Comparisons, top 10 lists, customer stories, an old mystery, and Thanksgiving leftovers are all topics that could influence your company’s content marketing in November 2021.
Content marketing is the act of creating, publishing, and promoting content with the express purpose of attracting, engaging, and retaining customers.
What follows are five content marketing ideas your business could try in November 2021.
1. ‘Versus’ Articles
In content marketing lingo, a “versus” page or article compares two or more options to help a reader make an informed buying decision.
A versus page might pit your product against a competitor’s, or it could compare two techniques, options, or ideas.
Comparison articles such as this one contrasting Oxfords and Brogues are helpful to readers investigating a product. Image: Joseph Cheaney & Sons.
These pages can be both interesting to read and good for organic search rankings.
Here are a few example titles.
- A power tool retailer: “Wood Studs vs. Metal: Which Is Better for Residential Construction?”
- A supplement brand: “Soy Protein vs. Whey: Which Is Better for Women?”
- A shoe store: “Oxfords vs. Brogues, a Guide”
That last one, “Oxfords vs. Brogues, a Guide,” is an article published on the Joseph Cheaney & Sons website.
For your November 2021 content marketing, create versus pages that represent topics for last-minute holiday shoppers.
2. Top 10
Similar in concept to a versus piece is a listing of the best products or services, such as the top 10.
These articles compare or list similar products or methods, and often identify the best overall, the best value, or best for some purpose.
A 2016 article from men’s fashion retailer Mr Porter, for example, listed “Ten Of The World’s Most Masculine Dogs.”
Mr Porter has its top 10 list of dogs.
A direct-to-consumer kitchen supply brand could borrow an idea from Esquire magazine and publish “22 of the Best Gins to Drink in 2021.”
This article listed the top gins, described the research, and offered category winners. Ableforth’s Bathtub Gin, according to the Esquire editors, was best for a dry martini, while Monkey 47 Schwarzwald Dry Gin was the best gift.
The top 10 articles you publish in November could seek to address common holiday searches.
3. Customer Stories
There is never a bad time to feature customers in content. This is especially true for aspirational brands with consumers who purchase, in part, to be included in a group or associated with an idea, such as shoppers who choose products or brands for environmental, social, or corporate governance issues.
Customer stories can take multiple forms, including profile articles, podcast interviews, or short video documentaries.
The content of these stories should focus on the customer’s experience and its relationship to the products your business sells.
Customer stories help prospects connect to a brand.
A hiking boot brand could feature a customer who is a wildland firefighter. The western United States, for example, has been experiencing difficult fire seasons, putting stress on firefighters who often work consecutive 16-hour days.
This story could describe the customer’s experiences on the job and then associate his experiences with the hiking boots he wears.
4. D.B. Cooper Day: November 24
On November 24, 1971, an average-looking fellow calling himself Dan Cooper paid cash for a ticket on Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305 from Portland International Airport to Seattle.
Shortly after the plane took off at 2:50 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, Cooper ordered a bourbon and soda and passed a handwritten note to Florence Schaffner, a flight attendant seated nearby. The note said Cooper had a bomb.
These FBI drawings of D.B. Cooper have not necessarily helped solve the mystery.
Although he was calm, polite, and even considerate, Cooper clearly stated his intention. He would blow up everyone on board and destroy the plane unless he received $200,000 in cash, four parachutes, and a ride south toward Mexico City.
Without alerting the other passengers, the demands were passed to the pilots in the cockpit, then to the tower, and eventually to authorities and Northwest Orient’s president, Donald Nyrop. Nyrop approved the payment, and authorities gathered the four parachutes from a local skydiving school.
After circling the Seattle airport for a few hours and experiencing refueling trouble and complex flight instructions, the Boeing 727-100 headed south with a small crew, the booty, and Cooper.
At about 8:15 p.m., Cooper lept from the plane with a parachute and the cash, never to be seen again. The hijacking is the only officially unsolved case of air piracy in history, despite relatively recent claims that Cooper has been identified.
The mystery has had a considerable following over the past 49 years and has been the subject of numerous books, movies, and documentaries. The fictional Marvel character Loki recently claimed he was D.B. Cooper during an episode of the Disney+ series that bears the character’s name!
The D.B. Cooper mystery is intriguing. Recounting it could make sense for a D2C brand selling travel or skydiving gear.
5. National Leftovers Day: November 26
Turkey left over from Thanksgiving can be used in many recipes.
In the United States, National Leftovers Day immediately follows Thanksgiving and focuses our attention on the turkey and trimmings remaining after the feast.
From the content marketing perspective, National Leftovers Day begs for recipes.
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