The history of content marketing

The interesting thing was that the teachers afterwards noticed a difference between the A and B classes. . But what does this have to do with content marketing?

Well, you’ve probably heard someone claim that stories sell . This applies not only to made-up stories, but also to history itself. Fictional stories can help you engage readers, but the story itself can teach you to be a better marketer.

The history of content marketing may not sound as interesting as medieval feudalism? But consider that right now we are living the story that future marketers will read about. We are in the middle of the biggest development of digital marketing in Norway’s history.

Content marketing’s “founding father”

It is widely discussed when content marketing was first used. Some go so far as to claim that cave paintings were marketing. Others argue that the art of letterpress was instrumental in the conception of content marketing, which they may be right about.

It is true that 300 years passed from Gutenberg introducing the art of printing in Europe in the 15th century until we can trace early signs of content marketing. In the 1730s, on the eve of the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin published the annual “Poor Richard’s Almanack”, precisely to promote printers.

According to History.com ( source ), the almanac eventually had a circulation of 10,000 copies, and helped to substantiate Benjamin Franklin’s voice among the people. In a sense, we can perhaps call him one of the first influencers. Not only was he a central figure in the American Revolution, he used marketing strategy to strengthen his position.

“I was born with direct current in my blood. My father was an electrical engineer, and I quickly became obsessed with learning everything I could about the wonders of electricity. I never read Benjamin Franklin’s almanac, but it made me think of the Edison Electric Lightning newsletters from my childhood. Light in the home was a fascinating concept for a young German in the late 19th century. The Edison guys piqued my interest with content designed to show me all the benefits of electric light.”

From cultivating the soil to cultivating content marketing

What does agriculture and feudalism have to do with content marketing? Can you guess which company. Hint: It was started in 1937 and is one of the oldest companies in US history. The logo is a roebuck.

Around the turn of the century, content marketing began to become more organized. Several emerging businesses published regular periodicals and magazines to inform potential customers about their goods and offers. One of the first to succeed in this was the American company John Deere.

The company started publishing the customer magazine “The Furrow” in 1895. There they provided useful information about the development of agricultural technology. The Furrow is currently published in 14 different languages ​​in 115 countries.

Another magazine that most people have heard of, but few know the history of, is the Michelin guide. It was first released in 1900 by the French tire manufacturer Michelin. At this early stage, it was a travel guide covering places of interest, hotels and restaurants. This is how they tried to promote car sales, which also meant increased tire sales.

WhatsApp is one of the main means of communication whatsapp number database in today’s modern world. People can exchange messages quickly through WhatsApp. WhatsApp number database usually requires users to open an account using their mobile number. It is used for business purposes, such as marketing or providing customer service. Through this database, business people can communicate with their target customers.

The path from physical to digital content marketing

Beyond the 20th century, more and more companies were to emulate John Deere and Michelin. In line with the rise of the middle class, and not least that the masses increasingly turned to radio and television for entertainment, content marketing spread to new platforms.

In 1933, American sanitary ware manufacturer Proctor & Gamble began sponsoring daytime radio dramas. A bit stilted: Proctor & Gamble promoted soap via addictive trash TV, and that’s how the term “soap opera” came about. Naturally, it turned out to be very profitable. Pretty soon, advertising aimed at specific demographics would pop up in all kinds of content both on TV and radio.

We can probably safely say that not all of this advertising was focused on creating quality or solving problems, but the principles for combining content and marketing were nevertheless shaped when product manufacturers explored the possibilities that existed in radio and television.

Towards the latter half of the 20th century, content marketing spread to all imaginable platforms. Breakfast cereal manufacturers are an interesting example, which is actually quite hair-raising when you think a little carefully about what’s really going on there.

It turned out, shockingly enough, that sugary breakfast cereals were popular among children. Kellogg’s quickly realized that it was an easy demographic to get hooked on their products, especially if they branded their cereal with cartoon characters and little stories that had kids screaming for more every time they were in the store. If they weren’t hopeless sugar junkies after a box, they would surely be caught by frogs, tigers and sugary bees.

