In a general context, relevant and quality content needs to be created, published and shared.
Content Marketing
In fact, content marketing is an inbound marketing tool. In other words, content marketing is part of an attraction marketing strategy, but not every strategy of this type includes content marketing.
The essence is to produce something useful and informative that adds value to users. Basically, the content should be posted on the blog, shared on social media, e-books, etc.
Contextualizing historically
In 1895, John Deere, a leading company in the agricultural machinery segment, published the first edition of “The Furrow” magazine, which focused on sharing content with the public interested in agriculture, rather than simply creating advertisements “pushing” the products manufactured by the company.
Not all readers of the magazine owned tractors, but by consuming information about the brand, they could discover pain points that they previously thought did not exist. And when they felt the need to make a purchase, they would opt for a trusted brand, John Deere.
This is one of the first records of Content Marketing , and since then, several brands have made use of it.
The most famous case
The year is 1900. The French brand Michelin, run by brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin, decides to manufacture tires for cars.
But how to generate demand for such a new product with only 3,000 cars on the road in all of France?
The Michelin Guide was launched with the aim of providing information on hotels and restaurants and served as an exploration guide for travelers — who, by doing so, would use their cars more and spend more on tires (the company's main product), increasing sales and generating profit.
The first edition of the guide had 35,000 copies and was distributed free of charge. The guide continues to be published in several countries, and remains the world's leading reference for recommendations of top-quality hotels and restaurants.
If you're interested, you can check out an infographic about the history of Content Marketing over the years here: