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Review: Content, Inc., by Joe Pulizzi

content inc review

The concept behind Joe Pulizzi’s latest book, Content, Inc., is using content to build an audience BEFORE you have anything to sell them. You can then learn about your audience, their pain points, and the solutions that they would really pay money for.

I’m not an entrepreneur and don’t play one on TV 😉 Nonetheless, this is one of the best books on content I have ever read, and I feel it should be required reading for anyone trying to build a content strategy.

Content Inc coverContent, Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses
By Joe Pulizzi

Content, Inc., is  blueprint for building a business from content, but more than that, it’s an extensive guide for creating content that rises up above all the noise.

That means creating great content isn’t enough. You must write from the intersection of your skill and passion (your “sweet spot”), target a narrowly defined audience that will find your content indispensable, and then find a”tilt”–that content hole that no one else online is filling.  By following this formula, you have a story to tell that will stand out from the clutter.

In a way, it’s so simple that it’s hard to believe that this isn’t the way it’s always done. But so often, brands go into content without any real plan, or if there is a plan, it looks virtually everyone else’s. The strategy recommended here takes you from being a nobody to being a Joe Pulizzi, Michael Stelzner, or Ian Cleary (all whose stories are told in the book).

That is the heart of the book, but there is so much more: Leveraging influencers, repurposing, speaking, book writing, monetizing, etc. You’ll find numerous examples of platforms you can use as your content hub or to promote your content. For non-entrepreneurs like myself, there are some things that don’t apply–but not much.

I was asked to read this book by our CEO and borrowed it from the PPM library, but within the first chapter, I wanted my own copy so I could highlight and bookmark key areas. There are so many ideas and actionables in this book, it is going to serve as a constant resource I’ll be referring back to often.

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