Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences and Create Radically Successful Businesses

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

Before 1990, large media companies had the most power because they controlled the information channels and the audience. Now the power has almost completely shifted to the consumer. Anyone, anywhere, can be a publisher and build an audience.”

The window of opportunity is wide open because of several key developments:

• Internet and mobile technologies have allowed anyone to publish and receive content.
• As online publishing becomes mainstream, more content providers are willing and able to create content. 
• Social media and Google help in the sharing and searching of useful content.

• Start by picking one platform, focusing on it and showing up regularly.
• Build an email list to stay in touch with your most loyal followers.
• Diversify across channels over time – but not too early.

If you’ve ever dreamed of starting a business, this is it. It’s free, in your control and 100% matches who you are, so what are you waiting for? Let’s go!

The Content Inc Model is a six-step process marketers can follow to efficiently and effectively develop a winning content marketing program.

• The Sweet Spot: A blend of your core knowledge and passion.
• Content Tilt: Defining what makes you different from your competition.
• Building the Base: Determining which content distribution channels will be your foundation for publishing.
• Harvesting Audience: Leveraging different methods to draw in an audience.
• Diversification: How to break out from your base distribution channels and build additional streams.
• Monetization and scaling. Where the money is.

The more you can get the people in your audience to engage in your content in different ways, the more likely they will be to buy from you. 

While focusing on a specific niche, a business can repurpose a piece of useful content in many ways to reach out to a wider audience.

Repurposing content requires advanced planning and has the advantages of cutting production time and serving a wider range of audiences.

An email subscriber is entirely different from a Facebook fan, a Twitter follower, or a LinkedIn connection. By following you on social media, people only signal you that they tolerate you in their feeds, nothing more. You’re part of their content machine.

But when someone gives you their email address and invites you into their inbox, they volunteer to become a part of your content machine, your project, your life. You get to control 100% of the content you send to them, you can contact them at any time and you can start week-long 1-on-1 conversations.

In order to diversify and grow a business, successful Content Inc. entrepreneurs use the ‘three and three model’ as an effective framework.

There are two parts to the model:

Personal:

• A blog
• A book
• Speaking

Business:

• Digital
• Print
• In-Person

Focusing on pain points just gets you to the front door. To get to the hearts of your customers’ needs, you have to focus on what they want to be and help them get where they really want to go

What is the best way to brainstorm for content ideas? While Google alerts, trends, and keyword suggest tools are all useful for mining topics in demand, the ultimate content strategy is listening.

It takes time to build a loyal audience. It takes time to find the right revenue model for your Content Inc. business.

As with all ventures, there are roadblocks on the path to success.

These six principles of good content are for anyone planning to embark on the Content Inc. journey:

• Fill a need
• Be consistent
• Be human
• Have a point of view
• Avoid ‘sales speak’
• Be best of breed

Beyond content, there are considerations of appropriate calls to action, distribution channels, teams, processes, and quality control.