders or senior leadership. This can build more credibility for your brand. And help establish your company’s long-term strategic differentiators.
3. Hotjar’s AI vs. Human Writer Experiment
Hotjar is a behavior analytics tool that’s used to capture data around user behavior with heatmaps, session recordings, and surveys.
The team designed an experiment that would compare a human writer against ChatGPT. They published a blog titled “Woman vs. machine” with links to two competing pieces—one written by a human writer and one by ChatGPT.
The blog sets the stage for the experiment. It evaluates the substance of the competing pieces across categories like outline, time, cost, tone, and more, to present a comparative analysis. But it doesn’t quite declare a winner.
Instead, it lays out performance metrics that the team planned to track for six months before declaring a final winner in the competition.
This blog went live at the height of the AI versus human writers debate. So, it gained good momentum right from the get-go.
And then Tawni Sattler, Hotjar’s former Content Marketing Lead, posted about it on LinkedIn.
Her post blew up with over 700 reactions, nearly 100 comments, and 18 reposts.
Another (likely calculated) benefit to the exposure? The follow-up blog discussing the experiment’s results shows a few of Hotjar’s features in action—like Feedback and Scroll Maps. So it drives product awareness as well.
Do It Your Way
This campaign is a great example of opportunistic content creation. You can create content around a topic that people are already interested in. And by joining in the conversation, you stand a chance of capitalizing on its existing momentum.
To start, identify popular or even controversial topics in your industry. And write a blog post with an intriguing angle to capture this existing interest in the topic.
Bonus, you can show your product in the content to build awareness around your use cases.
Further reading: 12 Content Marketing Trends That Will Continue in 2024
4. Olipop’s Guide to Recycling
Olipop is a soft drink company that makes sodas with plant fiber and prebiotics.
Olipop’s website has a dedicated “Learn” section where visitors can explore the brand’s origin story, read blog posts, find ingredient details, and more.
The brand publishes blogs around its core values, like sustainability, diversity, and nutritional health.
This guide to recycling targets one of Olipop’s ideal customers: The eco-conscious buyer who makes mindful choices for the environment. Published during Earth Month, the post shares insights on the importance of recycling and quick tips to recycle items.
The brand also highlights its approach to sustainability and recycling.
It’s a great example of an ecommerce brand creating content that strengthens its positioning and earns buyers’ trust.
Do It Your Way
Your company blog can be a gateway to your brand’s core identity. Give your audience an insider’s view of your business goals, values, and initiatives while educating readers on relevant topics.
You can first chalk out themes and ideas that matter to your buyers. Then, create insight-packed blogs to share actionable tips, customer stories, and your brand’s initiatives.
Viral Video Campaigns
An impressive 89% of people want to see more videos from brands.
If that statistic alone is not enough motivation to create videos, here are two examples of viral video campaigns that captured a lot of positive attention.
They show how videos can engage and delight audiences across different industries.
5. Reddit’s IPO Video
Reddit posted a video on the day of its public launch. It went viral for all the right reasons.
This 90-second video features Reddit’s mascot, Snoo. In it, several people on the Reddit team talk about what it’s like working with Snoo. And the video ends with Snoo ringing the bell at the NY Stock Exchange building.
This video is quirky and hilarious. It reflects Reddit’s personality as a social brand.
The video is unlike what most companies would post for a major milestone like an IPO. Reddit uses humor to appear more relatable.
And it paid off!
The video received close to 2,000 reactions and over 100 reposts on LinkedIn. It also got over 39,000 views on X. The results demonstrate the power of a well-crafted video with a unique approach.
Do It Your Way
What sets Reddit’s IPO video apart is its uniquely authentic tone. This example shows that it’s okay to not play by the rules if you want to stay true to your brand personality.
Focus more on what resonates with your audience. Creating relatable content with relevance to your niche can pay off even when you’re making major announcements.
