Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses

The NEW Rulebook for Entrepreneurial Success

What’s the surest way to startup failure? Follow old, outdated rules. 

In Content Inc., one of today’s most sought-after content-marketing strategists reveals a new model for entrepreneurial success. Simply put, it’s about developing valuable content, building an audience around that content, and then creating a product for that audience.
Notice a shift? 

Author Joe Pulizzi flips the traditional entrepreneurial approach of first creating a product and then trying to find customers. It’s a brilliant reverse-engineering of a model that rarely succeeds.

The radical six-step business-building process revealed in this book is smart, simple, practical, and cost-effective. And best of all, it works. It’s a strategy Pulizzi used to build his own successful company, Content Marketing Institute, which has landed on Inc. magazine’s list of fastest growing private companies for three years straight.  It’s also a strategy countless other entrepreneurs use to build their own multi-million dollar companies.  Build an audience and you’ll be able to sell pretty much anything you want.

Today’s markets are more dynamic and customers are more fickle than ever before. Why would you put all your eggs in one basket before securing a loyal customer base? Content Inc. shows you how to get customers first and develop products later. It’s the best way to build a solid, long-lasting business positioned for today’s content-driven world.  This is the simple but profoundly successful entrepreneurial approach of one of today’s most creative business minds.

A pioneer of content marketing, Pulizzi has cracked the code when it comes to the power of content in a world where marketers still hold fast to traditional models that no longer work. In Content Inc., he breaks down the business-startup process into six steps, making it simple for you to visualize, launch, and monetize your own business. These steps are:

• The “Sweet Spot”: Identify the intersection of your unique competency and your personal passion


• Content Tilting: Determine how you can “tilt” your sweet spot to find a place where little or no competition exists


• Building the Base: Establish your number-one channel for disseminating content (blog, podcast, YouTube, etc.)


• Harvesting Audience: Use social-media and SEO to convert one-time visitors into long-term subscribers


• Diversification: Grow your business by expanding into multiple delivery channels


• Monetization: Now that your expertise is established, you can begin charging money for your products or services 

This model has worked wonders for Pulizzi and countless other examples detailed in the book. Connect these six pieces like a puzzle, and before you know it, you’ll be running your own profitable, scalable business. 

Pulizzi walks you step by step through the process, based on his own success (and failures) and real-world multi-million dollar examples from multiple industries and countries. Whether you’re seeking to start a brand-new business or drive innovation in an existing one, Content Inc. provides everything you need to reverse-engineer the traditional entrepreneurial model for better, more sustainable success. 

Joe Pulizzi is an entrepreneur, professional speaker, and podcaster. He is the founder of several startups, including the Content Marketing Institute (CMI), recognized as the fastest growing business media company by Inc. Magazine in 2014. CMI produces Content Marketing World, the world’s largest content marketing event, and publishes the leading content marketing magazine, Chief Content Officer. Pulizzi’s book Epic Content Marketing was named one of Fortune magazine’s Five Must Read Business Books of the Year.

check out For More Information

Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses

Website Helped One Million Internet Entrepreneurs To Turn Their Passion Into a Successful ...

  Website Helped One Million Internet Entrepreneurs To Turn Their Passion Into a Successful Affiliate Marketing Business

Wealthy Affiliate (WA), a website that was created as an initiative to help other people succeed online, has announced that it has helped more than one million internet entrepreneurs to become successful affiliate marketers.

Since the site launched back in 2005, the WA platform (http://www.wealthyaffiliatefree.com) has continued to evolve and innovate at a pace that is faster than the industry. Unlike most portals of that kind, this one is different and unique in many ways – plus, there are even free plans available to individuals interested in getting started.

Individuals simply follow WA’s simple three step plan to get started. Step one is as simple as picking a topic one is interested in. When a topic has been selected, step two comes into play – creating a simple website. While this might sound complicated, WA makes this process very easy. Their portal enables their members to create a ready-to-go website within seconds. No knowledge of web design or programming required.

Step three is getting people to visit the newly created website. This is where WA also helps its members. The site provides lesions and explains the most current traffic techniques to help members drive traffic to their new site. This means learning how to rank well in search engines such as Google, Bing or Yahoo! Search.

