Content Marketing · Class 1

What is content marketing?

Its history, real brands, today's audiences and AI.

Digital Marketing Program · Canadian College

Class 1 · 2 hours

Today's plan

By the end of class you can

Explain what content marketing is.

Spot it in real brands.

Use AI carefully.

01

The history of content marketing

An old idea with a new name.

01 · History

What it means

Content marketing = creating and sharing useful content to attract a clear audience, and lead them to buy.

1

Valuable

It helps, teaches or entertains.

2

Clear audience

It is made for one type of person.

3

Profitable

In the end, it brings customers.

Source: Joe Pulizzi, Epic Content Marketing (2013). Definition simplified from the reading.

01 · History

Ads push, content pulls

Same goal: sales. Different path.

	Traditional ad	Content marketing
It says…	"Buy our product."	"Here is something useful."
It talks about…	The brand	Your problem or interest
Why you see it	The brand pays to show it	You look for it, because you want it

01 · History

The first content marketer?

Cover of Poor Richard's Almanack, 1739 — Poor Richard's Almanack, 1739 (public domain)

1

1700s, Philadelphia

Benjamin Franklin printed Poor Richard's Almanack, a small yearly book.

2

Useful, not an ad

Weather, puzzles and advice. Useful for every family.

3

The real goal

Promote his printing business. It ran 25 years and reached about 10,000 readers.

Sources: Content Marketing Institute; Charles A. Goodrich (from your reading).

01 · History

From paper to pixels

Click each date.

Print that helps

Franklin's almanac: useful information that also promoted his printing business.

It looked like news

At the 1939 World's Fair, Beech-Nut paid for a newspaper section about its mechanical circus, with its coffee and gum inside the story.

Real customer stories

GMC printed full-page stories from real owners, like a brick company owner who praised his trucks. An early testimonial.

"Content marketing"

Joe Pulizzi and Penton Custom Media start using the term. Now it is a full marketing strategy.

Every screen

Blogs, videos, podcasts and social posts. The channels changed. The idea did not.

Figure: Beech-Nut section, New York Herald Tribune, 1939 (public domain).

01 · Quick check

Quick check

Why did Franklin publish his almanac?

The almanac was useful for families, and it made people remember Franklin, the printer.

The 1939 Beech-Nut section looked like news. What was it?

Beech-Nut bought the section. The story promoted its circus, coffee and gum.

Which one is content marketing?

The video gives useful help first. The other two ask you to buy.

02

Real brands, real examples

Blogs, videos and customer stories that help people, and sell.

02 · Pillsbury · USA

Recipes that sell

Pillsbury Classic Chicken Pot Pie recipe page — Illustration based on the real recipe page. Open the page ↗

1

People search for recipes

Nobody searches "pie crust". They search "chicken pot pie".

2

Free recipes, not ads

Pillsbury's website shares hundreds of recipes.

3

Ingredient #1

The recipe needs a Pillsbury product. The product is part of the answer.

02 · Whirlpool · USA

Answer the question

Google search result for Whirlpool article — Illustration of a Google result. Open the article ↗

Fridges are expensive. Owners try to fix them before they buy new ones.

SEO (search engine optimization) = helping your page appear at the top of Google.

1. A person asks Google a question

2. Whirlpool's article is at the top

3. Help → repair service → new fridge

02 · REI · USA

Close the store, win the customer

1

2015: REI closed all stores on Black Friday and paid staff to go outside.

2

The hashtag #OptOutside asked people to share photos outdoors.

3

By 2017, about 8 million people took part.

Source: Content Marketing Institute (2017). Video: REI official YouTube channel.

02 · Tim Hortons · Canada

Coffee? No, hockey.

1

2018: Tim Hortons brought the Ice Lions, Kenya's only ice hockey team, to Canada.

2

They played with NHL stars Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon.

3

A short video became a 20-minute documentary on Sportsnet.

Source: LBB Online (2018); agency Zulu Alpha Kilo, Toronto. Video: Tim Hortons official YouTube channel.

02 · Canadian Tire · Canada

Tested by Canadians

Customers create the content.

Real people test

Canadians try products in real Canadian weather.

They rate it

A product needs 4+ stars to get the TESTED badge.

It becomes content

Reviews and videos go on TV, social media, flyers and in store.

Started in 2013. Tested products sold more than the year before.

Sources: Strategy Online (2015); canadiantire.ca/en/inspiration/tested-for-life-in-canada.html

02 · Game

Content or ad?

