A big part of a content marketing strategy is acquiring an audience.
The majority of media companies spend thousands, even millions on audience development strategies in order to qualify and distribute to their target audience. Tactics used include post cards, direct mail, telemarketing, email solicitation, social media, etc.
Most non-media brands generally send their publications, such as a print magazine or email newsletter, to their current customers. That’s great if you have their print or email addresses, but what if you don’t?
Enter the “Rent-to-Own” content marketing strategy.
The idea is this: buy advertising or promotional space in targeted websites and publications to create attention to your content marketing product.
Most companies do this for lead generation, or simply to promote their own products and services. Companies like Red Bull use it to get people to subscribe to their magazine Red Bulletin.
In the example above, Red Bull advertises Red Bulletin on my LinkedIn page. That page takes you to the magazine home page featuring this video.
From that page, I could subscribe to the print magazine, receive the email updates, or even download the iPad version (which I did).
Often times it’s easier to get people to subscribe to a content product than pay attention to your product ad. Might be worth a try.
