Content Marketing Drives Engagement
Making Content Marketing Part of the Digital Marketing Rhythm
CLIENT:
HDG Building Materials
DATE:
2021 - Present
PROJECT:
Content Marketing Around SRI Primer
Situation: Inquiring Minds Wanted to Know
At HDG Building Materials we actively listen to prospects and customers. Many people had been asking about how certain decking and siding products would hold up in extreme heat. The questions would take many forms depending upon the particular material or whether the application was a pool deck centered around bare feet or fido’s paws, etc.
Solution: Create Content and Share Widely
Realizing that most homeowners and some builders and architects don’t know about Solar Reflective Index (SRI), we set out to create a HDG primer on the subject and then connect that content to email marketing, blog posts, social channels, and other product content. The number one goal here was to be helpful to current and prospective clients. That has been a winning strategy for HDG Building Materials, a supplier of superior paving, decking and pedestal products.
Our Content Marketing Recipe Step-by-Step
1. Focus on Delivering Value
Orient people to the subject in an authentic way by providing genuine and reliable information without excessive promotion.
2. Explain Key Principles
We created an illustration to help show people what happens when the sun’s radiation comes in contact with building materials, namely solar reflectance, thermal emissivity, and building heat transfer.
3. Empower Your Audience
Now that the audience has a solid understanding of the key principles and the concept, empower them further by providing practical design considerations. Here, we use illustration to enhance people’s learning. For clients we usually draw from our illustrative playground.
4. Make This Content Something Larger
As Finnish Architect Eliel Saarinen said, “Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context – a chair in the room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan.” In this particular case we introduce the Urban Heat Island Effect and even provide a link to a related blog post, “See also Green Roofs – Your City – Get Ready.”
5. Amplify Content Through Communications
We leveraged the illustrations and content we developed for the SRI primer into other communications channels including email marketing, newsletter, blog posts, and social media channels. Because the sun continues to rise and keep this subject relevant, this is an ongoing initiative.
6. Show the Content to Product Connection
We show how the content relates to HDG products. Remember, this was the origin story. Customers and prospects were generally asking about SRI even though in most cases they were unaware of the specific term. There isn’t any overt selling pressure here. We are merely being helpful.
7. Mind Your Analytics
Data is everywhere. We look at the sources of the traffic to the page, search-query terms, and engagement on page, in social and in newsletters. Some data is used to guide making improvements to content marketing and on-site page design.
Results of this Content Marketing Example
Page View Performance
- 2.19% of all website page views are on this page. The HDG website has several 100 pages.
- 92.24% of the visitors to this page first land on this when visiting the HDG website.
- 3.26% of the visitors to this page first land on the related blog post, “How Hot Will my Deck Get?”
- 1.01% of page visitors discover the Solar Reflectance Index – HDG Primer from the home page
- The remaining page views reveal a wide range of landing pages representative of all products.
- This content is being discovered in organic search, social channels, email communications, the newsletter, and while visitors are navigating the website.
Engaged Visitors
- The content is engaging as measured by the average time on page being nearly 4 minutes.
- On-page analytics and GA4 analytics also reveal deep engagement up and down the page.
Content Made Here
The JUG Team loves to create content and connect it to the audiences that will advance your business. Invite the JUG Team to get your content marketing rhythm producing results for your business.
We’ve Shared the Recipe for Content Marketing
- Focus on Delivering Value
- Explain Key Principles
- Empower Your Audience
- Make This Content Something Larger
- Amplify Content Through Communications
- Show the Content to Product Connection
- Mind Your Analytics
Getting Your Content Marketing Unstuck
Although we’ve shared the step-by-step recipe somebody still has to create those illustrations, harvest the content, do the research, write copy, design images, connect it all to social and other communications initiatives, and then improve after learning from analytics. It’s loads of work so that might explain why business leaders often get stuck. We’re standing by ready to help.
Ready to Put Content to Work?
If you want to get your nascent content developed and working for your business, let’s talk. Call (657) 221-7128, email info@jugteam.com, or fill out the form. We look forward to meeting you and learning about your business situation.
