Five strategies to win the content marketing arms race

Today I’m ripping an issue from the headlines and tying the implications to your current content marketing strategy. Whether you’re a big brand or a solopreneur trying to stand out with a blog or YouTube channel, pay attention. We’re about to have an important lesson about the content marketing arms race served to us by our friends at Netflix …

The juggernaut

Netflix seemed unstoppable. The company raced from mail delivery of movies into the streaming movie space leaving Blockbuster in its dust. At the height of its popularity, Netflix was attracting 2.5 million new users per month.

To secure its place as the premier streaming service, Netflix started producing its own TV shows and movies. While this is common now, at the time this was revolutionary. Netflix was going to compete with the big TV and movie studios? Crazy.

But they did it, pumping out mega-hits such as Stranger Things, Ozark, and T he Crown. The company had 105 Emmy nominations this year as well as dozens of Oscar nominations, including one for Best Picture.

If we looked at this from a content marketing playbook, they were doing everything right. And yet the company is in deep trouble. They are losing subscribers, cutting costs, and streamlining their movie offerings.