The digitization race

So far in history, the rules of content marketing had been dictated by an elite. Not everyone was lucky enough to indulge in marketing in magazines, on radio or TV. Power rested with publishers, producers or media houses, and only companies with enough capital had the opportunity to buy column space for their marketing strategy.

As feudal lords, a handful of privileged strategists sat and decided the rules for how to succeed in marketing. However, that changed suddenly when the internet really became public property. Suddenly, anyone could publish their own content marketing. “Vassals” who learned the rules of the art could quickly gain enormous support. In other words, the balance of power was overturned. The battlefield of the future was a digital arena where marketing’s lords and vassals suddenly made the same assumptions.

When the Internet really began to become a global network, new doors opened for content marketing, but it would take a decade or so before the wheels started rolling. It wasn’t until the 2000s, when giants like YouTube, Twitter and FaceBook had established themselves as digital household items, that serious marketing forces began to show muscle.

“Marketing has given people power since the written word allowed itself to be mass produced. Personally, I found it even more satisfying to topple contemporary “feudal lords” from their high horses.

Before this, many companies had seen

The potential of developing their own websites, but most had little more than billboards and digital brochures. Most people remember that in this period there was talk of “viral spread”, but most companies did not capitalize on this at first. Instead, serious companies were often outcompeted by sneaky salespeople, which are often called “black hat strategists” on the internet.

The advertising industry was naturally early on in sniffing out the digitization of marketing. It wouldn’t take long before the first “advertising agencies” rebranded and re-branded themselves as “media agencies, production agencies” or “content marketing agencies”.

These far-sighted companies paid particular how to join and earn coub attention to the new definitions of marketing. This is how they quickly gained ground over typical advertising by making use of new and sharp strategies within content marketing, such as native advertising and inbound marketing .

Towards the end of the 2000s, content marketing really started to take off in the US, UK, Japan and other countries that were early adopters of digital marketing. It didn’t take long before content marketing spread to all kinds of forums such as blogs, vlogs, podcasts, or webinars.

In Norway, the potential was initially predicted to be a passing trend.

Norway – An anecdote in the history of content marketing

Signs of content marketing can certainly be traced far back in time in Norway, but nothing was anywhere near as organized as it was done in the USA. It was only between 1950 and 1970 that Norwegian manufacturers began to experience competition in the market, which forced them to aqb directory become more market-oriented. Beyond the 70s, Norwegian companies began to seriously listen to customers’ increasingly high demands for quality, which led to market research and measures to establish direct communication with customers.

“Coordinated marketing” eventually became an industry standard, which means that Norwegian companies embraced a marketing strategy in which the companies’ content production was spread to all parts of the company. Nevertheless, Norwegian content marketing cannot be said to have ever been as organized as abroad, which is reflected in digital marketing.Industry giants such as Coca-Cola, Apple and Go-Pro are investing millions in content marketing and are experiencing huge success with their campaigns. One company that has perhaps embraced this marketing strategy more than most is RedBull.

“In 1920 I went to Norway to lecture

On the theory of relativity to Norwegian students. Whether my content made an impression remains to be seen, but I noticed that Norwegians were keen on freedom of expression even then. If I first caught the interest of a Norwegian, they were always receptive to common sense. One of the students had the same name as me. When he greeted me by saying: “Hallo, Ich bin ein Stein” I had a good laugh.”

Right up until the last decade, what we like to associate with typical Norwegian advertising has persisted. This means that print media has partly retained its position of power, side by side with the development of digital marketing. Newspapers, radio and TV have sat on the power of content marketing, like big farmers over their fiefdoms, but the course of development cannot be stopped. Norwegian marketing is following in the footsteps of the USA these days. The history of content marketing in Norway unfolds here and now.

Norwegian content marketing – A ticking time bomb

We have created the Content Marketing guide precisely because Norwegian content marketing is still in its teens. It may seem that Norway has been left behind. Another way to look at it is that it’s a golden opportunity to join a trend before it explodes.

As a teenager, I had an aha experience when I took part in a role-playing game about feudalism. I felt the same aha experience when I realized that the balance of power between the elite and the man in the street was just as overturned by digital marketing as the abolition of feudalism.