It seems that the term 'content marketing' is everywhere today. Most brands and companies are taking some sort of content approach to growing their business. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi reminds you to not only create content, but to tell a different story. Find the content gap in your industry and fill it. By sharing this story, you will rise above what everyone else is saying and build a better, stronger Content Inc. model for your business.
In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares a bit of the Marcus Sheridan story of how he grew River Pools and Spas by becoming the best teachers in their industry. He reminds you that what you sell will probably change over the next few years. But if you are putting a value first approach to your content and becoming the leading educator in your industry, this won't matter. Content that teaches your audience will ensure you will always be relevant to your audience.
The recent announcement of ESPN's decision to shut down their site Grantland has caused a bit of a stir in the online world. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares why brands such as Nike or Under Armour should consider purchasing Grantland as part of their content strategy. With millions of dollars being spent annually on ads that interrupt viewers, listeners and readers, what could an already established site with great content targeted to your audience bring in terms of loyal customers and increased revenue? Perhaps it's time to look at already existing content platforms as part of your content strategy and move ad spend to a Content Inc. model.
Social media has been a game changer for business. But it's important to remember that these platforms are ones you get to use; you do not own them. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi discusses the latest platform to change up their model and require users to make decisions on their content. YouTube's Red subscription model is just another in a long, recent line of social media platforms that are changing things up to gain more revenue opportunities. Don't bet the farm of your business on another company's revenue goals. Focus on building content on platforms that you own.
Are you looking at your competition and simply doing what they are doing with content marketing? Or are you looking to be more original and innovative with what you produce? In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares three ways you can get more focused with your content marketing efforts and create content that is original and innovative. Don't go insane trying to copy what others are doing. Become the original content creator that really taps into the audience of your industry.
In the recent B2B content marketing survey put out by Content Marketing Institute and MarketingProfs, more and more marketers are embracing content marketing as a philosophy and discipline. Yet, most of these same content marketers admit that they are not being successful with their efforts. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi breaks down the 5 key items that need to be considered to create a successful content marketing program. If you are struggling with content marketing success, listen to this episode!
A self-fulfilling prophecy is when what we believe actually stands as our truth, especially when it is a limitation to success. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi dares you to move away from your self-fulfilling prophecy of not succeeding with a Content Inc. model for your business and instead, frame your ideas to fulfill a prophecy of success.
This week Time Inc. made headlines when they announced that their purchase of the female friendly blog site Hello Giggles. It is estimated that this blog site, that is only a few years old, was purchased for somewhere between $20 and $30 million dollars. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi asks you to not just notice the buying of this site by a major media company, but to ask why other female friendly brands had not considered doing the same thing? If it's often cheaper to purchase existiing assets vs. building your own, perhaps it's time for brands to consider other content assets on the market and bring them into their own companies, much like Time Inc. is doing.
The end of the year is when most businesses start the process of planning for the year ahead. What do you want to accomplish? What goals do you want to achieve? In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares the Warren Buffet 25-5 Method of making your list of goals and working on them over the next year. Focused energy on a few things will yield greater results than working on a lot of things a little bit. Get focused.
In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares his journey from getting an MBA from Penn State to his role today as Founder of Content Marketing Institute. Though it may look like an 'overnight success', Joe is very clear that getting to where he is today took a lot of blood, sweat and tears over the past decade(or more). He encourages you to not give up and push through any doubts or fears that you may be having. Success is on the way...and luck has nothing to do with it.
As content marketing evolves, so does how and why we measure it's success. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi discusses how content marketing measurement needs to move beyond the campaign mindset and toward the idea that it is an asset for your company. If you treat your content like a product, you will begin to ask different questions around it's value. Questions that could lead to some revelations on how important, or not so important, your content is to your business.
Every time a social media platform makes a big change, it gets a lot of attention. Many speculate how a change to a social platform, like the recent Twitter announcement to drop share counts, will negatively impact businesses using the social media site. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi reminds you to build your content on your own platform and use social media for the great distribution opportunity it can provide. These companies can and will do whatever they want to when it comes to growing their revenue. Own your own platform so you can do the same.
