⏱️ The Book in Three Sentences
Identify a highly specified niche market according to your skills and knowledge
Consistently publish high-quality and useful content to one online social platform, becoming the leading source of info on the topic.
After establishing a following, create a product your audience desires and leverage their trust in you to sell the product easily.
🪞 Reflections
In the internet era, information is currency. There are approximately 2.5 quintillion bytes of data produced by humans every day. That's equivalent to almost 1 billion 1080p HD movies. And that number is growing. More people are using the internet every day. More businesses cannot survive in the global marketplace without an online presence. And more money is being made with online transactions than ever before. Information and content are omnipresent and inescapable. So how can we take advantage of it?
Joe Pulizzi, author of Content Inc. is one of the world-leading experts on content marketing. His book, as such, endeavours into what a content-first business model means, how to excel in the information economy, how to grow, and what to do next. Content Inc. covers the basics like finding your niche, selecting your platform and how often to post. But more advanced subjects like building relationships with influencers and hiring and integrating staff are also explained. Joe even gives high-level overviews on approaching acquisitions and cashing out of the business when it's time to sell. All of this is supported by anecdotes to Joe's own experience with a content-first business and frequent references to stories of other internet marketing success stories.
Content Inc.'s shining glory really comes down to its novelty and accessibility of the business model. The traditional business, very much oversimplified, comes down to this:
Identify problem or demand
Solve the problem or create demanded product
Market and sell it
Pulizzi's first step is the same. You have to carefully find and select your niche based on what you are skilled or knowledgable in and then match that mastery to an identified public need. Steps two and three, however, flip the model on its head. Rather than spending time and money developing a product that still may not succeed, instead spend your time distributing and promoting highly useful and desirable information. After a significant time doing this (about 3-5 years, according to the book) you will have developed a significant following based on expertise and trust. At this point, in theory, what you end up selling is almost irrelevant. Loyal fans become loyal customers; you can sell them just about anything.
Beyond the novelty, this business model is clearly more advantageous than the traditional model for what I imagine is two groups of people. Those with access to more time than capital and those who are knowledgable in a given field, but lack an innovative or disruptive product.
Besides the innovation and accessibility though, the book disappoints in the latter half when Joe's discussion turns towards late-game business: mergers, acquisitions, deals and selling the entity. These are exceedingly complex topics and almost without exception require the involvement of lawyers and accountants in the real world. In other words, it's topics I don't think Joe really understands, and as such, his advice boils down to "get professional help". It's shallow, unsuited and probably should have been left out.
Regardless, this only applies to the last few chapters and my praise outweighs the criticism. If you are a business owner looking to grow an online presence, an aspiring entrepreneur with a lack of direction, or just interested in learning about the business model of what is becoming an increasingly large percentage of organizations, give this book a read.
💥 Personal Impact
I actually misidentified what this book is about when I purchased it. After starting this blog and doing a bit of exploration into spreading its word on Instagram, I decided I was interested in learning what makes content spread quickly and impactfully on social media. That is, the content creation side of social media marketing. Instead, I read a book about an innovative business model based on sharing knowledge and building a trusted brand - and I don't regret it at all.
This was a really interesting read for me as UVic and UBC Sauder only ever taught the traditional model. Meanwhile, as I occasionally zoned out of class to check Facebook, Instagram or whatever other toxic, social, time-suck that demanded my attention, I was flooded with influencers and businesses all deploying a version of this model with varying success. I often felt there was a disconnect between what i was seeing on the internet and what I was learning in class. Reading from the horse's mouth, so to speak, gave me a much better idea of the behind-the-scenes of these online brands.
It also gave me a better idea of what this blog could actually evolve into. Pulizzi continually stresses the importance of building an email-following above all else, as that is the only form of content that you are actually in control of. Instagram's algorithm, for example, dictates whether or not users actually receive your hard work.
I'm not exactly sure where this blog will take me. My idea behind starting it was to create what I call a "knowledge portfolio" - something I may make a detailed post about in the future. But the basic premise behind it is that artists benefit tremendously by building an online portfolio. Knowledge workers, like me, however, have no such art to exhibit and are thus reduced to a one-page resume. This website, therefore, is meant to act as a sort of display case for all the information I've learned and skill's I've acquired, hopefully allowing me to stand out from the crowd. Nonetheless, after reading Content Inc. I have been given a lot to think about in terms of growing this page. We will see where that goes.
🗣 Top Three Quotes
"Have a point of view. This is not encyclopedia content. You are not giving a history report. Don’t be afraid to take sides on matters that can position you and your company as an expert." - pg. 111
"The beauty of content is that it actually also grows the individual." - pg. 124
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." - pg. 296