Last but not least, step four is all about generating income. By promoting products from vendors such as Amazon, Microsoft, Nike, Walmart, Target and many other famous brands, members of WA are now able to turn their traffic into earnings. The best part about this is that members of the WA community do not even have to deal with handling products, shipments or even payments. This is all processed automatically with no additional work required. The only thing WA members have to care about is driving traffic to their website. It’s that simple.

About Wealthy Affiliate
When you approach success with anything you do in life, you need to make a concerted effort to make tomorrow a more brilliant day than you experienced today. We treat the service like that at Wealthy Affiliate. Our motivation is getting others to feel the same way about their situation. A brighter day is always ahead. We are driven by projects that will further enhance the way people do business online and the efficiency in which they can do it. Through our design, technology, marketing and support, we will continue to shoot for the stars. Our services get better with every single day that passes and this is the team that makes it all come together.

###

Media Contact
Sultan Aldini
sultanaldini@gmail.com
http://www.wealthyaffiliatefree.com/

Published on: 2015-10-24

Limited copyright is granted for you to use and/or republish any story on this site for any legitimate media purpose as long as you reference 7thSpace and any source mentioned in the story above. Please make sure to read our disclaimer prior to contacting 7thSpace Interactive. To contact our editors, visit our online helpdesk. If you wish submit your own press release, click here.

Discussions

Website Helped One Million Internet Entrepreneurs To Turn Their Passion Into a Successful ...

6 Tips To Holding A Successful Marketing Event

You’ve set the date. You’ve booked the venue. Now all you need is to get people to show up. Anxious? Maybe just a little? Well, don’t be. Marketers are scheduled to spend over 540 billion dollars worldwide on advertising this year, so your department should have a few dollars lying around to use for an event.

If you’re not certain how to begin marketing an event, here’s a list of effective event marketing tips. You don’t need a huge advertising budget or superstar endorsements to make it all come together. Use this list as your event marketing blueprint to kick start your event marketing campaign:

1. Start with an effective event page

The keystone of all your promotional efforts should be the event page or website. This should be a page or website dedicated solely to the event, or if you lack the time and means to do it yourself, use an EventBrite page. However you do it, make it compelling by incorporating at least some of these elements:

• A compelling description of the event.


• Speaker pictures and biographies.


• Event-themed videos.


• And a prominent “Register Now!” button.

2. Send pre-event emails

If you have a list, an email marketing blitz may be your ace channel. If you lack your own list, you should ask speakers, partners, or friends to list the event in their own emails. Regardless of where the list comes from, use these event email marketing guideposts:

• Make the subject line exciting and engaging. Be as specific as possible.


• Send during the weekend. People may feel less stressed and more open to spending a few hours at your event.


• Use a video thumbnail of the main attraction.


• Use social proof. If you have positive feedback from a previous similar event, make sure the review is included in the email.


• Send the email several times. Make sure you emphasize ‘early bird’ registration discounts.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

3. Utilize all social media channels

Tweets and blogs; Instagram and Snapchat; Vimeo and Facebook and LinkedIn. Make sure you have the top 15 social networking sites covered with an announcement. Digital media director Amy Jo Martin says, “Using just a few social media channels is like using a pea shooter to bring down an elephant; you need all the firepower you can get, and you only get that from using ALL the top social networking platforms!”

4. Have dependable vendors lined up in advance

“Oh, we can get balloons and snacks at the last minute.” These are the last words you’ll ever use before you take the rap for a failed marketing event. Always use an online party-planning directory such as mypartyplanner.com for everything you’ll need. Directories are an excellent source for ideas to liven up your event. They’ll help you compare prices for individual services and products in your area and empower you to have everything ready to go long before the first folding chair is set up.

5. Send a news release to media and industry websites

Start with hyper local media; they often let you post your own announcements just the way you want. Find these by searching Event Calendars in Google for your city and county. Don’t neglect industry and trade associations; most of them have newsletters — you just have to make sure to get your announcement in early enough so they can use it. Get a professional-looking press release to your local newspaper(s) and radio & TV stations. And don’t forget about local blogsites.

