In 2003, Lego was in deep trouble.
Once a celebrated toy company, the organisation was now teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.
But that was then.
Today, 17 years later, Lego is one of the world’s most profitable, beloved companies; its interlocking brick system dominates Christmas wish lists even in the digital era when parents work to pry their children away from screens of all sizes.
And it’s not only the bricks that enchant fans of all ages. A multi-million dollar movie franchise draws children (and adult fans) to cinemas across the world.
Jonathan Ringen studies Lego’s transformation in an article for the Fast Company .
“In the last 10 years, Lego has grown into nothing less than the Apple of toys: a profit-generating, design-driven miracle built around premium, intuitive, highly covetable hardware that fans can’t get enough of. “
How did the company mount this dramatic turnaround?
It’s all thanks to knowing its customers and getting rid of products that failed to resonate with fans.
And these are content lessons we can learn from Lego.
Get to know your customer
When Jørgen Vig Knudstorp joined Lego in 2001 he stepped onto a sinking ship.
To regain its former glory, Knudstorp soon realised
Lego needed to go back to the basics,
“That required figuring out what a modern Lego should even be, which Knudstorp accomplished in part by investing in a kind of research the company had never done before—deep ethnographic studies of how kids around the world really play.”
It’s no wonder that content marketing authorities say roles that focus on audience development will be key in the next year.
Let’s face it: there’s tons of content coming online each day.
Check these figures from Internet Live Stats:
- 2.2 million blog posts will be written today
- 257 million tweets will be published
- 2.4 billion videos will be uploaded to YouTube
It’s a lot.
And it’s relentless, expanding in realtime to fill every second of your reader’s day.
You need content that’s going to break through that noise. You need content that’s going to stand out.
What we’re talking about is the kind of writing that stops your reader while they’re scrolling through their social media feed. Content that grabs your reader’s attention because it’s relevant. And not only that, it’s right where they are.
This is exactly how so many icnonic content businesses endure.
In an article for the Content Marketing Institute, Joe Pulizzi writes about Cosmo’s mission at the time: “empower young women to own who they are and be who they want to be, and we’re focused on propelling her into her fun, fearless future. No excuses, no bull@#*%, no regrets.”
There’s no ambiguity, writes Pulizzi, Cosmopolitan is “completely focused on the audience”.
So, what does that process look like for your business’s content strategy?
Check industry reports like We are Social to keep tabs on the most popular platforms
Ask your audience about their content habits
Dive into the data to determine when your audience is online, e.g., Facebook audience insights
Use tools like Buzzsumo to uncover the most popular angles for content topics in your industry
Drop what’s not working
The Lego Digital Designer was doomed from the start. Initiated as a strategy to regain plummeting market share, the application was an online software tool where fans could design their own kits online. Once that step was completed, they’d order the bricks and received their packages in the mail.
But there was a problem.
Lego customers want to buy their bricks and build their creations in real-life.
Demand for a digital-first preview didn’t exist, said xxx
“There’s no reason for them to design it up front and pay for that. They just want to buy the bricks.”
Have a look at your analytics.
Link-only posts attracting consistently low engagement on Twitter?
A certain topic not engaging readers?
These are indicators that this specific content type of topic might not connect with your readers.
Building an engaged online community in the digital age is hard; it’s even harder if you don’t know your audience.
See your reader for what they truly are: a muse. Use their hopes, dreams, and fears to guide your words .
If we wish to grow a loyal audience, we need to serve them first.