Drag each card into a box, or tap a card and then tap a box.

Blog: "Why is my fridge not cooling?"

Banner: "50% off all fridges this weekend"

A bank's free guide: "Your first credit card"

Billboard: a coffee logo and a price

A clinic's Reel: "3 myths about sunscreen"

Pop-up: "Sign up now, get 10% off"

Content marketing

Traditional ad

03

How people consume media today

Many screens, many channels, little time.

03 · Media today

Almost 8 hours a day

≈8hper day with
digital media

1

Many channels

Social media, email, search, word of mouth, outdoor ads.

2

A lot of time online

People spend almost 8 hours a day with digital media.

3

So brands must stay useful

Give value again and again, or people forget you.

Source: Statista (2025), as cited in your reading.

03 · Media today

Two kinds of buyers

B2C = business to consumer · B2B = business to business

	B2C · e.g. Tim Hortons	B2B · e.g. Shopify
Who they buy for	Themselves	A business
How buying starts	Impulse, fast	A planned budget
Contacts before buying	1 or more	7 or more
Content's job	Quick value and trust	Teach and show expertise

Sources: Stukent, Figure 1.3.1; Digital Authority Partners; B2Bmarketing.net.

03 · Media today

Microsecond buyers

B2C customers can decide in seconds.

Unplanned

They buy in the moment, without a plan.

Low price

Coffee, snacks, makeup. Not cars.

Social ads help

Personalized social media ads increase impulse buying.

Sources: Digital Authority Partners (Chicago); Zafar et al., ScienceDirect.

03 · Game

B2C or B2B?

Who is buying: a person or a business?

You buy an iced coffee on the way to class

A restaurant buys a new payment system

You buy leggings from an Instagram ad

A clinic compares 3 email platforms for a month

A small company pays for Shopify for its online store

You add a phone case at online checkout

B2C · a person

B2B · a business

04

Generative AI in content marketing

A powerful helper, not an autopilot.

04 · Generative AI

What is generative AI?

AI that creates new content from your instructions (a prompt).

You write a prompt

"Write 3 Instagram captions for a coffee shop."

AI learns from data

Millions of texts and images from the internet and users.

New content

Text, images, video. Fast and cheap.

ChatGPT launched in late 2022 and reached 100 million users by January 2023.

04 · Generative AI

Three risks

Tap each card.

Sources: Chen, Zaharia & Zou, Stanford (2023); Elkhatat, International Journal for Educational Integrity; Harvard Data Science Review.

04 · Real case · British Columbia

When the chatbot is wrong

1

A customer asked Air Canada's website chatbot about cheaper fares after a death in the family. The chatbot gave wrong information.

2

Air Canada said: "The chatbot is responsible, not us."

3

February 2024: a BC tribunal said no. The company is responsible for everything on its website. Air Canada had to pay.

The lesson

If AI writes it, your brand owns it.

Source: Moffatt v. Air Canada, 2024 BCCRT 149 (BC Civil Resolution Tribunal).

04 · Quick check

Quick check

AI gives you a statistic for your blog post, with no source. What do you do?

AI can hallucinate. Always find the real source before you publish.

What is an AI "hallucination"?

It is false information that sounds correct, like Air Canada's chatbot.

Your AI image for "engineers" shows only men. Which risk is this?

AI repeats the biases in its data. Ask for diverse people, and check the result.

In-class assignment · 40 min · Individual

Content detective

Study one real brand from Canada or the US.

1

Choose a brand

B2C or B2B. Who is its audience?

2

Find 3 pieces

3 pieces of its content: blog, video, podcast or post.

3

Suggest 1 idea

A new piece of content for this brand.

Ideas for brands

Tim HortonsLululemonArc'teryxCanadian TireRootsShopifyREIWhirlpoolSephoraor your own choice

Individual work No AI tools Upload a Word file or PDF

In-class assignment · Steps

Your steps

1

5 min

Brand: name, B2C or B2B, and its audience (1–2 sentences).

2

20 min

3 pieces of content. For each: link or screenshot, format, the value it gives (teach, help, entertain), and is it content or an ad? Why?

3

10 min

Your idea: title, format, channel, and why the audience will want it.

4

5 min

Save and upload: CM1_FirstName_LastName (.docx or .pdf)

Time left

40:00

Many thanks

Take these home

1

Content marketing gives value first. Sales come later.

2

Know your buyer: B2C is fast, B2B needs many contacts.

3

Use AI as a helper, and always check its work.