6. Build momentum just prior to and during the event

Have your hashtag up and running; make sure Instagram and Snapchat are busy getting the look and feel of excited attendees waiting in line and coming in. Hold a drawing right away,and get the results posted on every social media channel — with a teaser that another giveaway is coming up soon.

Always remember that face-to-face contact with customers and potential customers is still a priceless marketing tool. A marketing event is THE place for such interpersonal contact.

6 Tips To Holding A Successful Marketing Event

Daily Actions of Millionaires: 30 Days to Financial Freedom (Strategies for Starting a Successful Direct Marketing Business)

In this video, Jim MacKrell interviews millionaires direct marketing entrepreneurs and reveals time tested, proven strategies for starting a successful direct marketing business. This powerful, full length, information packed video reveals: 1) How to find and select the right products, information and services that could make you a fortune. 2) How to build a successful, highly profitable business, quickly and efficiently. 3) How to create ads and use the magic words that compel people to send you money. 4) How to use the internet to make money, regardless of whether you have any computer experience. 5) What a typical day in the life of a millionaire direct marketer is like and what you can learn from their activities.

Click Here For More Information

Daily Actions of Millionaires: 30 Days to Financial Freedom (Strategies for Starting a Successful Direct Marketing Business)

The challenges of managing a successful international affiliate program

E-commerce is booming around the world. India, South Africa, and Nigeria, are a few of the countries poised for enormous growth in the next year. And with worldwide e-commerce sales expected to reach $2.05 trillion by 2016, savvy online retail brands are looking to get in on the action.

One way to expand internationally and introduce your brand to new audiences is to tap into the power of global affiliate marketing. But this can quickly become a nightmare if you try to manage it in-house without the right experience or resources. This is why it’s a good idea to partner with experts who know the ins and outs of affiliate marketing.

There are two main approaches that companies take to manage international affiliate channels: using an affiliate network-driven approach, and hiring a single agency to manage the program globally. Unfortunately, neither solution is ideal for a true global program due to market differences and partners not being willing to admit limitations outside of their primary markets.

The drawbacks to networks and single agencies

Expanding globally with the home-country affiliate network is often the easiest solution. But few networks are No. 1 or No. 2 in every country, so they’re going recommend what they have, not necessarily what’s best for the business. Additionally, these networks are typically non-integrated from an account management standpoint, and their influence and staffing vary by market. They may not even have a team on the ground in certain countries.

Similarly, an agency may promise global coverage, but you might encounter many of the same issues along with some new ones. No single agency has a market-leading affiliate practice in more than one region. Smaller agencies often claim that a single contractor working from home is an office or a presence. Conversely, large agencies may have people in every country, allowing them to promise a global team, but many of these local offices don’t have a staff with affiliate marketing expertise. In this case, account teams are built by shifting people from other channels, such as display or paid search. The result is a confusing, disappointing approach to affiliate management that’s usually reactive, not proactive.

Most brands struggle to find a method that allows them to work with the best people in each international market by combining a strong local presence with a true global strategy.

The ideal solution is a single-point agency that works with local partners. This agency can serve as your global quarterback to work with the best platforms, networks, and agencies for your business in each market.   

Why the hub-and-spoke approach works

The hub-and-spoke approach to international affiliate marketing is similar to the business model of global airline networks such as the Star Alliance and Oneworld. These popular networks provide flyers with convenient worldwide reach and a seamless travel experience by connecting different airlines across countries. Although you buy a single ticket, other airlines do some of the flying where they have the best routes. Applying the same concept to affiliate marketing allows your company to partner with the best resources in each country.

Your point agency will concede that it’s not the best resource for you in each market. Its objective is to convey your expectations to partners in other countries and help oversee the global strategy and partner consortium, which will likely include networks, SaaS platforms, and local agencies. Meanwhile, these global partners can use their local resources to develop strategies, recruit affiliates, protect brand integrity, and engage in other aspects of day-to-day program management.

