6 Amazing Retail Content Marketing Examples

6 Amazing Retail Content Marketing Examples:  from Business 2 Community by Joe Pulizzi
In doing some research for a retail-oriented content marketing workshop, I learned one thing: retail content marketing case studies and examples are hard to find. That said, I was able to find a number of print and digital content marketing examples that impressed me. Here are six of them.
…and, if you have some you’d like to share, please add them to the comments below.
Lifetime Fitness – Experience Life
Experience Life is the lifestyle print and online magazine developed by Lifetime Fitness, the billion dollar health and fitness company with over 100 centers around the US. Experience Life is now published 10 times per year and has a circulation of more than 600,000 subscribers (as well as newsstand distribution). Here is a great article on the evolution of the magazine and how it serves both members and readers to grow the Lifetime Fitness brand.

Zappos – ZN Magazine

ZN is Zappos’ digital magazine dedicated to sharing the latest fashion trends. Over the past few years, Zappos has been moving toward selling more than shoes (as this magazine clearly shows). Kudos to Zappos for integrating compelling stories with reviews, and the ability to purchase directly from the iPad (a great example of content to commerce).

Starbucks – My Starbucks Idea
My favorite example from Starbucks is My Starbucks Idea. Since inception, seemingly hundreds of ideas have been reviewed and implemented on the community site.

LCBO – Food & Drink Magazine
The LCBO, located in Ontario, Canada, is one of the world’s largest buyers of beverage alcohol, with more than 600 retail locations in Canada. Vintages is the LCBO’s member-driven publication specifically targeting wine enthusiasts. The magazine is distributed both through the post and is available online in digital book format.

Patagonia – The Footprint Chronicles

Patagonia, the high-end retailer dedicated to doing no harm to the environment, developed The Footprint Chronicles to show an environmental friendliness report of every textile factory and supplier they work with. What is great about the blogs and reports is that they detail both the good and bad with each of the suppliers, and what they need to improve upon.

Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams – At Home Book

Jeni’s, located in Columbus, Ohio (home of Content Marketing World 2012) is one of the fastest growing ice cream brands. Jeni’s developed Jeni’s Splended Ice Creams At Home as a print book in June of 2011. The book has been incredibly successful, garnering reviews from such publications as the Wall Street Journal, helping to accelerate Jeni’s growth internationally. My favorite part? The book truly does give away Jeni’s secrets to making the best ice cream on the planet…another example of how giving away your secret sauce almost always helps sales.

Want more content marketing examples? Here are 100 different B2B and B2C content marketing examples from around the world in one handy-dandy ebook.