Risk & Business Magazine Spectrum Insurance Magazine Fall 2018 | Page 13

AUDIENCE-FIRST STRATEGY
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. 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.
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. Let me repeat that:
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.
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 this "audience-first" strategy
(we call this approach the "Content
Inc." model). What we found was truly
amazing.
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. While there are many benefits to
adopting this business model, here are
four to chew on:
Through a lovely accident, I stumbled
on a powerful way to build a business
in the digital age — and now believe BENEFIT #2: NO NEED TO PIVOT
AUDIENCE FIRST, PRODUCT SECOND
BY: JOE PULIZZI, AUTHOR &
FOUNDER OF CONTENT
MARKETING INSTITUTE
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.
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 is the founder of Content Marketing Institute, a UBM company, the leading education and
training organization for content marketing, which includes the largest in-person content marketing event
in the world, Content Marketing World. Joe is the winner of the 2014 John Caldwell Lifetime Achievement
Award from the Content Council. Joe’s the author of five books, including his latest, Killing Marketing. His
third book, Epic Content Marketing was named one of “Five Must-Read Business Books of 2013” by Fortune
Magazine. You can find Joe on Twitter @JoePulizzi. JoePulizzi.com
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