For example, eBay has put this strategy into practice (disclosure: eBay is an Acceleration Partners U.S. client). The e-commerce giant works with different affiliate agencies in the U.S. and Europe to ensure the most comprehensive market coverage.

Once you find an agency that’s willing to help you organize this a la carte approach to affiliate marketing, there are several ways to ensure you’re targeting the best possible partners in each country:

1. Seek out experts
   Local affiliates and networks should have an understanding of the marketing challenges and cultural intricacies that are unique to that particular country. They should know the affiliate industry inside and out to help your brand resonate with that region’s customer base.


2. Keep things legal
   With each international affiliate channel comes different legal challenges. Each country has its own laws related to affiliate marketing, taxation, and disclosures. Ensure each local partner understands the laws you’ll need to comply with in that particular country.


3. Go beyond affiliate marketing
   If affiliate marketing is your only tactic in a new region, your program will be challenged from the start. Instead, your affiliate program should be a part of a larger brand strategy and complement other digital and traditional initiatives. This multi-channel approach will ensure your program is aligned with the overarching goals of your brand.

Just because an agency or network says it has coverage or claims to have mastered an affiliate market doesn’t mean you should take it at its word. Ask the right questions, and find a partner that can leverage country-specific resources that work best for your program and brand goals. When you can pick and choose best-in-class partners in each region, you’ll have a much better chance of growing your market share and finding new international customers.

Robert Glazer is founder and managing director at Acceleration Partners.

On Twitter? Follow iMedia at @iMediaTweet.

The challenges of managing a successful international affiliate program

The Secret to Successful Marketing – Make People Care

This might be a short blog post but I hope it will have enough impact to make you care about email marketing.

I’m passionate about marketing (particularly email marketing) and as such find it very easy to market iContact’s email marketing service. I’ll let you into a secret, when you have a great product marketing is always easy.

Marketing is only difficult if your product sucks*

While some people might not consider email marketing as “sexy” as more recent (read: unproven) marketing technologies, this doesn’t put me off evangelizing about the medium.

Email marketing excites me because every day I meet marketers and entrepreneurs (just like you) using a relatively straightforward and easy-to-use technology and seeing real results. I should add, as an entrepreneur myself there is nothing more “sexy” than healthy profits. Because I care about profits, I care about email marketing and I it would take a lot for another marketing medium to turn my head.

Recommended for YouWebcast: Zero to Millions: The Secrets Behind Building a Business and Growing a Digital Audience

Hopefully this level of excitement, which I try to embed into blog posts like this, rubs off on you and makes you care a little bit more about my marketing passion.

Getting people to care about your business is easy if you follow these simple 5 steps:

1. Have a Great Product: Great marketing always starts with a great product.


2. Live and Breathe Your Work: If you don’t have an in-depth knowledge of the industry you serve, how will you ever add value.


3. Know Your Customers: People buy from people they like, so get to know your customers and start making friends.


4. Solve Problems: The best marketing (just like the best products) will always solve problems for your potential customers (steps #1, 2 and 3 are vital in this approach).


5. Keep on Keeping On: Try not to lose momentum, even when things don’t go to plan. Learn from your mistakes, pick yourself up, and keep pushing.

*The definition of a product that sucks is (a) a product that does not solve a particular problem for its intended audience or (b) a product which offers poor value for money when compared to competitive products.

This post firs appeared on the iContact Email Marketing Blog.

Author: John W Hayes

With more than 18-years’ experience in online marketing and ecommerce, John W. Hayes works with major technology brands including iContact and Viralheat, demonstrating how organizations of all sizes can maximize their potential from email, social media and content marketing-led strategies. He is the author of three books, Becoming… View full profile ›

The Secret to Successful Marketing – Make People Care

4 rules to follow for successful email campaigns

Kristina: How can a strong email data strategy help brands better profile customers and behaviors?

Aaron Beach, Data Scientist, SendGrid: Current email providers like Yahoo and Google are using algorithms to track email engagement and determine if your email marketing campaign will be delivered to the inbox or the spam folder. Instead of fixing the problem by using data to enhance and add value to their email marketing campaigns, many marketers are trying to find loop holes in the algorithms which allow them to fake a good email so it gets delivered. However, just because an email was delivered doesn’t mean that it was opened or clicked on.

