The semester is coming to a rapid end and with that comes the flood of client projects. One, in particular, was very special. This client was Parfait. We developed both a content marketing plan and a social media plan for this client. Content marketing is a great long term marketing strategy as it is something that will keep your customers engaged with the brand. It moves away from a hard sell type of content and towards something that reaches your customers on a personal level and helps to drive customer loyalty. The 80-20 rule is still a large factor.Content marketing speaks to that 20%. It also helps to increase your search engine ranking and social media traction. Want to learn more? The Content Marketing Institute has a great read on why this type of marketing should be at the core of all of your marketing plans.
Parfait is a local frozen yoghurt and speciality coffee bar in downtown Kingston. Their appealing storefront and prime location on Princess street draw a student and a young business professional crowd. They use high-quality products and locally sourced ones when possible. Their largest competition is Menchies due to their strong online presence and current downtown location. Their biggest issue is awareness, they have only been in business a matter of months.
Our strategy to help solve the issues of awareness is a content marketing plan that focuses on customer loyalty, trust, and engagement. Ultimately, these customers will become brand evangelists and continue to spread the word about Parfait. For now, the focus of the strategy is to reach the target audience as a friend and helpful source. To achieve this we developed content that is helpful and the target audience can relate to. It speaks directly to their pain points. This content is meant to help them either with tips and tricks, making them laugh or teaching them a new skill. that for both targets are a busy life. They are on the go either with school or work. A full editorial calendar was developed to demonstrate the type of content that would be used. Some examples can be seen below.
Blog
Blogs are a great way to communicate larger messages. When done right they are extremely engaging and easy for the reader to share with others. They increase search engine ranking and increase social currency. They can really be about anything and are a great way to pad any content marketing strategy. They plant a seed in a customer’s mind that will be shared with others either online or through word of mouth. If that isn’t enough, 77% of internet users read blogs. (source) This particular blog post is directed at students. It talks about ways to survive the first month back to school. It will be posted mid-way through September and talk about different activities or things that make school life survivable. It is short and sweet but gets the message across in a funny way.
To read the post, click through here.
Infographic
Infographics are great shareable content that teaches the user something. They are very engaging and easy to understand thanks to the design elements and don’t take up a lot of the customers time. The infographic that was developed for the client targets both students and young professionals. It shows them how to properly tie a tie. This content is very useful and helps to ease some morning stress.
Video
Videos have become one of the most popular ways to share content over the last few years. They are engaging and easily shared. With features on Facebook like autoplay, it makes it easy to increase views and draw in an audience as the video begins for them to see. Our video focuses on the holiday season. Both of our target audiences can be engaged with these style videos. During this time of year, people want to see happy and heartwarming video content. This video fits perfectly into that description. People are also more forgiving about production value and really want to see content they enjoy watching.
Memes
Memes are a hugely successful trend that brings a humorous human element to social media in a way that has not been done before. They bridge social media, human emotions and pop culture together to create extremely engaging content. These memes will be released in November to bring a smile to very stressed students as they prepare for finals. The memes below relate to student life in a humorous way. They are easy to share and very easy to engage with.
All in all, this has been a challenging learning experience. After 2 years of focusing on primarily promotional marketing, moving 100% away from that too strict content marketing took a lot to get my head around. But I know see the huge upside of content marketing for all businesses, not just Parfait.
Marketing and Me 