3 Content Marketing Ideas You Should Steal from Coca Cola

3 Content Marketing Ideas You Should Steal from Coca Cola

Reader Comments (54)

  1. The 70/20/10 ratio is an interesting concept, but I can’t get over how much bullshit there is in that video.

    Plain English, it’s the future.

  2. Haven’t checked the video but I like Idea #2 – the 70/20/10 rule. How do you figure that out?

    My own challenge was that I focused too much on the 20/10 and lost sight of the 70% that would keep my blog alive. I didn’t have the fallback content that would keep me blogging through the tough times when truly excellent content just seemed difficult to produce.

    Then again, maybe it’s just me needing to develop blogging competence. Whatever. I need to find that 70%. Any suggestions?

    • IMO if you focus on the top 10 worries and problems of your audience around your topic, you find your 70%. If you really have no idea, hold a free Q&A on one of the teleseminar services and find out just what questions they have. Then answer.

      The biggest problem people have with the 70% (besides not knowing what it is) is fear of repeating themselves. You’re going to repeat yourself.

  3. Too many marketers over think content marketing. The “70” concept is great. As long as content provides some kind of value, that’s all that matters. Not every piece of content is going to be “killer” and go viral. Simply focus on the needs of your target audience. If they get some kind of benefit, it’s worth creating.

  4. I really like the 70/20/10 content plan–like Ronald, I sometimes get swept up in spending too much time on the 20/10 and in the past, it’s gotten to a point where it’s overwhelming trying to always be new. Bringing my focus back to the bread and butter time and again is what’s brought me out of burn out–so it’s intriguing to read about using it for the opposite purpose (that letting yourself have that 10 percent can keep you from getting burned out from too much focus on bread and butter).

    It’s nice to read that I don’t just have to use bread and butter content when I’m exhausted from trying to stay at the edge of what my clients are ready for, but rather that I could rely on it for the majority of my content. Thanks Sonia!

  5. Great framework. Examples would help. Coke has yet to exceed “I would like to give the world a Coke”, although the Polar Bears came close. We will see this Super Bowl! Thanks.

  6. I love the 70/20/10 concept. I blog on how to use financial management to help you win in business. Not a topic that excites most people until they are faced with a cash crisis. So I have been looking at making my message more fun by using more visuals (I love Dan Roam’s stuff). At the same time, I don’t want to make it too quirky that I alienate the entrepreneurs running larger businesses that are part of my follower base (and where most of my consulting work is).

    The 20/10 clarifies for me that the new and fun approaches can be the smaller part of my message while I see what works and what seems to resonate best with the people that are ready to take control of the financial side of their business.

    Man, it can be rough being a financial guy with a blog! 🙂

    Great article!!! You ROCK Sonia.

  7. The biggest lesson I get from this is that “content is king”, all over again. We’re going to see many others coy Coke’s focus. And eventually we’ll see it happen with small business.

    • Thanks Jenny! I think content excellence is the “killer app” of the whole thing, but it’s often sort of brushed aside because it seems obvious. But as is so often the case, common knowledge is not common practice.

  8. Coke is smart enough to utilize all forms of new media to get their message across. They’re earlier form of content marketing was to put a coupon for a free Coca Cola in the hands of as many people across the country as they could. Once they hooked them with FREE, those nickels started pouring in. From billboards to glasses, to serving trays in the old days, to radio then TV now the Internet and mobile. I think Coke will always be an earlier adopter to get their message across.

    I’ve always been fascinated by the history of Coca Cola and how they built their brand from a simple syrup formula into the most recognized company across the globe. Read “For God, Country, and Coca Cola” and you’ll get a little more understanding of what they did throughout the years to create the big red machine.

  9. This is really interesting stuff and each of the points is content excellence; meaning that I get to take something valuable from each of them. There is so much mediocre content swimming around the internet and unfortunately, even the best of us fall into that trap. I like the idea of creating liquid and linked excellent content. It is great when my posts get shared, but that should not be the aim with which I created them. Thank you for this post.

  10. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. It takes a certain knack to be able to do something a certain way and also to be able to figure out how to appropriately be able to do that. It can be a while before we each learn how to do our own 70-20-10 plan but I think that might be a good start for the rest of us to be able to get what we want from our marketing efforts.

  11. Another quality Sonia headline.

    Check this out. We know that the explainer video – that we have a 7 figure business running – is doomed. It’ll EXPLODE for 18-24 months and then die.

    What will replace it will look more like a video game than an explainer video. The demo environments will be frictionless and a layer of narration will be woven in to an adaptive home page/lanidng page experience.

    It’s beyond obvious that someone’s going to do this, so why not us? And, it’s beyond obvious that we’re dead if we don’t figure out the next 36 months.

  12. Content marketing tips from Coca Cola ALMOST make up for New Coke … almost. 🙂

    What’s interesting about the presentation (once you sift out all the jargon) is that any one of these pieces could stand on its own, or be combined into something truly amazing.

    • It’s really true, there’s a ton in there.

      I used to work with the guy who was VP of Marketing for Coke USA when they rolled out New Coke. When you asked him about it he would get a sheepish grin and change the subject. 🙂 (He also launched Diet Coke, so you know, he had a couple of successes too.) 🙂

      (edited to get Michael’s title right)

  13. Why can’t we all be Copyblogger? Heh… These ideas are great for us who sometimes lack inspiration (or maybe talent). Thanks, Sonia!

  14. What I really like about this, is how you took the brilliant ideas of the Coke marketing Gods, in their borderline incoherent mother-tongue, and translated for CB readers, and did it very well.

    Thanks for this, the more people who take this to heart, the higher the bar will be for content in general 🙂

  15. The Coca Cola marketing strategy recalls Shakespeare’s Macbeth: ‘A tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’ Nothing but global dominance and profit, despite Coca Cola’s negative effects on human health and environment. (For more info, ‘The Coke Machine: The Dirty Truth Behind the World’s Favorite Soft Drink’, by Michael Blanding.)

  16. Regardless of what people think about Coke, I walked away from this article with great stuff! Thank you!
    #3 is something I have been mulling over for some time. I have a blog dedicated to faith, technology, and leadership. While I know that I could study the ins and outs of SEO and try to work the keywords and and marketing techniques, what I really want to do is offer stellar content. Right now I am asking myself, “How can I write on my passions without just adding another voice to a room of shouting people?” Thoughts?

  17. Great article! Really like the The 70/20/10 content plan, a lot of the time content is just put together with the idea that it all carries equal relevance and as a result the discussion generated is weak.

  18. Great ideas here.

    I particularly like the 70/20/10 percentage split for content. It reminds me of the advice a lot of money experts offer to people looking to invest…Where you put most of your money in something safe, but risk a small amount in something a little wilder, a little less predictable.

    I’m definitely gonna try to incorporate more edgier content into all my blogs from here onwards.

  19. You and I were on virtually the same wavelength and post-publishing cycle, Sonia. I, too, was particularly interested in Coke’s 70/20/10 investment recipe and thought it might be a model other organizations — especially large enterprises — could use as a thought starter, if not necessarily copy wholesale.

    Lots of big thinking and possibility behind those animated illustrations from Cognitive Media. Let’s check back in a year and see how Coke is delivering on its vision. And whether “content excellence” translates to relevance, thought leadership, entertainment, thinly veiled promotion, etc. — and in what percentages.

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