Kristina: Is the worth of email list members skewed?

Aaron: As shared in the [Winterberry Group] report, more than $9 billion of the $11.5 billion will go into perfecting mailing lists because marketers realize the importance of good email sending. There has been an incorrect assumption for some time now that the most engaged recipients are just 2 to 3 times more engaged than less engaged recipients. This assumption directly leads to bad sending strategies. The truth is, the top 10 percent of engaged recipients are 100 times more likely to engage in your email marketing campaign. By recognizing this, marketers will see that sending strategies can’t be one-size-fits-all. For example, if you’re a daily deal sender and a specific customer on your email recipient list doesn’t engage with your email within 60 days, then we recommend you remove them from your email lists to prevent being marked as spam. To do this automatically, you need to build a model to determine engagement frequency, which, is one way to bake a data-driven culture into a marketing organization.

Kristina: What are the four rules marketers need to abide by in email?

Aaron: Maximize the subject line: Subject lines of six to 10 words are most effective, yielding open rates of 21 percent, while subject lines of 11 to 15 words secured only 14 percent open rates.
Don’t overuse images: If an image is used in an email marketing campaign, make sure it’s sensibly balanced with at least two lines of text per picture, to reduce the risk of emails being classified as spam.
Focus on formatting: Today’s email recipients access their accounts via a range of devices, so it’s vital to cater to smartphones, tablets and desktops to avoid being directed to spam. Include a plain text version in HTML email and make use of responsive design templates.
Get personal: Personalizing messages can see an uplift of 20 percent to email open rates. Why go through the hard work of asking for a first and last name during the sign-up process if you don’t use them?

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: SendGrid, email marketing, email marketing tips, rules of email

Tweet

4 rules to follow for successful email campaigns

How to Be Successful at Affiliate Marketing

To day I will teach you How to Be Successful at Affiliate Marketing

Just like many other people affiliate marketing is how I have created a steady stream of income. There are many people that use affiliate marketing as a second source of income; I on the other hand can truly label myself as a full time internet marketer.

This has been a 6 year learning curve, but it has been worth every second . Internet marketing can be considered a “hit and miss” type of business. This is something that takes certain skills, mindsets, and a financial investment. The truth is most new affiliate marketers waste the majority of their start-up budget on things that don’t work and have proven to be unnecessary for their success.

Here are the most important things you need to know to be a successful affiliate marketer:

1. How to Generate Traffic

2. How to Choose the Best Offers to Promote

In order to make this clear I have to share my story. Being new at affiliate marketing, I put a lot of money into software and other products that promised me success that I never received. “Buy some my programs and…” Don’t get me wrong, I am not against people educating others on how to become affiliate marketers; I am doing the same thing. My issue is people getting away from the core principles that helped them become successful in affiliate marketing. If you do choose to spend money on a certain course, just make sure that it actually teaches things like SEO and other techniques to help you generate traffic to your links. Although we all like a good pep talk here and there, it’s not worth spending your money on. Ok back to the information you really want.

Getting the Traffic You Need

With affiliate marketing traffic is the life of your business. This is more important than what you’re selling. How is this true? It’s simple, a lot of times you make your money off the traffic and not always from the sale. Where can you generate traffic? There are things called organic searches, Google Ad Words, Email Marketing, YouTube and more. No matter what platform you choose, be an expert at it and learn all there is to learn.

How Do You Know What Offers to Promote

When you have a solid plan on what you are going to promote it will help you increase your success as an affiliate marketer. There are some products that will have a bad conversion rate no matter what you do. Pick products and offers that create solutions to people’s problems. This requires that you pay attention to the conversations people are having and the things they are complaining about. Finding products that create solutions to these problems are things you know are sure to sell.

So to recap the big secret to affiliate marketing success is to find out what the people need, and promote it by generating traffic. Traffic and a solid product equals affiliate success and the ability to carry my title as a full-time affiliate marketer.

[embedded content]

Tags: affiliate marketing, affiliate marketing for beginners

How to Be Successful at Affiliate Marketing