Content Marketing Example - Straight from the Dog's Nose

• I don’t know for sure, but I imagine that orthodontists can’t help noticing people’s crooked teeth. Even when they don’t want to.
• And I’m guessing that interior designers subconsciously rearrange their friends’ furniture in their heads without even thinking about it?
• I bet waiters take note of particularly good service when they dine out, because they understand the difficulties of the job.

Point is, no matter what line of business you’re in, it’s sometimes hard to find the “off” button. You notice things out of habit. You subconsciously critique, even when you try not to. Which is probably why lately I’ve noticed when content marketing is working on me, or I’m being targeted in a business’s email workflow. Sometimes I smile to myself, thinking “I’m on to you, I know this game!” But many times lately I’ve been impressed with how well companies have used good content to attract me and lead me further down their sales funnel.

One recent example of how a (previously unknown to me) company's use of content marketing piqued my interest: 

Probably not the topic you expected, but bear with me. Yesterday I Googled “why does my dog have a crusty nose?”

Over the last week my 11 year old spaniel developed a dry, crustiness around her nose. It was new and didn’t look right, so naturally I turned to the ever-trusty World Wide Web.

The first result was a blog post from Natural Dog Company titled: 4 Things You Should Do If Your Dog Has a Dry Nose.

I clicked on the article and found plenty of good information and advice. But it was no coincidence that one of their recommendations was to use an all-natural soothing nose balm. And where could I purchase such a product? 

You guessed it – Natural Dog Company! 

Smart. That’s exactly how this inbound marketing thing is supposed to work.

A few things the Natural Dog Company did right:

• Blogged using targeted search terms and relative keywords
• Provided inormation that was helpful and relevant to me, the reader. Instead of talking only about themselves and their products, they discussed how to solve MY problem
• Good use of images – dog lovers love to see pics of adorable dogs!
• Included a CTA (call-to-action) to purchase their product
•  They responded to all comments personally. It’s refreshing to see that those are answered - and not by a robot!

So while this may not be the most glamorous topic, that crusty nose blog post provides another reminder that no matter what your company markets - products, services, B2B, B2C, if you produce and distribute quality, helpful content regularly you can reach your targeted consumer. You don't have to sell high tech goods or software to benefit from content marketing. People search for normal, boring things too (I don't even want to know what keywords dermatalogists have to use!). For tips on how you can use content marketing to drive traffic to your website, check out our blog post on the topic here. 

So…did I order the product? Well, not yet. But if Nugget’s nose is still crusty in a day or two, I certainly will. And I know just where I'll get it. 

Nugget and her crusty nose