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Epic Content Marketing: How to Tell a Different Story, Break through the Clutter, and Win More Customers by Marketing Less
One of FORTUNE Magazine's Top 5 Business Book Must-Reads How do you cut through the noise, commotion, and bad information that is right now cluttering up your customers' digital space?
EPIC CONTENT MARKETING
One of the world's leading experts on content marketing, Joe Pulizzi explains how to attract prospects and customers by creating information and content they actually want to engage with. No longer can we interrupt our customers with mediocre content and sales messages they don't care about.
Epic Content Marketing takes you step-by-step through the process of developing stories that inform and entertain and compel customers to act--without actually telling them to. Epic content, distributed to the right person at the right time, is the way to truly capture the hearts and minds of customers. It's how to position your business as a trusted expert in its industry. It's what customers share and talk about.
Once we hook customers with epic content, they reward us by sending our sales through the roof.
Epic Content Marketing provides everything you need to:
Determine what your content niche should be to attract and retain customers
Discover and develop your content marketing mission statement
Set up a process for creating and curating epic content
Learn how to leverage social and e-mail channels to create--and grow--your audience
Measure the performance of your content--and increase your content marketing budget
With in-depth case studies of how John Deere, LEGO, Coca-Cola, and other leading corporations are using content to drive epic sales, this groundbreaking guide gives you all the tools to start creating and disseminating content that leads directly to greater profits and growth.
Whether you're the CMO of a Fortune 500, a digital marketer, or an entrepreneur, Epic Content Marketing gives you the tools you need to vanquish the competition. Start your epic journey now!
PRAISE FOR EPIC CONTENT MARKETING
From the man who invented content marketing. Listen to this guy. He really understands the new world of marketing. The concepts in Epic Content Marketing are usable all over the world--instantly usable and useful for any business. -- Don Schultz, the father of integrated marketing, Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, and author of 13 books
Joe Pulizzi's ideas are so consistently . . . well, epic (!) that they really don't need any endorsement by anyone. But here's mine anyway: You don't need MORE content. You need the right kind of content, strategically applied. For those organizations struggling to create a content marketing program that drives results, Joe delivers. Again. -- Ann Handley, coauthor of Content Rules and Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
As Joe shows us in his wonderful Epic Content Marketing, you must unlearn interrupting people with your nonsense. Instead, publish the valuable content they want to consume and are eager to share. -- David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR
This is a brilliant canter through the rapid and ever-changing world of content marketing. Joe has managed to capture the right blend of art and science as he plots the major trends impacting all marketers right now. -- Jonathan Mildenhall, VP, Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence, Coca-Cola Company
You could say that Joe Pulizzi wrote the book on content marketing, but now it's more than just a saying. It's what you're holding in your hands. If you truly want to be successful at content marketing, Pulizzi is one of the few who can show you the way. -- Mitch Joel, President, Twist Image, and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete
"Joe Pulizzi may know more about content marketing than any person alive. He proves it in these pages. -- Jay Baer, New York Times bestselling author of Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help Not Hype
"The future of successful brand building, and especially the art of solidifying the emotional connection between people and brands, will require expertise in Content Marketing. Epic Content Marketing gives all the details practitioners need without overcomplicating." -- Professor JoAnn Sciarrino, Knight Chair, Digital Advertising and Marketing, UNC Chapel Hill
Joe Pulizzi is the godfather of our burgeoning profession of Content Marketing. He lays out the objectives, principles, and core strategies of our field in a way that's easy-to-understand, inspiring, and entertaining. If your company doesn't yet realize that it's a media company, with all the challenges and advantages that implies, you're missing the most powerful way to connect with your customers. -- Julie Fleischer, Director, Media & Consumer Engagement, Kraft Foods
EPIC CONTENT MARKETING
One of the world's leading experts on content marketing, Joe Pulizzi explains how to attract prospects and customers by creating information and content they actually want to engage with. No longer can we interrupt our customers with mediocre content and sales messages they don't care about.
