Business

5 Content Marketing Ideas for March 2021

For March 2021, consider creating content around Irish-Americans, mirth, employee spirit, seasonal products, and spring how-tos.

Content marketing is one of the most powerful tools in a marketer’s toolbox. It is the act of creating, publishing, and promoting content to attract, engage, and retain customers and potential customers.

What follows are five content marketing ideas your business can use in March 2021.

1. Irish-American Heritage Month

Photo of a shamrock/clover

The shamrock or clover is a symbol of Irish heritage. Photo: Janine Meuche.

In 2019, about 9 percent of Americans reported having Irish ancestors, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Americans of Irish heritage have made significant contributions to the nation’s culture and economy.

As evidence, consider St. Patrick’s Day, which has been observed every March 17 in the United States since 1762. That holiday, which began as a religious observance, has grown to celebrate all things Irish. One could say it outgrew a single day in 1991 when the U.S. Congress designated March as Irish-American Heritage Month.

For your company’s content marketing in March, consider one of three ways to integrate and celebrate Irish-Americans.

  • Celebrations. You might publish recipes, party ideas, lists of events, or similar. These could be presented in an article, a video, or a podcast episode.
  • Individuals. You could profile famous Irish-Americans relevant to your industry. For example, a kitchen supply store could profile Edmund McIlhenny, the inventor of Tabasco Sauce.
  • History. Create content around Ireland and its impact on the U.S.

2. International Mirth Month

March 2021 is also International Mirth Month. After the year we had in 2020, everyone could use a chuckle, a guffaw, and a laugh. So don’t miss this opportunity to entertain your audience of customers and prospects.

Try to interject humor into your company’s podcasts, videos, or blog posts.

For ideas, look into the benign violation theory of humor. This theory became popular in the book “The Humor Code” by Caleb Warren and A. Peter McGraw.

The book describes visits that Warren and McGraw had with funny people to quantify humor. The book noted three conditions to be funny:

  • A violation of the expected norm;
  • The violation is benign so that the person reading, watching, or experiencing the content is safe;
  • And both the violation and the benign are experienced at the same time.

“The first thing that you learn when you study humor is how important it is,” said McGraw in a video about how to be funny. “That it’s just an essential part of the human condition. It’s something that people pursue in their leisure life and in their relationships, and it ends up being a really great tool.”

Diagram of two circles overlapping. One circle is labeled "benign"; the other is labeled "violation."

When folks encounter a benign violation, humor is usually the result.

3. Employee Spirit Month

One would hope your company’s employees are always healthy and happy. Nonetheless, March is Employee Spirit Month. It’s an opportunity for businesses to focus on both employee morale and customer relationships.

Image of a man jumping.

Get your employees excited about their jobs and your customers excited about your employees. Photo: Ali Yahya.

Here are two ways Employee Spirit Month can influence your company’s content marketing.

  • Customer testimonials. Consider recording and publishing video testimonials from your customers. These might be hand-picked interviews, or the result of a contest wherein customers submit their own videos. Focus on the testimonials that call out employees for great customer service.
  • Employee interviews. You might also interview key employees about why they like their jobs or your customers. These interviews could build employee morale and be an excellent way to build trust with your audience.

4. Spring Buying Guide

Image of a female fashion model

Spring fashion from Zara via Refinery29.

Spring begins on March 20, 2021. It is a season of rebirth and an opportunity for businesses to share seasonal buying guides, lookbooks, and similar.

The fashion industry often does this sort of guide well. You can find examples on several magazine websites, such as these titles from Refinery29:

This approach can apply to just about any product and could take the form of an article or video.

5. Spring How-to

Helpful, useful content is one of the best ways to attract folks to your company.

Consider the hero-hub-help strategy for content marketing. Helpful content is the foundation. It is the thing your company should be producing the most of.

Pyramid diagram of the hero, hub, help strategy.

Think of the hero, hub, help content strategy as a pyramid. The foundation of “help” is the type of content to produce the most.

Similarly, in his book “Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is about Help Not Hype,” Jay Baer describes content marketing that is so relevant and useful that folks would pay for it.

This March, try to publish spring how-to content that matches Baer’s description. Provide a solution to a problem potential customers may be trying to solve. Or provide a step-by-step tutorial for a task potential customers may wish to complete.

Armando Roggio
Armando Roggio
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