In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi address what he refers to as the KEC, The Kurzweil Effect on Communications. Ray Kurzweil, famed inventor and futurist, recently stated that "information technologies are doubling in power every year". This means that how we communicate with each other, and especially with our customer is constantly evolving. This will require you as a business owner to make some changes to attempt to stay in line with this constant change.
In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares how creating something unique and connected to only your band can provide a differentiating factor for business success. He shares how the color orange has become so connected with Content Marketing Institute and for others it may be a type of clothing or phrase. Is there something you are really passionate about or really into that you can lean into with your brand? How can you make quirky work for you?
Gartner's Hype Cycle is an adoption curve model that shows how a disruptive technology's adoption is implemented. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi breaks down where content marketing as a practice and industry falls today within the Hype Cycle and why this can be an opportunity for those that build a strategy and keep to a plan.
If it's not written down, it doesn't happen. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi discusses the importance of doing two simple things that can steer you onto a successful path. Write down your goals. Review your goals on a regular basis. It sounds so simple and we know it's a pretty simple thing to do. But yet, so many of us just don't do it. Put your life on the path to success for you by doing these two simple things and get started today.
It seems almost every week there is a platform launched that can help us gain an audience or share our content. As small business owners, you are already challenged with keeping the shiny objects at bay. Now, with all the digital distractions, this challenge has increased exponentially. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi reminds us to not only stay focused, but to leave the new shiny objects to others to test and try out. Getting really great at one or two platforms can not only help your business succeed, it may also provide additonal business opportunities by becoming an expert, too.
Too often in content marketing we feel we need to be all things to all people. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi challenges you to think differently when it comes to your content marketing strategy. Every Content Inc. example of success has done the same thing: they focused on one content type and one content platform to grow their business. It's time to focus and make the hard choice. What will you choose NOT to do with your content marketing?
Content envy is the idea that your content is so good, that others want to be a part of it. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares the three things your content needs to truly create content envy. Grow a content platform so valuable that others ask to contribute to the output. This is what has happened at Content Marketing Institute and it can happen for you, too. Listen and learn how to create content envy!
Even the best content creators find themselves with writer's block. This can be a frustrating process and can often lead to bad content, or no content at all. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares how freewriting has helped him get past some of the content ruts he falls into as a content creator. Learn the rules applied to this process and next time you have writer's block, give them a try. You'll be glad you did!
Joe Pulizzi has been teaching the importance of the content marketing mission statement for a few years now. So obviously, when he finds one that is not only written out, but well implemented, he wants to share it with his audience. In this episode of Content Inc. he discusses how Darren Rowse grew his Digital Photography School by focusing on a content tilt and implementing on a content marketing mission.
It's the beginning of fall and thoughts of the football season ahead is on the minds of many. In this episode of Content Inc. Joe Pulizzi draws the similarity of building out your fantasy football team to building out your fantasy content marketing team. Think of your key content platform as your running back and the one that is the foundation for driving your subscriber model through the goal posts. All other content, your ebooks, events, email, etc... support the main platform. Focus on building out that foundation of content from which to build from and you will start to hit content marketig touchdowns along the way!
Having a strong point of view is important and necessary when it comes to being a leading expert with your content. Of course, this point of view may not resonate with everyone and negative reactions, comments, and reviews will more than likely come your way. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi shares how the haters are actually a good thing and if you are not ruffling feathers, you probably are not doing something right with your content efforts.
If you, like so many small business owners, have been creating content over the past few months or perhaps even years and have not seen results, you are probably doing it wrong. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi reminds you that to grow big with your Content Inc. model, you really need to get very, very small. Find that tight niche in your industry that you can become the leading expert in and make big things happen.
To better understand where we are today with content marketing, it is helpful to look at the past and see where we have come from. In this episode of Content Inc., Joe Pulizzi discusses how content marketing has evolved from a past that included great content marketing efforts in the first have of the 1900's. Mass media changed advertising options for companies in the 1950's, but today, with the consumer in control, ads are declining and content is back on the rise.