Epic Content Marketing

Joe Pulizzi is the founder of the Content Marketing Institute. He is an evangelist for the concept of content marketing and is an avid public speaker. Mr. Pulizzi is considered to be one of the founders of the content marketing movement and he has co-authored two books about this: Get Content, Get Customers and Managing Content Marketing. He was previously a vice president at Penton Media and CEO of SocialTract, a social media blogging service. He is a graduate of Penn State University and Bowling Green State University.

With traditional marketing, you use ads and sales messages to try and attract prospective customers. Content marketing (CM) is where instead of interrupting people, you put high quality content out into the marketplace for prospective customers to find. Your help people do what they're trying to do with no strings attached. The idea is prospects will then buy more of what you have to offer because it helps them achieve their goals.

In practical terms, content marketing is really the art of marketing more by selling less. You communicate with potential customers and help them rather than sell to them. You provide so much ongoing information prospects ultimately reward you with their business and their loyalty.

Your content becomes "epic" when it engages the customer and motivates them to take action. To achieve that, your content must:

• Help the customer solve a problem they have.
• Be consistently delivered rather than one-off.
• Project an authentic voice.
• Have a point of view which positions you well.
• Avoid sales speak or self promotion.
• Be absolutely best of breed.

1. How to make epic content marketing work for you. To do epic content marketing well, start with a good view of the lay of the land. In practice, what you're trying to do is create memorable stories that people can apply to their own specific needs and circumstances. You're trying to market more by selling less.

2. Define your niche Epic Content. Job #1 in becoming an epic content marketer is to identify who you're trying to help. Your goal is not simply to create great content but to create the kind of content which will make your business grow. To do that, you've got to know your audience persona.

3. Select your CM strategy Epic Content. Once you know who you're trying to attract, you then figure out and define your ideal engagement cycle. The engagement cycle maps out the stages the customer goes through before they buy. You want to create epic content for each of these stages and get it out there.

4. Manage story creation Epic Content. Epic content doesn't just happen by accident. To use content to attract, convert and retain customers over the long haul, you need to get the right building blocks in place. Without these, content marketing will be a one-time gimmick, not a viable strategy.

5. Market your stories Epic Content. To accomplish your objectives, you've got to market your content effectively. Today, that means spreading the word through social media and by other techniques. Great content is meant to be consumed and you need to get the word out when you have it.

6. Make your content work Epic Content. To keep interest in your content high, show what others are achieving by using that content. You need metrics and a measurement system which is robust and relevant. This is also how you get buy-in from your entire organization.