If you think content marketing is new, then you are highly mistaken. Content marketing was introduced and successfully used as a marketing tool by an unusual business entity, that too in the 18th century!
Brands like John Deere have used it effectively to promote their business and established themselves as an expert in the industry.
John Deere launched a highly successful news magazine named “Furrow” for sharing valuable, informative content with its audience and building a loyal community around its brand by being consistent in its publication.
What is the history of John Deere’s agricultural news magazine “Furrow”? How did John Deere unwittingly become a pioneer in the content marketing industry? And what are some incredible content marketing lessons you can learn from John Deere’s Furrow? Read on to know more!
History of John Deere’s Furrow news magazine
John Deere was running a farming equipment manufacturing company back in 1837. The company was a trustworthy household name for providing high-quality farming equipment. To add another exciting addition to their already successful venture, he launched a news magazine for farmers named “Furrow”.
The magazine was focused on sharing informative, valuable content for farmers. In the magazine, they talked a lot about different challenges that farmers faced in their day-to-day life and offered practical solutions for resolving them. The furrow also included an insightful editorial section to make the magazine a wholesome read.
The best part, they delivered the Furrow at no cost. And never kept a self-promotion approach while creating content for the magazine. Furrow has only a small inscription on the cover to show that John Deeree is offering it complementary to the farmers.
Furrow was entirely focused on helping farmers and solving their pain points and problems.
How did John Deere unwittingly become a pioneer in the content marketing industry?
Informative and valuable content has helped Furrow grow at a faster rate. In 1912, Furrow reached its peak position and gained 4 million subscribers in the country. And they unwittingly become pioneers in the content marketing industry.
The consistency of Furrow in being published and succeed
You will be amazed to know the consistency of Furrow in being published and succeed. The journey that Furrow started in the year 1895 continues today. The furrow currently has 2 million subscribers worldwide and reaches nearly six lakh consumers in the USA and Canada. The magazine is published in 100 countries and 15 languages. The incredible success of furrow shows the power of creating valuable content consistently.
Content marketing lessons you can learn from John Deeree’s Furrow
Target a niche-specific audience
Finding your niche and targeting a niche-specific audience is one of the key factors for building a strong foundation for your business. Unfortunately, many businesses forget these basics while using content marketing strategy for promoting their businesses and fail to succeed with their content marketing efforts. John Deere followed this basic principle wonderfully with Furrow. Furrow had a niche audience of farmers, and all created content was focused on farmers’ lives and their challenges.
Create content that focuses on addressing pain points
This is the next important content marketing lesson that you can learn from John Deere’s Furrow. Creating content that focuses on addressing the pain points or problems of your audience is the next important step for successful content marketing. Furrow has provided content that helped farmers in solving farmers’ challenges. Moreover, furrow has introduced them to the latest farming trends and technology and kept them updated with the latest innovation.
Build a loyal community around your brand
A community is a set of trustworthy people who believe in your brand’s mission and are always ready to support your brand when you launch a new product or service. John Deere’s Furrow has done this beautifully and built a loyal community of farmers around their brand. With its consistent quality content, Furrow has become a great place for farmers to gather beneficial information and actionable tips for solving their farming issues.
Be authentic and unleash the power of human stories
Yes, people connect with emotions and human stories. In this over-competitive digital world, nobody wants promotions 24*7. However great the product, a consumer is not interested in paying attention only to your product or business. People want to hear real-life stories and honest experiences, before trusting any brand. John Deere’s Furrow taught this important content marketing lesson. Furrow has never talked about John Deere’s products or farming equipment, rather they have shared real-life struggles of farmers’ life. Thus, they become successful not only in grabbing the attention of their audience but maintaining it for years as well.
Avoid self-promotional approach
When you launch a new business or new product, it is tempting to talk only about what it is all about. And how is it different from others? Remember, this approach does not offer any benefits for your business growth. People are more interested in knowing about the information that generates value in their life, rather than what your latest offer is.
John Deere’s Furrow has adopted this policy and avoided using paid ads or promotion of their products in Furrow. Farmers liked this approach and trusted Furrow as a loyal friend.
Be consistent
Consistency is key to success in life. And the same principle applies to content marketing too. If you want to keep your audience engaged and build a trustworthy relationship with them, then you have to be consistent with your efforts. If you share quality, valuable and informative content consistently with your audience, you can establish yourself as an expert in your industry.
John Deeree’s Furrow has maintained an incredible consistency. They are offering high-quality content for years and giving us a live example that when you are consistent with your efforts, you can rule the world.
Be relevant and adaptable
Just like all other fields, content marketing also evolves fast. It is important to be relevant and adaptable to changing trends if you want to stay ahead of the competition.
John Deere’s Furrow taught us this important content marketing lesson with their glorious journey. They have kept themselves relevant and adopted the changing content marketing trends with a flexible approach. Currently, they have a digital version and a strong social media presence to prove that they are pioneers in the content marketing industry.
Conclusion
In conclusion, John Deere’s furrow taught us the importance of being real, authentic, consistent, and relevant in content marketing efforts. At times it is important to look back to uncover important lessons and John Deere’s Furrow is one of that!