As part of our preparation for the upcoming Content Marketing World International conference, Mike and I had the opportunity to travel to Cleveland, Ohio and meet with content marketing evangelist and conference founder Joe Pulizzi. In addition to finding out all about Content Marketing World International, a great event we will be attending in Cleveland September 6th-8th, we spoke with Joe on a variety of topics including the state of content marketing, where things are going, and some of the biggest mistakes companies make when it comes to content marketing. Here are some of the highlights.
On Content Marketing As “New”
John Deere did The Furrow magazine in 1895 because farmers had problems and they needed to solve those problems. Were you going to do an ad for that? No – so they produced the magazine which by the way they still do to this day. So content marketing isn’t anything new, what’s changed is the fact that technology is new and we can create content virtually for free from a technology standpoint and get it on the web so people can find it. And with technology, it is going to change even more – if this is a 9 inning game we’re still in the dugout.
The second part that has changed is the buying process – customers can get information how and where they want to anywhere in the world. We as companies aren’t competing just with our competitors anymore, we’re competing with media companies, we’re competing with Google.
On Marketing Departments as Publishers
So at Content Marketing World we will learn from the experts and practitioners — Here’s what we are doing well which, when you think about it is publishing. So marketing departments are becoming publishing, which is a big change.
We are seeing this evolution of marketing departments and the changeover of marketing departments to publishers. So day one the conference will deal with things such as how are they structuring it, how are they managing it, how are they creating content that gets found, how are they dealing with regulated content issues in healthcare and financial?
And then dealing with all the platforms, print, in-person, online, mobile, social – content and social are intertwined at the hip, and if you look at it one way it’s changed the way that we do business. But it’s also a distribution platform for your content marketing.
On Marketing Integration and Storytelling
What we should really have is a group that focuses on content and content distribution and not just focused on tools. We have an email marketing department, we have a social media department but what we should really talk about is content and how we tell our stories. You have multiple silos here and they are talking to customers in different ways and what a shame that is. Your story should be your story to your customers regardless of where it’s coming from. You need to integrate these areas and know which content pieces to use at the right part of the process so it’s not just push push push.
The intersection of lead generation and social media is storytelling – and that’s content marketing.
On Content Marketing World
Day 1 is all about successes and failures, Day 2 is some real hardcore tips on taking this back to my organization. We will have senior level marketing professionals from Dell, HP, WGN, Intel, DuPont and others that have expertise to share from multi-channel content marketing.
There will be lots to take away, multiple tracks (i.e. small business, B2B) with real things you can take home and do. There are strategy, big idea, TED-type speeches, but also hardcore “roll up your sleeves and do” sessions. And on top of that there will be a ton of fun stuff to do including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and famed producer/director Kevin Smith.
It was great to have the opportunity to meet Joe and Pam in person and we’re looking forward to seeing them (and hopefully some of you) at Content Marketing World.
Have comments on Joe’s thoughts? Want to make sure we meet up with you at Content Marketing World? Comment below or drop me an email to make sure we connect.
If you’d like to learn more about content marketing, watch our featured webinar:
What if You Build It and They Still Don’t Come?
Will Davis and Mike Sweeney outline the anatomy of a content marketing strategy.
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