5 Ways To Nail Content Marketing In The Supply Chain Industry

Supply chain’s complexity increases by the day as data floods the industry, consumer expectations rise and brand new technologies are proving unprecedented ROI. Solution providers such as logistics service-providers and technology providers are increasingly struggling to differentiate themselves from competition and drive real value for their customers.

This need for differentiation has driven a growth in thought leadership and content in the supply chain space as more and more business look to make sense of the complexities and dynamics of supply chain. That being said, collaborators in the supply chain are demanding more and more from one-another that expertise and in-depth knowledge are pre-requisite to industry relationships.

Yet with so much information now available in the space, what can companies do to differentiate themselves?

With 16 years under our belts helping companies gain visibility in the supply chain, we thought we’d put some of the key areas we think supply chain content needs to deliver to gain traction.

5 Ways to nail content marketing in the Supply Chain industry

  • Be honest, frank and get your senior  leadership-team to chime in
  • Solve or address an actual problem the industry is currently facing
  • Be forward-looking/predictive – back it up with data
  • Get customer buy-in
  • Be personal!

 

1. Be honest, frank, and get your senior leadership team to chime in

Ultra-corporate gloss is out, good, frank, honest discourse from the senior leadership team is in. What we've found through our research and interactions with the industry, content in supply chain is often caught into a jumble of PR business jargon where the reader is left scratching their head. Simple, frank discussion – with candid insight from senior-level execs is what is differentiating great content from the merely good.

 Give your content personality, speak about the industry trends honestly and openly, and get your leadership team involved. You’ll see how many in the industry appreciate this level of candour.

2. Solve or address an actual problem that your customers/target audience is currently facing.

In an industry moving at 100 miles an hour, content needs to help the challenges the industry is facing now – literally now, not last month, not last year, but now. If you’re discussing eCommerce in October, you’re focussing on Black Friday, not how the weather affected your summer sales. You need to be talking about descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics….. not big data.

Speak to the challenges your peers are facing today, and address those challenges head-on in a constructive, timely manner. Try and solve them!

3. Be Forward-looking/predictive – back it up with data

We all want to predict the future. We can’t, but with the amount of data available today, we can get a pretty good idea. If you can make an educated prediction or spell out a vision of the future and back it up with data, the industry will be all ears. For example,  Between 2014 and 2019, internet video is set to grow by 33%.

4. Get customer buy-in

This is especially the case if you provide a solution - get your customers to spell-out the real-life benefits of your content. Like personal recommendations in our non-work lives, case-studies and buy-in from customers can transform it from nice-to-read to having significant real-life legitimacy.

5. Use personalization

Mass marketing is old-fashioned, as is mass content. You need to personalize your content to your user-base as much as possible. [auto name fill-in], personalized emails at eft have on average a 10%+ higher open rate than general blasts. What works even better? Messages that speak directly to your target audience's specific circumstances and that are referred to your audience by way of trusted peers in the industry. 

Now, go and nail that supply chain content marketing!

Mr. Haley Garner |Head of Research and Content eft|hgarner@eft.com

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