Canadian rap-star, Drake, has recorded exponential success with chart-topping tracks and platinum albums since 2010 in an industry often defined by flash-in-the-pan successes.
Drake easily comes to mind when you think of ridiculous viral dance moves that blowup meme charts. Remember one of his hit songs, Hotline Bing? It was almost embarrassing to watch him. But do you think of Drake when you think of a brilliant content marketing strategy? No? Perhaps you should.
Over time, Drake has garnered for himself a true-blue fanbase with his far-reaching music that cuts across the millennials and the Generation Z. In the 2018 Forbes Five list of richest artistes in hip-hop, Drake came in at No 4 behind Jay Z and Diddy, with a wealth worth $100 million.
The Canadian has outdone himself in eight years, growing an enduring brand that connects music, apparel, sports and pop culture. Drake has built a brand worth envying and he did this with the right strategies in place from the moment he stormed the music yard.
Here’s how your brand can get from 0-100 real quick using Drake’s strategies;
“Pray the real [Content] live forever, man…Pray the fakes get exposed…” – Know Yourself
Telling compelling stories works! In a world filled with fake news, customers are looking out for brands that are true. Can you stand misleading ads? Customers can’t stand brands that aren’t genuine, you’ll piss them off.
Like Drake, your brand needs to develop an identity with character. This gets you organic leads and your customers interested in your story. Drake’s honesty and vulnerability gave him the storytelling superpower and earned him loyal fans that relate with his stories.
With stories that buy into the emotions of your target audience, you trigger a switch that pulls them toward you. Consumers tend to associate themselves with brands that resonate with their own core values and beliefs.
Drake pulled this off with a recent controversy that surrounded him about having a secret child. All he did was confirm the rumor in a song “Emotionless” on his latest album, Scorpion. He told his own side of the story and made the snitch, Pusha T, the bad guy for revealing such a secret.
“We don’t like to do too much explaining… Story stayed the same, I never changed it…” – Started From The Bottom
To deliver effective content, you must have a deep understanding of the audience. When you eventually create content your audience can get behind, don’t leave them wondering where you disappeared to.
According to MarketingMag, content marketing will be a $300 million industry by 2019. More businesses are increasing their content marketing budget because consistent, high-quality and engaging content leads to sales.
Drake exemplifies this by consistently creating music about love and loss, rise to fame, the fight to stay there, and never forget where your roots are.
Align your content with the needs and interest of your audience and deliver it consistently.
“Wish you would learn to love people and use things. And not the other way around.” – Connect
You can build an engaged online audience with authenticity. The power of an engaged online audience helped Drake build his own record label ‘October’s Very Own’, OVO. Drake keeps his fans updated with every tweet and Instagram posts.
Drake dropped a tweet about his latest Scorpion album and his fans did the marketing. In a week of his latest album release, Drake’s earned the title of the first album to reach over a billion streams in a week.
His track, ‘In My Feelings’ from the Scorpion album has sparked up a dance challenge that has gotten A-List celebrities to join the #InMyFeelingsChallenge bandwagon. What is interesting to note is that Drake didn’t even start this challenge.
Apple Music says, “In My Feelings” is currently the top song globally off the album and has over 64 million listens on Spotify. Twitter also reports over 2.3 million tweets of various hashtags about the challenge since June 29.
So, let’s bring this home…
Content marketing is not new and will continue to prove its true relevance time and time again in building a successful brand. The best you can do as a brand is to channel your inner Drake; stay authentic, don’t snooze off on your audience and keep your online community engaged every time. With this, you’ll be up from 0-100 in no time.
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