Navigating the Mindshare Shift to Content Entrepreneurship: A Technology Marketing Alliance Event on the Shifting Landscape of Content Creation
Navigating the Mindshare Shift to Content Entrepreneurship: A Technology Marketing Alliance Event on the Shifting Landscape of Content Creation
As digital content takes a larger role in marketing strategies year over year, B2B and B2G companies are consistently seeking new ways to keep pace with the ever changing content landscape. This evolving landscape has prompted a shift where companies are not only producing collateral content to support sales enablement and external brand awareness, but are also starting to view themselves as self-sufficient media companies.
This shift was the focus of November’s Technology Marketing Alliance (TMA) virtual event, “Navigating the Mindshare Shift to Content Entrepreneurship.” TMA is a member-only group of senior level marketers for technology companies. The invite-only group, co-founded by REQ President and TMA Chair Elizabeth Shea and a few DC-region CMOs in 2006, meets each quarter to discuss relevant topics on the minds of its members.
For this virtual fireside chat, Shea welcomed Joe Pulizzi, a top content marketing speaker and TMA veteran. The discussion centered around the ever-evolving content landscape and how tech companies in the B2B/B2G space can optimize their content strategies to build communities and drive business growth. Pulizzi drew from his extensive experience as the founder of Tilt Publishing and the Content Entrepreneur Expo and as the author of several books on the subject to shape his insights on content marketing.
The Shift to Content Entrepreneurship
With the volume and importance of content creation present in today’s world, Pulizzi highlighted how companies need to adjust their mindset from simply creating content to acting as their own media companies. This entails not simply pushing out as much content as possible, but rather charting a strategic, longer-term vision that creates sustainable content programs.
However, Pulizzi noted that this approach has proven easier said than done, as the average newsletter or podcast “series” only ends up lasting a handful of editions before fizzling out. Patience in this effort may seem more difficult than just putting out short-form content across social media, but ultimately allowing an audience to build over time with the same content proves to provide more consistent and impactful results. Pulizzi stated that any content plans should involve a 12-18 month vision rather than simply seeking the most clicks in the short term.
Using social media offers another tempting way to push content out, but Pulizzi cautioned against it early in the event, explaining how this strategy can easily be misused. While a powerful tool overall, social media has inherent limitations when it comes to building a consistent audience that provides desired results. These limitations lay within the algorithm at their core. The algorithm takes control out of the hands of the company, allowing the narrative and viewership to be determined by a computer algorithm. That said, Pulizzi reiterated that these factors don’t mean social media shouldn’t be used at all, but should ideally be used as a funnel to guide viewers to a company’s more comprehensive long-form content.
The Power of Long Form Content
Throughout the event, Pulizzi continuously emphasized the importance of long form content and how it delivers strong results. First and foremost, those taking the time to view and delve into a company’s long form content are significantly more likely to be the intended audience that is looking to buy or create relationships. Taking the time to digest in-depth articles, sign up for webinars, subscribe to a newsletter, or listen to a podcast shows a much higher level of interactivity and interest than just viewing what comes through the algorithm on social media.
These types of content allow the company producing them to completely control the narrative and intent. They also provide an opportunity for companies and individuals to position themselves as leaders in their industry and build a level of trust with their potential customers. Pulizzi described this phenomenon as the content trust formula, combining what builds trust with how consistently and for how long this messaging needs to be sent. This concept of trust is increasingly important as media trust dwindles and business trust continues to grow.
Overlooked Strategies in a Content Marketing Plan
Pulizzi raised two eye-opening approaches that would not typically come to mind when creating a content strategy: the idea of an internal influencer and the authoring of a book on the desired subject matter. An internal influencer serves as a way to add a fresh twist to the same types of content that a company would produce anyway. By dedicating an employee to be credited on distributed content consistently, that individual will become recognizable to potential customers and elevate to the status of thought leader in the industry. Pulizzi equated this to the idea of a sports team promoting their biggest star just as much as they promote their own brand, as this can have an equally profound impact. As opposed to content just being listed as coming from the company as a whole, this creates a marquee figure whose voice will be heard and valued.
This concept also ties in with the idea of publishing a book on the applicable subject matter, with the potential for an internal influencer being the author. Pulizzi called books “the greatest business card in the world” as it opens up a plethora of speaking opportunities organically. Not only does it create more intrigue and basis for a speaker to be selected for an event, but often leads to more free invitations rather than paid speaking engagements. Books also solidify the author as a true thought leader. Both of these methods are frequently overlooked but provide a unique and effective way to market content.
Optimizing a Content Marketing Plan
When it comes to producing and distributing content, volume does not always equal results. The process of optimizing a content plan begins with an informal internal audit of the previously existing plan. Pulizzi recommended creating a highly focused strategy rather than throwing darts at the wall and hoping one of them sticks. Pulizzi asserted that businesses would be better off building up and becoming leaders in a small number of content streams than if they take a highly scattered approach. This approach should be guided by the strengths within the company as well as an assessment of what type of content the most desirable and profitable customers are consuming. On that note, the best way to find these potential customers can come in the form of partnering with non-competitive partners and influencers. By getting their content in front of viewers who are already familiar with the subject matter and consuming similar content, companies can cut down on wasted time trying to locate their base.
By tying Joe Pulizzi’s strategies for content marketing together with the strengths present within the company itself, B2B and B2G businesses will see a more efficient and effective overall strategy that stands out above the competition.
For more insights from the fireside chat, listen in on the discussion here: https://youtu.be/R7v26lmRHEA