6. Hyro’s Funding Announcement
Hyro, a conversational AI company, announced its $20 million Series B funding with a hilarious video campaign.
The video playfully personifies ChatGPT and Hyro as assistants talking to a user. It perfectly exemplifies how an adaptive conversational AI platform like Hyro is different from intent-based chatbots and LLMs like ChatGPT.
Ziv Gidron, the company’s Head of Content, explains their approach to creating such an enjoyable video for a major announcement:
This video garnered 15,000 impressions, 10,000 views, 308 clicks, 162 reactions, and a strong 5% engagement rate.
Do It Your Way
The Content Head shared that, in creating this video, the team found inspiration from Apple’s Mac versus PC ads.
The lesson? Find something iconic from the past and put your own creative spin on it.
But remember to work with a bigger picture in mind. A new spin on an old favorite is much more exciting than creating a copy-paste version of an old trend.
Creative Social Media Posts
Social media channels are a space where you can instantly connect with your users. Even turn them into raving fans.
Here are three amazing content marketing examples of success on socials.
7. tl;dv’s Instagram
tl;dv is an AI assistant that records, transcribes, and summarizes meetings.
The brand’s social media team includes a couple of video creators. They’re known for making short sketches enacting real-life scenarios in a SaaS company.
Their goal?
Entertain the audience > promote the product.
For example, they created an Instagram reel sharing a funny conversation about a product feature between a sales rep, customer success manager, and prospect.
tl;dv’s content is comical, relatable, and worth sharing.
Ian Evans, one of the creators in tl;dv’s social team, summarizes their social media strategy in one line:
He also explains why creating good content matters more than self-promotional content: You have to show people you understand their struggles, joys, and frustrations. Like a best friend. So, they like hanging out with you.
Do It Your Way
Most people use platforms like TikTok and Instagram for leisure. They likely don’t want to learn how your product works or what services you can deliver.
So, instead of talking just about your brand, build an audience on these channels by creating content that speaks to your users and makes them feel seen.
8. Headspace’s Instagram
Headspace is a mindfulness app designed to improve mental wellbeing. The brand’s social media strategy is rooted in its mission to empower people and improve their mental health.
On Instagram, the brand uses vibrant illustrations and reels to share uplifting messages, like you see in this grid.
You’ll find a mix of different kinds of content on Headspace’s Instagram:
- Brief meditation activities
- Expert advice on critical subjects
- Breathing exercise reels (with millions of views)
Do It Your Way
Headspace’s example shows what you can achieve when you focus on helping your audience with genuinely meaningful advice. It also offers great inspiration for creating impactful visuals.
If you want to build a design-first social media strategy, jump to Headspace’s Instagram for some inspiration.
9. HubSpot’s LinkedIn
HubSpot is a one-stop platform with tools and resources for marketing, sales, and customer service.
The brand offers another case study in which marketing content uses humor to delight an audience. And keep them coming back for more.
The team leans heavily on memes, one-liners, and hilarious posts on a supposedly serious platform like LinkedIn.
Each post gets hundreds of likes. HubSpot often goes viral on the platform.
Chi Thukral, the Team Lead on HubSpot’s social team, changed the way the brand approached social media. In a podcast with Jordan Scheltgen, Thukral mentioned:
HubSpot’s LinkedIn activity is proof that memes can work well for content marketing campaigns. Especially when you know your audience well enough to predict what will tickle their funny bone.
Do It Your Way
Don’t be afraid to include comical and witty content in your social media strategy. Use humor to give your audience a good laugh and stay top of mind.
To create relatable content, test what works best for your users—memes, one-liners, pop-culture references, and more.
Interactive Content Assets
Interactive content can capture people’s attention much faster than static posts can. These assets often engage users better for longer. And have a higher chance of getting shared.
Check out these interactive content marketing examples before you create one for your brand.
