Ecommerce content marketers searching for topic ideas for March 2020 can find inspiration in storytelling, poetry, and the many contributions women have made for society and business.
Content marketing is the act of creating content and then publishing and distributing it with the goal of attracting, engaging, and retaining customers.
To help achieve these ends, here are five content marketing ideas your company can try in March 2020.
1. Women’s History Month
Women — mothers, sisters, and friends — have played a significant role in business in the United States and the world.
National Women’s History Month occurs in the U.S. in March each year. It recognizes and acknowledges the strides females have made in acceptance and equality.
Young women, for example, are more likely to be college-educated or attending college than their male counterparts. Women enjoy a lower unemployment rate.
For your March 2020 content marketing, profile the women who have contributed to the industry your business serves. You might feature exceptional leaders from the present or past pioneers.
One such pioneer, for example, was Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics and an outstanding American businesswoman.
Mary Kay Ash is the sort of person your company could profile in March 2020. Source: Mary Kay.
Women’s History Month has its origins in a week-long celebration in Sonoma, California. In 1978, the school district wanted to recognize the huge contributions of women. The event, which featured presentations at several schools and a “Real Woman” essay contest, was a success. Just two years later, President Jimmy Carter made the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week.
From there, the event continued to grow, and by 1986 Congress had expanded it to National Women’s History Month.
2. How to Be Better
Your shoppers have goals. Regardless of the industry, you can be sure that your readers — customers or potential customers — have life goals.
Take, as an example, the males who shop on the Mr. Porter website where a Brioni blue-striped dress shirt costs $550. Many shoppers at Mr. Porter are likely to be professionals or business owners. They need to make presentations to clients or bosses, and they presumably want to get better at it.
Thus, Mr. Porter recently published “How to be Better at Public Speaking,” which is a five-point listicle offering practical, basic advice.
Mr. Porter has advice for its readers who want to be better at public speaking.
Borrow this concept and apply it to your content marketing audience. Here are a few possible titles.
- Workwear retailer selling to tradesmen: “How to be Better at Reading Blueprints.”
- Craft retailer: “How to be Better at Following a Knitting Pattern.”
- A fitness supply retailer: “How to be Better at CrossFit.”
3. Produce a Podcast
Thirty-two percent of folks in the United States reportedly listen to a podcast at least once a month.
The odds are therefore good that a portion of your target audience would engage with your company via a podcast.
Here are a few examples from retailers and brands.
4. Tell a Story
In a 2018 article about storytelling, digital marketer Erin Ollila wrote, “The more human we can be in our marketing efforts, the better our audience will connect with us. So why are some brands so hesitant to embrace the ‘I’? Personal pronouns create intimacy and authenticity. They ground readers in the present, even if you’re discussing times past. Your content will read as more of a conversation and less of a textbook.”
Telling a story from the first-person perspective can be an engaging way to connect with your audience. This is especially true if the story has a strong emotional appeal.
You don’t have to write the article yourself. Rather, you could seek out individuals with interesting experiences who can tell their story to your audience.
Imagine that you own or manage a company like Rudis (wrestling gear) or Adidas. You might reach out to Joe Russell, the head wrestling coach at George Mason University, about contributing an article or being interviewed for your podcast.
Joe Russell was a great youth wrestler. In high school, he won a state title, two national youth championships, and placed fourth in the U.S. Open Wrestling Championships against Olympic-level athletes.
But in the summer of 1985, Russell was involved in a severe motorcycle accident.
“They put me in an ambulance. They were going to get a life fight to get me to the hospital, but there was no reason to do that because I wasn’t expected to make it,” Russell said in an interview.
But Russell did survive. In spite of being partially paralyzed, he struggled for more than a year to get back into wrestling. The once-great champion never won another match. But he never quit, either. He went on to wrestle at the college level, training hours and hours a day, without the expectation of being able to compete.
Russell’s extraordinary story is one of determination and triumph.
5. Write a Poem
In the U.S., March is National Poetry Month. And poetry is one of the highest forms of writing. So why not apply poetry to your content marketing?
Select a few of your best-selling or most interesting products and have folks write poems about them. You could run this as a contest, wherein your shoppers submit lyrics, limericks, and rhymes. You could hire it out to an actual poet. Or you could have your employees give it a try.
If you need inspiration, watch Ernie from Sesame Street sing about his rubber duckie.
