How to Improve Content Marketing Strategy for CPG Brands

CPG industry has been characterized by  transformation from brick to click. From shopping habits to expectations from CPG brands, everything has changed. Each one of us uses consumer packaged goods on a daily basis, which makes CPG marketing competitive.

Traditional advertising and marketing campaigns for most CPG brands have changed. CPG marketers can no longer rely on just their products, they need to engage the audience with experiences and that’s what consumers value. By solely focusing on products, brands are likely to lose their importance because customers value experiences more than the products and services.

Customer Experience Expectations and Opportunities

Why CPG Content Marketing is Crucial?

A full 50% of consumers say the pandemic caused them to re-think their purpose and what matters most. CPG is a volatile industry, subject to economic factors and subsequent changes in target audience’s shopping behavior.
For delivering memorable customer experience, CPG industries need to step into the shoes of customers. Let’s look at some conversational differences:

The ‘I’ tone helps content marketers become empathetic as if the problem belonged to them, hence they can look at the solution with a more personal approach. It bridges the gap of addressing a third person’s problem or treating them as ‘customers’.

Deep dive into Content Marketing Strategy for CPG Industry

Last year alone, CPG online sales in the U.S. totaled $58.6 billion, which accounts for 11% of total CPG retail sales. Research from Acquia notes that 84% of consumers have used more digital channels, and 79% report that their engagement with brands has changed.

To get people excited about your brand experience, here’s what successful content marketers must evaluate:

• TAM or Total Available Market is the total market demand for a product or service.
• SAM or Serviceable Available Market is the segment of the TAM targeted by your products and services which is within your geographical reach.
• SOM or Serviceable Obtainable Market is the portion of SAM that you can capture.
  

6 Steps for Successful CPG Content Marketing

1. Define your goals:
   
   When you work on the strategy to engage customers, it’s important to define and analyze your marketing goals. How? You can use platforms like SimilarWeb for insights about CPG industry, customer intent, competitors’ data and much more.
   
   
2. Record Metrics:
   
   Once your goals for Consumer Goods industry marketing are fixed, you need to figure out how you record these metrics. One of the top tools for measuring your marketing success is Google Analytics. It records the performance of each content piece that you produce.
   
    
3. Gather Data:
   
   The effectiveness of your content marketing strategy for Consumer Goods industry depends on your ability to collate data from all consumer touchpoints. A Customer Data Platform (CDP) facilitates 360-degree view of customers, along with actionable insights for effective CPG content strategy.
   
   
4. Decision on Content Type:
   
   With your goals and data are in front of you, it’s time to carefully curate the best content form for your CPG customers. While some might like to read a blog, others might get influenced by testimonials and social media content.
   
   Understanding Consumer Intent for CPG Success
   
   
5. Content Creation:
   
   For your content to be effective, align Thought Leaders and people in the customer-facing role with the content team to produce the best-quality content. Remember, you need to create content to engage, not sell!
   
   
6. Content Distribution:
   
   This is a game-changing step and you need to carefully engage with customers to elevate brand experience. In this step, you need to ensure that the right content reaches the right people at the right time through the right channel. 
   
   
   
   

Bonus Information

Most CPG brands are switching to Direct-To-Consumer model. Not only does it help them cut down the cost by bypassing the “middlemen” but facilitates better customer service by collecting first-party data from customers. Here are some CPG brands that you can’t overlook while discussing D2C model:

Bonobos

Hailed as the “Godfather” of D2C business model, this menswear brand promises better-fitting men’s pants and superior customer service. They allow customers to try clothes in a no-inventory store that they call “Guideshop” and then place the order through Ecommerce site.

Dollar Shave Company

This company runs on a subscription model to simplify men grooming. They let users pick anything for $1 for their first purchase and subscribe to them. They call themselves a club to help men overcome common grooming challenges by suggesting them the right products. 

Glossier

This beauty and skincare brand puts customers on the top and gives individuals the power to select their own style. They hold a two-way conversation with their customers to enhance brand experience and simplify the buying process- they make connections with people, ask them questions for better understanding.

Casper

This mattress company solves customers’ sleep problems by giving them the opportunity to test mattresses by letting them sleep on them. By connecting with customers directly and allowing in-person experience, Casper nails CPG marketing strategy.

Here’s an industry-backed report of evolution of Direct-To-Consumer model.

Final Thoughts

As we go on discussing the success metrics for Consumer Goods industry, you must keep customers' emotions and needs at the heart of your strategy. Unless consumers feel you have a story, a solution to solve their problem, they will not connect with your brand. Humanize their experience and genuinely connect with your customers to get a competitive advantage over the brands that don’t value human connections.

Remember, even the best strategy can fail if it doesn’t add value to your customers! 

We know that content marketing sounds easy but it isn’t! We have our in-house digital strategy experts with 20+ years’ experience in helping brands grow their CPG brand. They help you understand everything about your consumers, how your CPG brand is perceived and how you can be a step ahead of your competitors. Drop in a ‘hi’ to us at marketing@altudo.co and we will book a no-obligation workshop with our CPG experts.