Is there anything we can learn about content marketing from the great, albeit fictional, unofficial consulting detective? Turns out there is.
The Sherlock Holmes stories were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who tells us little about Sherlock Holmes’s financial situation. However, we are informed that his friend and colleague, Dr. John H. Watson, is on a low salary as a half-pay army surgeon and an even slimmer bank account.
That Holmes and Watson shared lodgings and had no servants suggests that they lived in what HG Wells called “pitiful gentility”.
With the permission and editorial supervision of Holmes, Dr. Watson is the chronicler of the adventures of the great detective. It was considered vulgar for professional men in the late 19th century to discuss payment of their fees, and most professions were banned from advertising.
Since both (fictional) men needed income, how did they promote their services? The answer is that they used content marketing.
Dr. Watson’s chronicles of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes were serialized and published in newspapers and magazines of the time for which he was paid and Holmes received much-needed publicity.
Dr. Watson did not arrange for his stories to be published in any magazine or newspaper. They were published in magazines read by Holmes’s target market. Watson was posting his content where his target audience went for information.
What was Sherlock Holmes’ target market?
Conan Doyle was very descriptive of his characters. From these descriptions, we know that the typical client using the services of the world’s first unofficial consulting detective:
- lived in or had a connection to London;
- they were from an upper-middle-class background; Y
- they had the means to support themselves without having to resort to paid work or if they worked it was in an occupation considered suitable for a person of their class.
We also know that the target audience was educated at a higher level than usual at the time. We know this because Holmes quoted Goethe in German.
Wir sind gewohnt dass die Menschen verhohnen was sie nicht verstehen.
Of The sign of the four
Your audience would be familiar with Goether’s writings and would understand what he meant when he said “Goethe is always concise.”
Holmes was also in the habit of using French sayings, such as we will see (we will see). Again, his audience would have understood the meaning.
Holmes is also said to have made reference to archives of the Timeswhich was, of course, the newspaper of choice for their target market.
In terms of content marketing, what have Holmes and Watson done?
They have been quite clever:
- They have clearly identified their target market and it would not be an exaggeration to say that they created at least two personas, one for men and one for women. They created compelling content that helped build a relationship of trust with their prospects. . His story was told as a series of adventures that resonated with the target audience. The chronicles raised the problem and showed how Holmes was able to solve it;
- The chronicles entertained and informed the reader, but they also prevented him from consulting Mr. Holmes; Y
- They made sure their content was published everywhere their target audience went for information.
Sherlock Holmes was not only an expert in the science of deduction, but he also knew a thing or two about content marketing.
