The Masters of Content Marketing

According to the conventional wisdom, content marketing is only possible thanks to the Internet and the ability to publish material digitally. Businesses can now turn their corporate web sites into magazines. By publishing compelling relevant content, they can communicate with their customers at both a higher and deeper level than they can with conventional advertising, but before the Internet, this was impossible. Media space had to be rented from newspapers, magazines and television and radio stations.

But it’s not true. Content marketing has been with us for more than 100 years. And by looking back at its 19th century pioneers, instead of reinventing the wheel, today’s marketers can learn from those who mastered it before they were even born.

John Deere founded a magazine called The Furrow in 1895. He published articles about new agriculture technology and about how farmers could become more successful. The magazine was not a collection of ads for John Deere equipment, though it included those on the side. It was written by journalists and agriculture experts and aimed squarely at what farmers needed in Iowa and beyond.

120 years later, with 1.5 million subscribers in dozens of countries, it’s the most widely-circulated farming magazine in the world.

There’s also Saudi Aramco World, a gorgeous glossy print magazine about the peoples and cultures of the Middle East. It’s published by a multinational oil company based in Riyadh and Houston, but the magazine is not about directly about oil or energy. It’s about the place where much of the world’s oil and energy come from. It has been in circulation since 1949.

It’s hard to say how many customers Saudi Aramco has acquired thanks to an English-language magazine published in Texas. We all use energy resources from the Middle East, and no one will use more thanks to that magazine. It’s most likely not even a loss-leader. It’s a pet side project.

So why bring it up? Because it endures. It endures because it’s a serious magazine staffed with serious writers and editors that has earned a wide audience.

Just like John Deere’s The Furrow.

Also take a look at BenchMark magazine, an award-winning general interest engineering magazine published by Burns and McDonnell, an engineering firm based in Kansas City. Two years ago, it celebrated its 102nd birthday.

These three companies published their magazines—their content marketing—long before publishing was just a button, back when they had to use printing presses. They still use printing presses. The magazines are actual magazines. They aren’t just web sites. You can hold them in your hand.

They’re gorgeous. They’re relevant. They hold up next to “real” magazines like Newsweek and The Economist. Otherwise they would have died a long time ago.

The Internet and digital publishing certainly makes content marketing cheaper and easier, but it’s not new in the world. If you want to see how it’s done epically and correctly, start by studying the masters who’ve been knocking it out of the park for more than a century.