"More ideas to strengthen my marketing than I ever imagined!"
"Collaborative idea sharing and peer networking that was incredible. Great value."
"Joe Pulizzi and John Boyens as keynotes were perfect bookends to this event. I'll be incorporating many practices for months to come!"
These were just a few comments made as more than 200 marketing and sales professionals left the 2016 TMSA Marketing & Sales Leadership Conference in Fort Lauderdale this last week. It's the one time every year when more than half of TMSA members come together to share ideas, learn from each other, and to network.
> View a snapshot of the conference and download presentations.
There's no question that one of the top values was the ability to spend the day with Joe Pulizzi, founder of Content Marketing Institute, and one of the most respected authorities on content marketing. As an opening keynote for the conference, he walked the attendee through a journey of how to best leverage content marketing:
- Find a niche where you can be the leading expert in the world (like the "Chicken Whisperer"). Think about your knowledge or skill, then think about the customer pain point - your "sweet spot" is where those two intersect.
- Develop your content mission. Do NOT great your content like advertising. First, build an audience. Then, monetize it. You can build your mission through "reverse engineering" (think about the outcome you want and work backwards from there in your planning). But make sure to define your audience, deliver, and know your intended outcome.
- Focus on content type, platform, and deliver consistently. This means to focus on one platform with consistent delivery over 12+ months time period.
- Ask yourself this important question: Why do you use your channels?
- Don't build your house on rented land (be cautious of using channels you don't "own")
- Build an audience of opt-in subscribers. Subscribers need to be a key metric.
- Need an amazing e-newsletter and remarkable download. Incorporate an exchange of value (such as an e-book or research report).
- Diversify into the "rule of three."
- What do your subscribers do differently? Pulizzi encourages you to ask the question: "What's the difference between those who subscribe to my content and those who don't?"
- Be patient. Success in content marketing cannot happen overnight.
