{"id":66086,"date":"2020-03-12T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T08:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.easypromosapp.com\/blog\/content-marketing-gamification\/"},"modified":"2024-10-08T09:59:39","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T07:59:39","slug":"content-marketing-gamification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.easypromosapp.com\/blog\/en\/content-marketing-gamification\/","title":{"rendered":"Spice Up Your Content Marketing Plan with Branded Games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Content marketing is a classic strategy: instead of overwhelming people with sales talk, you provide valuable, interesting content for them to enjoy. That content will help to project your brand image and build a community of followers\u2026 so that when someone is ready to make a purchase, your brand is the first they\u2019ll think of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, too many brands miss out when it comes to content marketing. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it\u2019s too complicated; or too expensive; or too slow. Or – even if they put in all that effort – people just don\u2019t like the content they produce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So in this article, we\u2019ll take a look at how to build up your content marketing plan and add some variety. Content marketing can be simple, affordable and effective<\/strong>. You just have to create the right stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


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What is content marketing?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First, let\u2019s make sure we\u2019re all on the same page. According to the Content Marketing Institute<\/a>, content marketing is \u201cthe strategic marketing approach of creating and distributing valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience \u2013 with the objective of driving profitable customer action.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note that the venerable CMI doesn\u2019t specify a particular content format. Content marketing can be an online blog, in print, an ebook, a video, an image, a game, a sensory experience\u2026 anything you like!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whatever form it takes, your content marketing should be relevant, accessible and engaging<\/strong>. If you want to maximize its impact, then it should also be shareable and interactive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a look at this graph from Google Trends. After years of bumbling along, the phrase \u201ccontent marketing\u201d suddenly spiked in the early 2010s\u2026 just around the time that social media and smartphones took off. <\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Search<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

New technology and new ways to communicate have enabled content marketing to the extent that we could never have previously imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those same innovations mean that consumers are no longer happy to just watch ads. They want to interact, personalize and share the content you produce. That\u2019s why I say that your content marketing needs to be mobile-friendly, interactive and shareable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not sure if your social media and content marketing strategies align? Check out the Definite Guide from Bulk.ly<\/a> and learn how to integrate the two strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How to spice up your content marketing plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every brand has a different approach to content marketing. That\u2019s fine! Depending on your products, services, and style, you\u2019ll have preferred ways to communicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, many B2B brands share quality content in the form of whitepapers and ebooks. B2C brands are often happier sharing tutorial videos, customer reviews, or the story behind their products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But whatever your brand sells, you don\u2019t want to get stale. If your content marketing plan consists of \u201cevery three months, we upload a new pdf\u201d… Well, your audience probably doesn\u2019t thrill at the sight of your emails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successful content marketing means creating outside of your comfort zone and occasionally taking risks. (One of my favorite examples is MailChimp\u2019s movie studio<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Mailchimp<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\nu003cbru003eu003cstrongu003eSuccessful content marketing means creating outside of your comfort zone and occasionally taking risks.\u00a0u003c\/strongu003eu003cbru003e <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n

Content marketing is also about staying up to date with new formats. Five years ago, that meant designing a cute Instagram grid and organizing Facebook seminars. As I type this article, it means getting comfortable with TikTok, Twitter threads and mobile games. Five years from now – who knows?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, one article is not enough space to cover every single form of content marketing out there. Today, we\u2019re just focusing on one type: mobile games <\/strong>and gamification<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why mobile games matter for content marketing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s go back for a second, and look again at the essential characteristics for content marketing. We said that content marketing has to be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n