The Mysteries of Content with Joe Pulizzi


joe pulizzi on brand

Joe Pulizzi is the godfather of content marketing, having first mentioned the term in 2001. A serial entrepreneur, he’s the founder of Content Marketing Institute and Content Marketing World as well as The Tilt and the Creator Economy Expo. We discussed as much of Joe’s work as we could fit into a half-hour episode this week on the On Brand Podcast. 

Enjoy This Episode Now

About Joe Pulizzi

Joe Pulizzi is the founder of multiple startups including content creator education site, The Tilt, the content entrepreneur event Creator Economy Expo (CEX), and is the bestselling author of seven books including Content Inc. and Epic Content Marketing, which was named a “Must-Read Business Book” by Fortune Magazine.

Joe is best known for his work in content marketing, first using the term in 2001, then launching Content Marketing Institute and the Content Marketing World event. In 2014, he received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Content Council. He successfully exited CMI in 2016 and consequently wrote an award-winning mystery novel, The Will to Die. He has two weekly podcasts, the motivational Content Inc. podcast, and the content news and analysis show This Old Marketing with Robert Rose.

His foundation, The Orange Effect, delivers speech therapy and technology services to over 350 children in 35 states. Joe and his family live in Cleveland, Ohio.

Episode Highlights

Events are back! Kind of … “I’m a connoisseur of events,” Joe began. We discussed how events are back but not completely. “Full travel budgets are not there yet. People have kind of forgotten about events.” But they shouldn’t …

Creating super fans. “A content marketing organization is set up like a media company—you need two things. You need an amazing online presence and an in-person event. Look at Salesforce and Hubspot. Look at Adobe. Look at Red Bull! They all have in-person events. When people connect at your events you create super fans for your brand.”

What did Joe learn from writing a mystery novel? After selling CMI, Joe took a sabbatical and ultimately tackled an exciting new challenge—writing the mystery novel The Will to Die. What did it teach Joe? “First, everything needs to be entertaining—even B2B. Second, it’s okay to play your hits.” As marketers, we often think that once a blog post is written on a certain topic it’s time to put it away. However, like a rock musician on tour, we need to remember to revisit our hits.

What brand has made Joe smile recently? “That one’s easy—The Savannah Bananas. I love everything they do—it all makes me smile.”

To learn more, go to joepulizzi.com, TheTilt.com, and CEX.events.

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Until next week, I’ll see you on the Internet!