Lessons from John Deere’s “Furrow.”

Content marketing as a method of attracting, engaging and retaining customers predates the term itself. And even now, emerging technologies may change that again.

The most frequently cited example of early content marketing is John Deere’s The Furrow magazine, published in 1895. This Journal for the American Farmer published useful agricultural articles offering farmers practical advice on farming techniques, crop management and machinery maintenance.

Reciprocity

For John Deere, “The Furrow” was in some ways better than advertising because it owned the company and therefore the relationship with its readers.

John Deere has provided real value with useful, informative and entertaining articles. So much so that in 1912 the magazine had 4 million subscribers.

In turn, true value creates a sense of reciprocity. The reader recognized John Deere as an expert and felt an obligation to the brand. This obligation also included the purchase of John Deere products sold at The Furrow.

This is the goal of content marketing: to attract, engage and retain customers. As an aside, The Furrow will still be published in print and online in 2024.

Another example of content marketing comes from the consumer packaged goods industry. Cereal and candy boxes often contain comics, stories, historical or scientific anecdotes, and awards.

A child may like General Mills Lucky Charms cereal because of its rainbow colors AND funny box.

Youth

Content marketing took off after 2013, when marketing guru Jay Baer published his book Youth: Why Smart Marketing is About Help, Not Hype.

The guiding principle of the book was to create useful content, not just promotional content.

As a result, many marketers have focused on helping rather than selling. As the distance between content and revenue grew, marketers sought new performance metrics.

Fortunately, they discovered these metrics in organic search traffic and social media interest. Both needed engaging content.

Turnover

Content marketers around 2024 will once again be looking for ways to increase sales with content. These renewed efforts are manifesting in many ways, including live streaming, voice and video, generative artificial intelligence, and augmented and virtual reality.

Each of them has the potential to attract, engage and retain customers.

Take e-commerce live streaming for example. It engages potential customers with real-time product demos and allows the host to answer questions and help make purchasing decisions.

The live broadcast itself can be recorded and edited into social media posts. Buyer Questions are potential frequently asked questions on the site. You could even say that live streaming in e-commerce is a more complete version of content marketing.

Therefore, e-commerce marketers should look for ways to integrate new types of content. Don’t leave articles. Instead, add to them.