10. Anecdote’s AI Candle Generator
Anecdote Candles sells unique fragrances by crowdsourcing new ideas. In the same spirit, the brand created an AI candle generator to design custom candles based on people’s favorite memories and moods.
This tool asks for a simple input—describe a moment. The user can keep it short or make it as detailed as they want.
When they hit generate, the tool creates a new candle name and copy around the users’ response to the prompt.
Users can hit Shuffle to get multiple options and choose their favorite one.
Then, they customize different details to create their own candle. And place an order.
The AI candle generator gives shoppers an immersive experience, building a candle on their own from start to finish.
Do It Your Way
Anecdote’s candle generator involves the buyer in the production process and gives them complete control over the end product.
You can pull off something similar to get creative ideas directly from your audience. Give them an interactive tool to share their memories, photos, or other details. Convert these inputs into a customized output for each user—like a badge, a title, or even a product to buy.
11. Slite’s Time-Saving Calculator
Slite, a knowledge base platform, has a time saving calculator.
Why?
To highlight how much time and money teams could save by making knowledge easily accessible to everyone. Visitors can use the sliding scale on the digital calculator to define the number of people on their team and their average monthly salary.
Then, this tool will determine how much time and money that prospective customers could save by documenting knowledge in one place.
Not just that, the calculator also suggests a fun activity specifically based on the number of hours and money it could save. Like how many pancakes the person can make. Or how many hours they could be meditating.
It’s an imaginative way of nudging people to save time. With Slite.
Do It Your Way
If your product/service has a direct, quantifiable benefit for users, use interactive content to help them realize the possibilities.
Choose any content format that works best in your context. Like a quiz, calculator, poll, games, and more.
12. Coffee Bros’s Coffee-to-Water Ratio Calculator
Coffee Bros sells a wide variety of fresh-roasted coffee. The team created a coffee-to-water ratio calculator.
Why? To help anyone brew the right balance of coffee and water.
The calculator includes seven steps where users can choose any of the available options, like their brewing method, drink size, and roast level.
Based on the inputs, the calculator suggests the ideal brewing time and creates a recipe table.
It’s a quick and convenient tool for coffee enthusiasts to try different types of coffee with the right recipe.
Do It Your Way
Coffee Bros targeted a fairly common pain point among their audience: How to make the perfect brew. They created an interactive tool to solve this problem and gently nudge people to explore their products.
To create something similar, identify a few problem statements where you can quickly offer a customized solution. Then, build an interactive tool—like a quiz, calculator, or something else—to understand the exact problem and share a few ways to solve it.
13. Figma’s Cost Comparison Calculator
Figma created a cost-comparison calculator to help buyers make informed decisions.
Enter information about your team size and the expected duration of your contract with a solution provider. Then, you see what each of Figma’s most popular competitors would cost you. Alongside Figma’s price.
The calculator gives an honest price estimation. And you can see a list of features you get if you choose Figma.
Do It Your Way
Cost is one of the biggest factors among buyers. You can make a strong case for your brand with a cost calculator like this.
Show buyers exactly how much they’ll pay to use your product vs competing products. And what features they’ll get for their investment in your solution.
14. Miro’s “Look Back” Board
Miro’s ”look back” board recaps all the features the team rolled out in 2023. Across several different categories.
Each section of this board is beautifully designed with a combination of visual and textual content. And focuses on a specific part of the product, like Content & Data Visualization, Workshops & Async Collaboration, and more.
You can zoom in to see different updates in each section.
Besides screenshots, GIFs, and text blocks, these sections also include “Talktracks.” In them, members of the Miro team walk users through different updates in said section.
You can click on any of the sections in the intro segment, and the board will take you directly to that part. For example, if you want to learn more about Miro’s AI features, you can click on the artificial intelligence box in blue.
Do It Your Way
Miro presents the perfect example of using your product to interact with your audience. Especially if you have a communication-centric product.
Create a virtual playground for users to choose their own adventure and interact with different elements.
