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Image from Toothpaste for Dinner
This morning, a friend (HT: Gwen) who’s aware of my type-nerd tendencies shared a document that embodies what I think content marketing is all about.
Type foundry Hoefler & Frere-Jones’s March newsletter, “Four Techniques for Combining Fonts,” does just about all of the things we think are important for creative content. Why is this working so well?
- It’s functional. I’m not a designer, but I do dabble in the graphic arts, and one of the most difficult tasks I’ve encountered in that arena is combining different fonts in the same piece. Really… one step too far and you end up with a Geocities site circa 1999. This well-designed, easy-to-read tutorial on font combining would be useful for any designer; so useful, in fact, that some of them might even hang on to it to reference later on.
- It speaks the language. This was clearly written by a creative person for a creative person. Take these lines, for example: “What do a neoclassical modern, a suave sans serif, and a sporty slab have in common? All are meditations on precision, though each has a different texture.” This language is meant to invoke visuals, and visuals are the designer’s language.
- It’s well written. Seriously, that is some sparkling-clean copy. Not a typo or grammatical error in sight. If you’re not confident in your own written-word abilities, consider hiring a writer.
- It’s promotional without being salesy. This one document promotes about 11 different products without beating you over the head with marketing language. It’s pretty straightforward: here’s what we offer, and here’s what you can do with it. Aside from the fact that this is a pleasure to look at, it showcases the products beautifully.
One of the most important aspects of content marketing is that useful content earns trust and keeps readers coming back. If you’ve got a product, try to make both your content and your product valuable to your customers.
Tags: content marketing
