Content marketing: why is it important?

I was reminded of the long history of content marketing while listening to a webinar earlier this week. We tend to think that everything we’ve discovered on the web is brand new, or at least as old as the 1990s, when the web revolutionized our world.

Do you remember John Deere? Right, tractors, those huge farm machines that none of us can name? The John Deere Company remains the company associated with farm equipment more than 175 years after its founder started the company.

In the late 1830s, John Deere developed a steel-tipped plow. As a blacksmith in Illinois, Deere knew all too well the value of a steel spike to local farmers struggling with sticky midwestern soil to create the necessary rows for planting. In his first year, he sold 10 of his new plows and began to triple his sales each year.

How did you market?

Deere held classes for local farmers who were hungry for knowledge on better ways to farm, and then created a magazine that is still in circulation: The groove. Good, even great, content marketing involves creating compelling stories that hit a customer’s pain points. John Deere capitalized on the need to know; By becoming an expert in agriculture, Deere began to make himself and his products essential to his customers.

Are you thinking that this story doesn’t apply to us in this information-saturated 21st century? Think again.

Yes, we are inundated with information, constantly… from our phones, media, and from our friends and peers. But how much of what we hear and read is Useful? How much can we apply to ourselves, to our financial and physical well-being?

How fast could your business grow if you started a daily, weekly, or even monthly health blog or newsletter? Or exercise? Or something you are interested in, curious about?