You need a big-picture idea of an explorable space you want to create—like a workspace, an arcade, a carnival (like Miro’s). Then, place your content assets in different parts of that explorable space with clear instructions to interact.
High-Impact Case Studies
Case studies play a crucial role in the buyer journey. That’s why 36% of marketers consider them to be the best-performing content type.
These case study examples will give you a new way to share customer stories.
15. Gong’s First-Person Case Study
Gong, a revenue intelligence tool, created this first-person case study.
Unlike most case studies, which are authored by the business touting its solution, this one is written by Kieran Smith, the point-of-contact from the client’s team. In a first-person POV.
It opens with the story of all the roles he worked in before he finally landed at Andela (the client company showcased in the piece).
This case study deviates from the standard structure of problem-solution-impact.
Instead, it reads as his personal story. He shares all the changes he introduced to enhance reps’ knowledge and shorten the sales cycle. And one common element in all this progress was (you guessed it) Gong.
Do It Your Way
This example shows you don’t have to follow the same old playbook when creating case studies.
Instead, focus on involving customers in the process of creating a case study. And whenever there’s a chance, write it from their perspective.
Even if you follow a more traditional case study format, take inspiration from this example by including personal details about your customers or your team to draw readers in.
16. Huckberry’s Everyday Carry Dump Videos
Huckberry is a men’s fashion brand known for its adventure gear.
The brand has a creative way of documenting customer stories through YouTube videos.
Huckberry has a YouTube playlist called “Everyday Carry Dump”. It’s a collection of over 30 videos where customers share their experiences of using different Huckberry bags.
Each video also focuses on a specific use case, like:
- Camping trip
- Biking essentials
- Cooking on the road
- Art and design needs
These videos capture customer stories while showcasing different products in action.
For example, this video shows how a serial entrepreneur packs his Huckberry backpack with all his productivity needs.
Do It Your Way
Huckberry offers the perfect example of how you can share customer stories through engaging videos. These videos target several personas and offer some good inspiration for people looking to buy a Huckberry backpack.
You can invite customers to your studio and create similar videos. Or encourage/incentivize happy customers to share their experiences with your products on social media. Then, repurpose that user-generated content on your own social media, on landing pages, and to run as ads.
17. Mutiny’s Customer Playbooks
Mutiny is a website-personalization tool for companies to run targeted, revenue-generating campaigns.
The team used a unique concept to turn customer success stories into start-to-finish playbooks. They look like this:
Each playbook includes a problem statement, a hypothesis, and a step-by-step solution.
The solution section of each playbook lists all the steps and tactics the client followed to tackle the big challenge. This image illustrates how each page highlights the hypothesis with a remark from the client. Then, it starts outlining all the steps in the solution section.
Stewart Hillhouse, the Head of Content at Mutiny, explains the team’s primary goal for creating these playbooks:
He also mentions that the playbooks are the most popular content on their website. He says they have doubled their site’s conversion rate.
Do It Your Way
You can share customer stories to build social proof. And give potential customers a blueprint of how to be successful with your product.
Give buyers a framework to replicate at their organization with these customer stories. You can also synthesize these stories in visual, shorthand, or playful formats. Think: Creating a comic strip out of a case study for sharing on social media.
Interesting Infographics
Infographics are perfect for leisure reading. They’re ultra-consumable while scrolling through social media or checking all unread emails.
They offer helpful insights without overwhelming readers with too much information.
Here are a few creative examples of infographics you can draw inspiration from:
18. Postmark’s Comics
Postmark, an email delivery app, created a series of comics called Postmark Express. They explain the more technical industry terms. Like “dunning.”
A comic called “Dun Dun Dunning” shares the story of a superhero owl (Dunning) and a villain skunk (Churn). It shares a short story around these characters in the classic comic strip format with funky visuals and crisp dialogs.
It’s playful, intriguing, and unlike anything you’d expect to see when you look up “dunning emails.”
