Epic Content Marketing by Joe Pulizzi
Content is king, and the king of content is Joe Pulizzi.
We had the opportunity to go to the BAM Congress, the biggest marketing event in Belgium, with 4P square. When I saw the line-up, I was thrilled. Joe Pulizzi, the American godfather of content, was coming! I just knew I had to be there, and well… He didn’t disappoint.
Here is a small summary of his Keynote about content marketing from that day. It was a derivative of his latest book ‘Epic Content Marketing – 6 key things to move forward with your company’.
1. Would customers care if your company stops producing content?
Joe started his presentation with this oneliner and the room went silent immediately. Nowadays, companies want to be active on all social media platforms. They have 5 different newsletters, a TikTok channel, a blog, some whitepapers and so on. The key message of Joe was: DON’T DO THIS! Start killing things which don’t get any attention or engagement. Instead, build 1 great something. Think about a fantastic weekly email or some amazing video content where you put all your precious energy in.
2. You need strong differentiation
Don’t do what everyone is doing. Search for that precious ‘content tilt’. This is a term invented by Joe. Content tilt is that sweet spot when a topic related to your product or service has minimal or no competition. It’s not easy to find the content tilt, but success will follow when you have found it. Do you need advice on finding your content tilt? Then our consultants can definitely help you.
3. Email First
Email first. That is something that we as marketers haven’t heard in a while. But Joe was very passionate about this subject. He referred to social media, since companies are mostly focusing on this these days. However, social media is made for content discovery. As a person or company, you don’t have control over the distribution of your content since you can’t choose who you want to see your content. And that’s a problem!
Social Media is rented land. Take Google Plus as an example. People and companies have been trying years and years to get followers on Google Plus, but when it suddenly disappeared, all of your hard work and followers disappeared as well. This can be the same for Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. You have followers, but how will you contact all of them when it suddenly stops working?
That’s why companies should use a Rent-To-Own strategy. You should attract people on social media, try to convince them to become a member/fan of your company and encourage them to give their data. You should try to build relationships with your clients, and email is still the most personal and safest way to go.
4. Acquire content assets
A company can grow in 2 ways: organic growth and acquisitions. However, many companies forget about the second one. When your company is big enough, you should try to buy intelligence where your business could use a boost. Let’s make this clear with an example. Imagine that your company knows everything about content. You have many fans, and you create content for various platforms. But you want more income, so you want to make a webshop. Your employees don’t know anything about e-commerce, so what do you do? Are you going to hire new employees who will set this up with the risk of not knowing if they even can set this up? Or will you buy a small e-commerce company with all the needed skills and know-how?
Well, Joe says that you should buy that e-commerce company because you know they have the skills you need. It takes courage to buy a company, but most of the time it is well worth it.
5. Drive diverse revenue streams
Your company should have many different revenue streams. The more revenue streams, the better! The main revenue stream of your company is of course your main product, but you should also be looking for new opportunities from which you can create an extra income. For instance, you can sell ad placements on your website, you can have an e-commerce shop, do some affiliate marketing… The possibilities are endless, so if your company doesn’t have a real revenue strategy, this is your moment to start.
6. Bonus idea: LEAVE!
This was the moment that shook the room the most. People didn’t know if they wanted to laugh or cry. But Joe was very serious. If you, as an employee, have unique ideas and a great passion for your job, but your employer doesn’t listen to you… You should just leave. Find a company that believes in your ideas, or maybe is already working on your ideas. A company that feels your passion and believes you will be a fantastic addition to their team. This way, your mental health and your career will improve.
Summary
This was, in brief, the Keynote of the content godfather Joe Pulizzi about Epic Content Marketing. He gave us different insights I had never heard or thought of. So if you get the chance to go to a presentation of Joe, you should definitely go. You won’t regret it. Or you can buy his books, of course, it’s a good recommendation if you’re interested in marketing. He was one of the stars of BAM, and he will remain one of the giant figures in marketing! Are you interested in more insights of BAM? Then you should definitely read our other blog article.
About the author
Sander is a creative marketer and project manager, who likes to think outside the box. He has experience in digital marketing, content creation and customer relations. He is a jack of all trades. Sander started his career as a digital marketer and project manager at META BV, where he learned a lot about everything marketing-related. For Sander, it is important to keep on learning and growing. He is not afraid of a challenge, and will tackle it head-on. Sander is a team player who will do everything to make a project a success.
Want to know more about Sander, feel free to connect with him on LinkedIn.
