I
I LEFT a six-figure executive publishing position in 2007
to start a business. Even though I had been thinking about
leaving my job for a while, and I had a product in mind to
sell, the product wasn’t going to be ready anytime soon.
So I had no job and no product to sell (and no income). It
wasn’t a good position to be in with two small children (ages
three and five at the time) and a mortgage to pay. The web
developer I was working with didn’t believe we could get
the online offering ready for at least nine months. Ouch.
What to do? Without a product to pitch, I focused all my attention
on building an audience. In a few weeks, the blog was up and
running. Three to five times a week, I was creating and distributing
helpful information targeted to marketers in large companies —
the audience I wanted to reach eventually with my new product. A
few months later, I was starting to build a small, loyal following.
Fast-forward to the present day. Our company has been named
to the Inc. 500/5000 fastest-growing private companies list for
four years running, becoming the fastest-growing business media
organization in North America in 2014. We have consistently
grown our revenues at 50 percent per year for the last four years.
AUDIENCE FIRST, PRODUCT SECOND
Through a lovely accident, I stumbled on a powerful way to
build a business in the digital age — and now believe there
is no better way to go to market. By focusing on building an
audience first and defining products and services second, an
entrepreneur can change the rules of the game and significantly
increase the odds of financial and personal success.
Let me repeat that:
I believe the absolute best way to start a business
today is not by launching a product, but by creating
a system to attract and build an audience.
Once a loyal audience is built, one that loves you
and the information you send, you can, most likely,
sell your audience anything you want.
THE BENEFITS OF AN
AUDIENCE-FIRST STRATEGY
While researching for my book, Content Inc., we found fast-
growing businesses from all over the planet who have leveraged
MEET
JOE PULIZZI
this "audience-first" strategy (we call this approach the
"Content Inc." model). What we found was truly amazing.
While there are many benefits to adopting this
business model, here are four to chew on:
BENEFIT #1: ACCELERATED GROWTH
With an audience in place, the entrepreneur has created
a "pre-customer" database. The audience already knows,
likes and trusts the business — and is ready to buy.
BENEFIT #2: NO NEED TO PIVOT
The approach is "audience-first," not "product-first." Most
entrepreneurs begin with a product or service that they
believe will change the world in some way. Naturally, the
attention is on building a product. It's all consuming.
That's why so many companies need to pivot at some
point. They've focused so much on the product,
they've found the audience they were targeting
doesn't need it (no product/market fit).
If you focus on your audience 100 percent of the time, and serve
that audience with amazing information on a consistent basis,
they will tell you exactly what they want to buy from you.
BENEFIT #3: LESS STARTUP CAPITAL NEEDED
The cost of publishing is a rounding error compared to the
product-development costs of most startups. A content
management system (i.e., Wordpress), an email marketing
system and access to social media is all you need to get started.
BENEFIT #4: BUILT-IN MARKETING
When you are ready to launch your product, marketing
costs are minimal because your customer database is
already subscribed to your content on a regular basis.
IF YOU ARE SHOOTING TO BE THE NEXT
UNICORN, A LA FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM
OR UBER, THIS MODEL IS NOT FOR YOU.
If you are looking to build a multi-million dollar platform
that will change your personal life and career life in ways
you can't possibly imagine, an audience-first approach is
the one method that, if executed properly, works.
Joe Pulizzi, best-selling author and
founder of the Content Marketing
Institute, released his fifth book in
Sept 2017 – Killing Marketing: How
Innovative Businesses Are Turning
Marketing Cost Into Profit.
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