We Learned Things AND Ate Lunch: Perfect
I’m about to share some great insight I received at a recent luncheon. I know, 'great insight' from a 'luncheon' isn't typical these days but Joe Pulizzi of the Content Marketing Institute isn't your typical speaker.
During his presentation, Joe laid out an easy-to-follow model for successful content marketing. His model applies to all businesses and brands of all sizes so keep reading!
The Model
Sweet Spot
Like many other marketing strategies, it’s important to find your “Sweet Spot”, i.e. your area of expertise. It’s difficult to create content about a topic you know nothing about. I wouldn’t create a blog about the intimate nature of koalas, mostly because I have a completely rational hatred of them.
Content Tilt
This step is called the “Content Tilt" and is, as Mr. P says, “… what separates you from everyone else in your market”. The content tilt takes your vast knowledge and creates value for your audience. Without this step all you have is the same information that can be found on Wikipedia. During this step you need to find your niche and the right angle.
Building the Base
Now that you know what you’re going to create content for, you need to start “Building Your Base”. Now don’t get excited, this isn’t Iowa and you're not building a baseball field. It’s going to take much more than a couple of blog posts to have a successful content strategy. There are a few components Joey P. says are needed:
- One Content Type
- One Main Platform
- Consistent Delivery
- Over a Period of Time
Basically, what he means is: it’s best to find what you excel at and keep at it for a while, and by a while he means at least 12 months to start seeing results. I know it sounds like a long time but it will be worth it in the end.
Harvesting Audience
Once your base is built you should start “Harvesting Your Audience”. This sounds a little Body-Snatchy but don’t worry, it’s not nearly that bad. This is when you start benefiting from all that hard work. Your visitors contact info, such as emails and names, are important for generating leads. Without collecting this information, you have no way of reaching out to them.
Diversification
While it’s important to stick with one main content platform while building your base you should eventually branch out and get some “Diversification”. Pulizzi’s Content Marketing Institute uses: one print, one digital, one in-person platform. This allows us to cover more area than you could with one platform.
Monetization
The final step, and the step you started all this for, is “Monetization”. This is the step where you figure out how to pull revenue from all those subscribers you’ve been harvesting. Throughout the process you’ve been learning about your audience and figuring out what they need. This has given you the insight necessary to offer them services or products that benefit them.
In Conclusion
The entire process for creating a successful content marketing strategy shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. It’s very similar to just about any marketing strategy: an understanding of your business mixed with an understanding of your audience. Obviously I’m generalizing but you get the picture. Figuring out how your knowledge can benefit your audience and delivering it over time is the hardest part. Luckily though, there are people like Joe Pulizzi who come around every so often to remind us that it doesn’t have to be that difficult.
For questions or comments, please contact Digital Marketing Specialist, Ryan Rimmele at ryan.rimmele@triadadv.com or (330) 237-3531.