Dr. Fio Dosetto, the creator of Postmark Express and the former Head of Brand at Postmark, shares how the team introduced “sparking joy” as one of the main KPIs for this campaign.
Several people found the idea of the comics and this KPI interesting.
Do It Your Way
Comics are one of the less common content marketing examples.
They work best when you explain complex concepts with intriguing stories. And relatable characters.
19. Teal’s Job Search Cheat Sheet
Teal is a career growth platform. They created an A-to-Z cheat sheet with their best tips for people to find their next role.
It uses the bento design style to cover multiple aspects of job search. Like networking, interviews, upskilling, job applications, and more.
This design style organizes the information in an easily scannable structure. Readers can find the most crucial tips for networking and interview highlights in colored boxes.
Do It Your Way
Infographics like these work well on social media platforms. When users don’t want to spend a lot of time reading big blocks of text.
You can create similar cheat sheets to help users crack the code for any particular subject. Remember to avoid cramming too much into one image. Make the information quickly scannable and easy to read.
Value-Packed Email Campaigns
Never underestimate the power of email marketing. It’s your space to nurture a long-term relationship with your audience.
Let’s look at these two great examples to level up your email marketing strategy:
20. Coda’s The Docket
Coda is a writing and documentation tool with a monthly newsletter called “The Docket.”
This is a good email marketing example to draw inspiration from because it comes with:
- Recommendations for good reading resources
- Five most-viewed docs created by Coda users
- Relevant templates for the target audience
Instead of spamming them with higher-volume, lower-value emails, Coda uses this monthly newsletter to deliver value to its users and reinforce itself as a trusted resource.
This newsletter also features user-generated content in one section. It curates some of the most popular docs created by Coda users.
Do It Your Way
You have the opportunity to be super creative with one-off email marketing campaigns. Those are great for deals and discounts.
But when it’s about relationship-building emails, you need something more value-driven like Coda.
21. Dohful’s Sunday Letters
Dohful is an artisanal cookie brand that relies heavily on email marketing to stay top of mind and drive sales.
Arushi Sachdeva founded Dohful. She sends out a weekly newsletter called The Sunday Letter. In it, she shares personal stories and company news.
In one of the editions, Sachdeva shared why she started Sunday Letters and how readers enjoyed these emails.
For readers, the emails feel like a no-filter conversation.
Sachdeva gives a peek into everything about the business—launching new products, making key decisions, talking about mistakes, and more.
Like in one email, she discusses how their new flavor launch tanked, and they had to discontinue it.
Do It Your Way
Dohful’s newsletters are a wonderful example for small businesses to build meaningful relationships with their audience.
You can create newsletters showing some behind-the-scenes snippets from your business. Instead of simply selling them something, share your stories to make them feel more connected to your brand.
22. Podia’s Topical Email
This email by Podia is an awesome example of how brands can use trendjacking to resonate more with their audience.
In this case, the team jumped on the Taylor Swift—Travis Kelce hype train. In an email about Podia’s website builder, of all things.
The email shows the actual websites created for Taylor and Travis with Podia. And talks about the ease of using Podia’s website builder with multiple customization options to add embeds, adjust colors, spacing, and a lot more.
And the subject line—Do Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have blogs on Podia?—is intriguing enough to drive opens.
Do It Your Way
When done right, trendjacking content can create a memorable experience for your audience.
Identify trends that would interest your target audience. Then, create a message that couples that trending content with information centered around their needs or pain points to truly capture their attention.
Over to You: Start Planning Your Next Big Campaign
That’s a wrap on our favorite content marketing examples. May they get your creative juices running the next time you’re looking for big ideas.
The success of any content campaign boils down to how well you know your audience. So, start by building user personas for each channel if you haven’t already done so. Then, brainstorm new content ideas.
Check out our Digital Content Strategy Template to document your research.
Source link : Backlinko.com
