DH012 - Joe Pulizzi - Content marketing for digital entrepreneurs

Digital Hustle

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Is Joe Pulizzi the reason why all marketing companies make their brand color orange? Joe won’t take credit for it!

Considering digital entrepreneurs, why should they be concerned with content marketing?

I think the best way to build a business today is through a content marketing approach.

Create valuable and compelling content like a media company would, and then sell them something once they are engaged. There are no barriers to entry today to build an audience. There’s more clutter, sure, but there’s more access to an audience today.

The best thing to do is to focus on the needs and pain points of a particular audience. If you focus on meeting those needs, you can sell them whatever you want. All that we do at Content Marketing Institute is to meet the pain points of our audience, and we can monetize it in many different ways.

If you are like most entrepreneurs you come up with a product and try to sell it to an audience, and then you are forced to pivot when it’s not working and sell to a different audience. The other way to do it is to find an audience that has a need, and then fulfill that need in that niche. Grow the relationship and sell new things. That’s where I think the opportunity is today for entrepreneurs. It’s a lot less risky.

LootCrate is a company that sends boxes to comic book nerds and geeks. The customers don’t have any idea what is in the box, but they keep buying it because it shows up on the doorstep with random things that they love. It’s a subscription.

If you want to do something in 6 months then content marketing is not for you. I would suggest that you do advertising if you want a quick impact. But content marketing is the long game that works as you build a loyal following.

We like to push people to our newsletter. I find that having a good email list is the most valuable subscription. We do all the other things also like YouTube and Facebook and Twitter. If people engage on all of our platforms, they become better customers. But remember, it takes a long time to get that data.

What do you say to people who want to start to calculate the ROI of content marketing from the beginning of the process?

If you have 6 months and you’re asking, “what return can I see?” Don’t do content marketing. This is about building a loyal relationship with a group of people over time. You can’t rush that. It takes between 12 and 24 months to see real impact.

Let’s say that the core of your program is a newsletter. That’s your call to action. When you get that subscriber list, you can compare that to your customer database and see who is buying.

Then you can start to measure:

Do they close faster?
Do they buy more stuff?

Do they talk more favorably about me online?

Somebody that subscribes to our newsletter and also two other social channels. They are our absolute best customers. They spend the most with us, they go to Content Marketing World. They buy everything we’ve got.

We have one subscription option that is there to open the door. And then we have other elements of the process to close business.

Our buying cycle is 9 to 12 months. If you’re buying cycle is 9 to 12 months and you want results in 6 months, good luck!

Can you give me an example of a company that you know who is primarily selling online who has a rocking content strategy?

One of my really good friends, Brian Clark, started CopyBlogger. He started in 2006 and had the idea that people would want to learn online copywriting. They need tips on how to get found in search, etc. Organic, not advertising. Back in 2006 he started this and for 19 months he blogged 5 times per week. They had an e-newsletter that people could sign up for.

Over that 19 months he got to know his audience. He generated over 100,000 opt-in subscribers to his newsletter. Now really what they sell is a content management system focused on SEO. He started selling it in the late 2000s, and they’re one of the fastest growing SaaS companies. 90% of his revenue comes through someone who build a newsletter first. Now people buy is stuff. He’s well over a $10,000,000 company.

He put a team together, started blogging, and now he’s there!

So you’re saying 5 times per week for 19 months straight. Is there such a thing as posting so much content that you overwhelm your audience?

First of all, our goal is not to create more content. We want to create the minimum amount of content for the maximum amount of results.

Think about yourself. If it’s really valuable you won’t say “I don’t really want another piece of valuable content.”

Now, if you are creating content 5 times per week and 2 are good but 3 are not, you’ve got a problem. Everything you create needs to make an impact.

Think to yourself, what can we do really great with the resources I have?

It might be one post per week, it might be one post per month. Figure out what you can do, where you will do it, and then think about your velocity last.

Now is a great time to own the email newsletter space because so many people are so bad at it.

But remember, you’re competing with everyone in your industry, Google, Amazon, and everyone else. So, you need to focus on a niche and do it better than anyone else.

Find a micro-niche that’s not being covered very well and you have a big opportunity there.

Are there any new marketing channels opening up that are a content goldmine or any that are on their dying leg?

I have a subscription hierarchy. At the top are email and print. I get data, information, and control from these subscriptions.

All the way at the bottom is a Facebook fan. It makes me feel good but doesn’t do anything for by business. But I’m always trying to move people into my email list.

The thing about social media today is that Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are the ABC, NBC, and CBS of our time. They own the connections, not you. But they’re great advertising channels. Facebook is a fantastic advertising site. You can reach a lot of people over a certain keyword.

Organic reach on Facebook is terrible. It gets less than 1% reach. Buzzfeed built their entire audience on Facebook, then Facebook changed their distribution rules and Buzzfeed has been forced to find other methods.

What’s the best way to get someone to move from being a social subscriber to being a newsletter subscriber?

For people who sign up to follow you on a social channel, turn on advertising and push them to sign up for your email list.

Even on YouTube, take Jimmy Fallon for example, you can verbally tell people to subscribe to your newsletter.

You have to create compelling calls to action that push people into the next step.

Is it better to spend a lot of time creating a polished piece of content, or is better to get it out quick and dirty and fast as possible?

If it’s quick and dirty and super valuable I’m fine with it. Ever heard of Kevin Kelly? His blog is just text. You would be lucky to get a picture. But the content is great.

Seth Godin has blogged every day for 20 years. It’s a type blog with an RSS feed that goes to newsletter. He’s done pretty well with that.

Whatever works, but the content has to be good, valuable, interesting, targeted. The flash and bang is secondary.

Are you seeing any trends about short-form or long-form content?

It depends on what your audience wants. We have two podcasts. One is an hour, one is five minutes. They’re both successful but it’s a different audience.

Years ago people made all the content short because they thought people didn’t have attention spans. But people can sit and binge watch Game of Thrones today. So people have time. It’s all about value and interest.

For me I like a 45-minute podcast because I listen while I’m running and that’s about how long I’m out for. So the length doesn’t matter much.

Contact:

ContentMarketingInstitute.com

JoePulizzi.com

Content Marketing World

@JoePulizzi