There are times, when you find yourself in murky waters, especially if you are an entrepreneur.
Joe Pulizzi, the self-styled content marketing evangelist also found himself in deep trouble just three years after he launched his own content marketing business.
He has narrated this incident in his article A Content Marketing Love Letter. It was the year 2010 that Pulizzi hit the lowest phase in his life. He had started his content marketing business barely 2.5 years earlier in 2007.
He was making money, but he was losing more money in the process. One day, he lost his major client. It was quite a grief as Joe had personally worked very hard and provided valuable content and qualified leads to them, but, the client stopped hiring his services.
In a daze of shock and grief, he called up the client and received the final word about the divorce. Running a business in the incubation period is not easy; especially when the fund flow is not good.
The incident frustrated him and it took a lot of time for him to recover. Failure can slowly overtake you and make you numb.
When he looks back at that incident today, it seems silly. He was down but not out and literally it was not the end of the world. But when you are “into the scene”, it appears as if it’s the end. He started thinking about going back to his full-time job.
After a few days, he was back on track and realized that one should not make any decisions during an emotional outburst.
But, when one of the doors closes another better one opens for you. He soon received an email from one of his subscribers asking him to act as a content marketing consultant.
This was the beginning of his career as content marketing consultant and never looked back after this episode.
His client actually made him a true content marketing evangelist and leader in the industry by asking him to offer training to their staffers —Asking questions like why there is not a single content marketing conference or event—The question which led to the birth of Content Marketing World, the biggest content marketing conference in the world.
The client also expressed their desire of buying content marketing research material and tips on content creation and distribution.
The bulb of “Content marketing Institute” switched “on” his mind.
On his cocktail napkin, he scribbled a few words and expressed his resolution to start a leading online portal on content marketing, a magazine and the largest content marketing event across the globe.
Only six months following this incident, in May 2010, Content Marketing Institute came into existence. The concept soon became a success. The success was incredible.
Content marketing is a buzzword today and it is known as one of the most effective ways to engage your audiences and promote your business online. Content marketing is also recognized as one of the most assured ways to rank higher on Google and other search engines.
Content Marketing Strategy | Joe Pulizzi
The birth of an evangelist who introduced content marketing
Before 2008, hardly anyone knew about content marketing. Joe Pulizzi may not be the person who coined this term, but he is the one who first started using the term content marketing publicly and popularized it way back in 2001.
Joe Pulizzi prefers to call himself a content marketing evangelist. He is also a renowned author, speaker, entrepreneur, and podcaster.
Content Marketing Institute (CMI)
Joe Pulizzi is the founder of Content Marketing Institute (CMI), which is a leading resource for content marketing. It is his dream venture and it functions as an education and training organization on the subject. CMI has been acquired by UBM, a prominent events and media company based in UK, in 2016.
Content Marketing World, the biggest content marketing event
CMI conducts Content Marketing World, which is considered the biggest content marketing event across the globe. It attracts thousands of visitors including entrepreneurs, content marketers, digital marketers and media barons.
Books and Awards
Joe Pulizzi won the John Caldwell Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2014. The award was given by the Content Council.
Joe Pulizzi has authored numerous books that include Epic Content Marketing, which became an international bestseller. It has also been named as the Five Must Read Business Books of 2013 by Fortune Magazine.
Apart from the unprecedented success of his book Epic Content Marketing, he wrote four more books viz. Get Content Get Customers, Managing Content Marketing, Content Inc., and Killing Marketing. Killing Marketing is his latest book and it was first published in 2017. Content Inc. has also been an international bestseller since 2015.
Personal branding and Pulizzi’s obsession with orange color
Pulizzi loves orange color and he is always seen wearing orange shirts and tees. He is so obsessed with orange color that the theme of the Content Marketing Institute’s website, its logo and also the banners of Content Marketing World is orange.
His entrepreneurial achievements
Pulizzi has founded many startups that include Content Marketing Institute, which is one of the most prominent educational and training resources for businesses and individuals interested in content marketing. It is also recognized as one of the fastest growing business media companies by Inc. magazine in the year 2015. In Cleveland, Ohio, CMI hosts world’s largest content marketing event marketed as Content Marketing World.
Consulting services
Joe Pulizzi started using the word content marketing when nobody even knew about it. Today, it is the fastest growing digital marketing industry. Many big brands such as HP, LinkedIn, AT&T, Gates Foundation and Petco etc. avail CMI’s consulting services for their projects. CMI is currently being run by UBM, a London based media company.
Public speaking
Joe Pulizzi is considered an authority in content marketing and that’s the reason he is a highly respected person as a keynote speaker. He has delivered his speeches about content marketing in more than 400 locations worldwide.
He has spoken at major global events and leadership summits. He is also invited to speak about content and digital marketing at the events conducted by leading brands such as Oracle, General Motors, Nestle, DuPont, HP and Dell etc.
Blogging
Joe Pulizzi’s blog is also considered highly influential globally. People refer to his blog to know the latest insights, strategies and content marketing trends across the world.
Social media
Pulizzi is a social media influencer and is active on LinkedIn etc. He also writes for Entrepreneur.com magazine.
Podcasting
Joe Pulizzi is a great podcaster as well. According to the basic principles of content marketing, content should be produced in the formats that are loved by the audiences. Because of the time constraints, many people love to listen to podcasts while driving or even working at their desks. It makes podcasts very popular and emerging form of content. This is one of the reasons why Joe Pulizzi did not ignore this important content format. He runs two podcasts viz. Content Inc. and This Old Marketing. Both of his podcasts are highly popular.
Net worth
There is no reliable data available on the web about the net worth of Joe Pulizzi, but his venture CMI was sold for $17.6 million in 2016.
The best advice from Joe Pulizzi
Go through the gems of advice from Pulizzi below:
- Focus all your efforts on to building a loyal audience and you will be able to sell them whatever you want. You can build it easily using the content niche related to your field of business.
- Sit with at least five customers or prospects every month and talk to them. You’ll get brilliant ideas and inspiration for your content.
- The two things that differentiate the successful from the unsuccessful are — patience and vision. All depends on your thinking. If you think small, you will see small results.
- It’s much better to experiment and fail, then not doing anything and succeeding.
- Start helping others as soon as you can. This is the yardstick that will dictate your success.
- If you want to build a business for the long term, build a community and create content around their needs.
Courtesy: Inc. Magazine
Final words Joe Pulizzi is not just an entrepreneur; but he is also a thought leader and a teacher. He is loved across the planet for his unique and innovative ideas. If you want to learn content marketing, subscribe to his blog on CMI.
Follow him on Twitter
You can follow Pulizzi on Twitter on his handle @JoePulizzi.