Inspiration

How GoPro’s Marketing Strategy Puts Content Before Ecommerce

By Bluecore Marketing

GoPro has always been a brand that represents amazing experiences and adventure.

Although the wearable digital camera began as a product to help athletes self-document themselves in their sport, it has expanded to become the go-to solution for capturing any and all of life’s moments.

The brand’s mission of “enabling the world to capture and share its passions” has been with the company since its beginning in 2003, and has consistently been incorporated in the GoPro marketing strategy ever since. GoPro, however, takes this mission a step further in its content marketing efforts, by putting the customer experience at the forefront of its strategy in terms of the content it provides and how it delivers that content to its target audience.

User-Generated Content

GoPro’s main content hub, the Channel, is essentially a sophisticated YouTube channel, hosting user-generated content captured by customers with its cameras. What’s significant about the hub’s design that differs from most other ecommerce sites, however, is its emphasis on the content rather than products. Many other content marketing sites will provide content paired with strong “Shop This Article” calls-to-action that take up significant space on the page. While this may satisfy many CMOs looking to prove that content marketing is driving revenue, this tactic is too obvious and turns off most readers.

GoPro marketing strategy emphasizes a share call-to-action over shop

GoPro, on the other hand, emphasizes a share call-to-action over shop. When a user watches a video on the Channel, there are three calls-to-action: InfoLog in to Favorite and Share. The Share button is the only one that is differentiated as blue, which pops out at the user, grabbing his or her attention. When a user selects the Info button, they receive a small drop down with a description of the video, a link to other related content and finally a “Get This Shot” call-to-action with a small image and name of the product used in the video. When a user clicks on the image, they are brought to the ecommerce section of the site where they can then buy the product. The small image paired with the subtly of naming the call-to-action “Get This Shot” instead of something like “Shop This Video” eases the user down the buyer journey instead of displaying the product front and center.

Content for Everyone

While GoPro is usually associated with capturing moments of extreme sports, in recent years, the brand has expanded its reach and showcased the versatility of use cases for its cameras. The Furry Friends and Wild Animals channels are filled with puppy and kitten content the internet goes wild for. For example, It’s Always Sunny in Walter’s World captures a dog’s run down a path maze into his gleeful jump into the ocean. The simple, minute-long video has over 1.1 million views. The Life’s Moments channel is filled with videos capturing events with kids, covering everything from pool parties to a little boy’s first bike ride without training wheels.

This conscious effort by GoPro to reach out to these peripheral audiences by creating content that connects with them shows the sophistication and awareness of its content marketing strategy.

Even the content that promotes GoPro cameras and products somehow doesn’t feel promotional. The Tips and Tricks Channel features video tutorials on how to capture certain moments. However, the tone and delivery feels helpful rather than a product placement.

Delivered with the Audience in Mind

The final piece of GoPro’s content marketing that is key to its success is its distribution strategy. Every marketer knows that audiences engage on different social media platforms and channels in different ways, but not every marketer tailors their distribution strategy to accommodate those differences. GoPro is a brand that has taken this to heart and distributes its content with the audience in mind. Take Pinterest, for example. Keeping in mind that 85% of Pinterest users are female, GoPro clearly skews its content for a female audience. The brand’s boards include #GoProGirl, which features women using GoPro cameras, Family Time, which features images of kids and babies, and Love, which features images from GoPros used at weddings.

GoPro user generated content

Again, even the boards that feature GoPro products don’t feel promotional for shopping. For example, rather than filling the Gifts for Your Loved Ones board with product images, it is filled with action shots with descriptions such as, “For your adrenaline junkie who prefers life at 12,000 ft, go for the GoPro Skydiving Bundle.”

These are just a few examples of how GoPro puts the experience a customer has with its brand at the forefront of its content marketing strategy rather than placing the emphasis on selling more cameras. This strategy makes the brand appear more authentic to its customer base and also more trustworthy. The strategy has proven to be successful with millions of loyal customers, users, and fans consuming its content and, in turn, continuing to buy its cameras.

Bluecore Marketing