“Content Marketing” was a major buzzword among marketers in 2013, and its importance continues to grow in 2014. At TerraCycle—a pioneering recycling startup with limited marketing budgets—“we learned long ago that it was far more valuable to get paid to create the content than to pay to sponsor other’s content,” says Albe Zakes, Global Vice-President, Communications. In a recent presentation, Zakes outlined TerraCycle’s content-marketing philosophy and approach.

   

 

To get started with content marketing, it is vital to identify the core audiences you are trying to reach and determine what engages them. Then, you have to identify what type of content to deliver and what learning or outcome you want to create for the audience.

   

The content produced and distributed will in part define your brand. It is important to ask yourself, “What makes my brand interesting and what will make people want to share my story?” By doing so, you start the process of creating a brand story. Look to your employees, your business model, your supply chain and your consumers themselves for ideas of what story to begin telling.

 

 

If you want your content to have impact and reach you require, keep it relevant. Look beyond your own story to your industry at large or general news that relates to your brand. How? Follow industry groups, influential journalists and professional associations; create Google Alerts or RSS feeds for keywords; and watch social media threads that parallel your company.

     

TerraCycle began our journey into content marketing unexpectedly. After placing numerous stories in a major small-business magazine, we were told by an editor they simply couldn’t cover our story any longer without seeming biased. In response, we offered to start writing a non-promotional guest blog—an offer they gladly accepted. We then quickly began to approach media focused on other subjects with a similar offer.

To help sweeten the deal, we told these editors or website managers not only would we provide content, but also promote every post on our website, social networks and in our newsletter. For an online/web editor this means more traffic, more clicks and thus more revenue. The results speak for themselves. Within two years, TerraCycle was regularly blogging for Treehugger, The New York Times, Huffington Post and trade publications like Packaging Digest and Industry Intelligence. Combined, these outlets have greatly contributed to the growth of our reach, awareness and expert profile.

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