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You see it loud and clear on the Endurance Marketing home page—we are a content marketing agency. But in this ever-evolving industry, what does that really mean? The past few years have come with major changes to the content marketing game, but one aspect remains the same—good stories inspire action.

With 87% of buyers claiming that digital content has a large impact on their purchasing decisions, it’s easy to see why content marketing was rated as the most commercially important digital marketing trend for 2015. So what makes a company truly stand out in the digital space?

Here are three very different companies who (in our opinion) are crushing the content marketing game:

Casper

Casper is a startup mattress brand promising “the perfect mattress, sheets and pillow for everyone.” While there are endless options to choose from in this market, Casper stands out from the rest. They’ve managed to tell their story in a truly authentic and engaging way.

A brief skim through their website reveals their key message—the consumer serves as the inspiration behind all of the products.

In our opinion, Casper’s blog, Pillow Talk, is the golden child of content design. It also establishes the company as an authority in the science of sleep.

According to Lindsay Kaplan, Casper’s VP of Communications, the goal of the site is to “own the conversation around sleep.” With topics like “10 Things You Should Do When You Can’t Sleep” and “Fall Asleep During a Netflix Marathon Without Losing Your Spot,” the blog aims does a great job of providing relevant content to a community interested in better sleep.

Casper also crushes the visuals associated with their content. Their imagery is consistent and, most importantly, appealing and relatable to their target demographic.

TED

TED is a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing ideas worth spreading (typically in the form of short, powerful talks). Perhaps it’s a little unfair how seamlessly a content marketing strategy fits into their business model, but we couldn’t resist sharing their epic execution.

TED (@TedTalks) has 7.03 million followers on Twitter, over 4.2 million followers on YouTube, and over 8.6 million “likes” on Facebook. How have they managed to build such an engaged following? In our opinion, it’s 100% thanks to their content strategy.

TED content is original, laser-focused to connect with their audience and incredibly inspiring.  Their community can’t help but share these world-changing ideas with their friends—helping them build massively engaged communities.

The takeaway? No matter what product or service you’re selling, people connect with great stories and great ideas. Aim to inspire and educated your audience to see real results in your content marketing efforts.

Fisher Tank Company

Many people mistakenly assume that content marketing doesn’t work unless you have a sexy product or service to sell. This is incorrect. The fact of the matter is, all businesses (hopefully) have a target audience. Content marketing is all about identifying and delivering content that speaks to them.

Fisher Tank Company is a full-service welding steel tank contractor. Last year, the company decided to implement an inbound marketing strategy, hoping to attract more qualified leads to their website. With a 3,900% increase in lead conversion, it sure as heck worked.

The company now offers website visitors a free resource for detailing tank repair needs. One click leads visitors to a landing page, requesting a few key pieces of information in order to receive the free copy. By providing real value to their target audience, FTC has added real value to their business model.

Fisher Tank Company’s blog, “The Think Tank Blog,” is focused on providing expert advice, tips and industry news. While the information is may not be very interesting to some readers, it is interesting to their prospects (primarily engineers and facility project managers) –which is all that matters when it comes to executing an effective content strategy.

The blog is optimized to attract the target market via SEO and is fully integrated with social sharing abilities. The option to subscribe to their email list is easily visible to blog readers, giving the company the ability to stay in touch with qualified leads.

Content marketing is not a quick fix. Businesses that choose to go forward with this type of strategy must be patient—but the reward is well worth the wait.