excelling-at-content-marketing-in-2016A few years ago, the content marketing industry reached a point of total saturation. Most brands became aware of the value of content marketing and began investing in all of the traditional techniques and best practices they’d heard so much about.

However, this massive migration towards content marketing ultimately proved to be detrimental to the industry. With everyone using the same tactics, the content that businesses were producing suddenly became worthless. After all, there was nothing that differentiated one piece of content from the millions of other blog posts on the internet.

While many brands fail to recognize this issue and continue to pump out content with little value, progressive marketers understand that the only way to enjoy a tangible return is to take a unique approach.

The Progressive Brands Who Get It

What better way to understand what fresh content strategies and techniques look like than by studying some of the brands that are currently killing it?

1. Denny’s Diner

Sometimes the most successful brands are the ones that you’d least expect. Take Denny’s, for example. When people think about Denny’s, “progressive content marketing” probably isn’t a phrase that comes to mind. However, it’s an entirely accurate description.

The Denny’s Tumblr blog is absolutely ingenious. Instead of writing boring blog posts that nobody will actually read or share, Denny’s creates hilarious memes, GIFs, images, and other breakfast-related content. This is exactly the type of content that gets shared. Not some post about the history of Denny’s or why the CEO appreciates employees.

2. Nutrition Secrets

People love actionable content. They want content that can be consumed, and then applied in their lives. Nutrition Secrets, a popular health blog, fully understands this concept. As a result, they create content that engages readers.

In addition to their highly immersive blog posts, Nutrition Secrets has a diet quiz that tells readers which diet is right for their personality. It’s a simple little quiz that only took a few minutes to develop, but leaves a lasting impact and is easily shareable.

3. Uber and Lyft

If you want to see what forward-thinking content marketing is all about, just study the heated battle between Uber and Lyft. These two competitors are always on the cutting edge of content innovation, albeit taking two totally different paths.

Uber is all about experiential content marketing. From developing rich blog posts about the cities in which they operate to directly engaging with customers on social media, the company simply “gets it.

Lyft’s content marketing strategy is extremely “in your face.” It prefers to tug at the emotional heart strings of its customers through personal stories and real life experiences. The hope is that customers will see Lyft as more than a ride-sharing app.

Both Uber and Lyft are doing well at content marketing, which shows that there’s no single path to reaching customers. The key is to identify a strategy and pursue it with unique content and unrelenting effort.

How’s Your Content Strategy Doing?

Are you blindly producing content without seeing any return on your investment? If so, then you’re probably following yesterday’s best practices and techniques. The only way to actually derive any value from your content marketing is to shift gears and adopt a progressive strategy that allows you to rise above the noise.

Study what other successful brands are doing and don’t be afraid to innovate. If thousands of other brands are doing the exact same thing as you, then your brand is doing little more than blending in.

It’s time to readjust your approach and pursue a killer content strategy.