Audience First, Success Second

Content Inc: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses – Joer Pulizzi (McGraw Hill)

Alright! I put down the book and get to work on the review!

That was my honest reaction; I was engrossed in working my way through the process that Joe Pulizzi lays out in his latest book, Content Inc: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses, that I didn’t want to stop listing out my action steps that I wanted to get started on.

For me, actionable intelligence is what this is all about. Give me the goods that I can plug into a plan and get cracking on and that is what Pulizzi, the man often labeled the Godfather of Content Marketing, does throughout Content Inc.

Pulizzi focuses much of the book on fleshing out the six steps for content success:

The Sweet Spot: This is the point where you combine deep subject matter knowledge or skill, and add a dash of passion. The knowledge gives us expertise and the passion drives success.

The Content Tilt: The content tilt is what differentiates your content from that of your competition. Pullizi offers up an armload of great examples.

Building the Base: Pick a platform and become the go to expert/industry leader in that realm; then you can look to expand to other channels. Think about owning your piece of the puzzle before setting sights on world domination.

Harvesting Audience: The goal is always to grow an audience. The way to score here is to grow email audience that becomes your asset to own. Social media audiences are fine, but the harvest comes with ownership.

Diversification: This is when your audience is growing and you’re ready to expand into new channels. Pulizzi dubs this the three and three model; the first three are for building a personal brand: the blog, the book and the speaking. The next “three” are for business: digital, print and live events.

Monetization: Here is what you’ve been working for! Now that you’ve established your subject matter expertise and grown your audience, it’s time to charge for your service or product lines.

This is not a recipe for some mythical overnight success; it definitely involves some heavy lifting, but it clearly offers a workable road map for entrepreneurs and businesses alike to grow, expand and succeed and does it in a real been there, done that feel.