Content Marketing Turns Transactions into Relationships

Use content marketing to make your brand into a helper.

Helper brands stand out, even in crowded marketplaces such as Amazon.com.

One key to making content marketing even more powerful is to be crystal-clear about your brand. What exactly is the brand’s relationship to customers? Is it a guru, guide, partner or helper?

Imagine that your brand is going for a walk with a brand-new customer through an unknown place. How does your brand walk with customers?

  • Guru: Does your brand lead the way by walking a few steps ahead? Do you blaze new trails, and let customers catch up? Here’s more on guru brands.
  • Guide: Does your brand lead by staying just one step ahead of customers? When a customer hesitates or slows down, do you match his or her pace? Here’s more on guide brands.
  • Partner: Does your brand walk side by side with customers? Does the brand show up as a companion or friend? Here’s more on partner brands.
  • Helper: Does your brand follow customers’ lead? Does the brand show up as a helper you can count on? Today we’ll focus on helper brands.

Helper brands enable you to do what you want to do even better. Good helper brands may support you in expected or unexpected ways.

When brands offer unexpected help, they make powerful impressions.

Who expects Christmas packages to be delivered by the U.S. Postal Service on Sunday? USPS delighted me recently by delivering on Sunday. As a helper brand, USPS exceeded expectations.

Great helper brands can turn up anywhere, and they stand out — even in a crowded marketplace. I was surprised to find a helper brand on Amazon.com, where most sellers are happy just to make a transaction.

Kona French PressRecently a friend in France taught me how to make proper French press coffee. While I usually drink tea, I love French press coffee. As soon as I got back home, I ordered a Kona French press coffee pot on Amazon.com from Idylc Homes LLC.

When the French press arrived, it came with a coupon for a free filter. Of course I redeemed the coupon. The filter showed up in about a week — pretty quick for a freebie.

Next came an email asking how I liked the coffee pot. The email included tips on how to make better coffee with a French press. For example, warm the coffee pot with hot water first. Those tips made my coffee even better.

This helper brand went way beyond what you’d expect from any Amazon seller. I started telling my friends and family about this coffee pot and the great coffee it makes.

A little later came an email from the seller, asking me to review its coffee pot on Amazon. Which I was happy to do.

Then came another email, offering 15% off a French press. That started me thinking, who’d like one for Christmas?

Idylc Homes LLC adds unexpected value to a coffee pot by showing up as a helper brand. That’s smart marketing.

The surprise is: it’s simple to do, yet virtually no one else on Amazon does so. It’s clear that good helper brands can thrive and stand out, even in crowded markets like Amazon.

Now it’s time for a cup of coffee. French press, of course!

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