Epic Content Marketing takes you step-by-step through the process of developing stories that inform and entertain and compel customers to act--without actually telling them to. Epic content, distributed to the right person at the right time, is the way to truly capture the hearts and minds of customers. It's how to position your business as a trusted expert in its industry. It's what customers share and talk about.
Once we hook customers with epic content, they reward us by sending our sales through the roof.
Epic Content Marketing provides everything you need to:
Determine what your content niche should be to attract and retain customers
Discover and develop your content marketing mission statement
Set up a process for creating and curating epic content
Learn how to leverage social and e-mail channels to create--and grow--your audience
Measure the performance of your content--and increase your content marketing budget
With in-depth case studies of how John Deere, LEGO, Coca-Cola, and other leading corporations are using content to drive epic sales, this groundbreaking guide gives you all the tools to start creating and disseminating content that leads directly to greater profits and growth.
Whether you're the CMO of a Fortune 500, a digital marketer, or an entrepreneur, Epic Content Marketing gives you the tools you need to vanquish the competition. Start your epic journey now!
PRAISE FOR EPIC CONTENT MARKETING
From the man who invented content marketing. Listen to this guy. He really understands the new world of marketing. The concepts in Epic Content Marketing are usable all over the world--instantly usable and useful for any business. -- Don Schultz, the father of integrated marketing, Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, and author of 13 books
Joe Pulizzi's ideas are so consistently . . . well, epic (!) that they really don't need any endorsement by anyone. But here's mine anyway: You don't need MORE content. You need the right kind of content, strategically applied. For those organizations struggling to create a content marketing program that drives results, Joe delivers. Again. -- Ann Handley, coauthor of Content Rules and Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs
As Joe shows us in his wonderful Epic Content Marketing, you must unlearn interrupting people with your nonsense. Instead, publish the valuable content they want to consume and are eager to share. -- David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and bestselling author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR
This is a brilliant canter through the rapid and ever-changing world of content marketing. Joe has managed to capture the right blend of art and science as he plots the major trends impacting all marketers right now. -- Jonathan Mildenhall, VP, Global Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence, Coca-Cola Company
You could say that Joe Pulizzi wrote the book on content marketing, but now it's more than just a saying. It's what you're holding in your hands. If you truly want to be successful at content marketing, Pulizzi is one of the few who can show you the way. -- Mitch Joel, President, Twist Image, and author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete
"Joe Pulizzi may know more about content marketing than any person alive. He proves it in these pages. -- Jay Baer, New York Times bestselling author of Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help Not Hype
"The future of successful brand building, and especially the art of solidifying the emotional connection between people and brands, will require expertise in Content Marketing. Epic Content Marketing gives all the details practitioners need without overcomplicating." -- Professor JoAnn Sciarrino, Knight Chair, Digital Advertising and Marketing, UNC Chapel Hill
Joe Pulizzi is the godfather of our burgeoning profession of Content Marketing. He lays out the objectives, principles, and core strategies of our field in a way that's easy-to-understand, inspiring, and entertaining. If your company doesn't yet realize that it's a media company, with all the challenges and advantages that implies, you're missing the most powerful way to connect with your customers. -- Julie Fleischer, Director, Media & Consumer Engagement, Kraft Foods
332 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
280 people are currently reading
3713 people want to read
About the author
Joe Pulizzi
22 books195 followersI'm a traditionally published and indie author. My latest is
Burn the Playbook: Are You Made for More? Build a Life on Your Terms - (2025, Tilt Publishing) - ORDER NOW.
Before that, I wrote Epic Content Marketing, second edition: Break Through the Clutter with a Different Story, Get the Most Out of Your Content, and Build a Community in Web3 - (2023, McGraw-Hill) - ORDER NOW with Brian Piper.
In 2021 I published the #1 Amazon marketing bestseller Content Inc.: Start a Content-First Business, Build a Massive Audience and Become Radically Successful (With Little to No Money) - (2021, McGraw-Hill) - ORDER NOW
My other nonfiction books include:
- Killing Marketing (2017, McGraw-Hill)
- Content Inc. (2015, McGraw-Hill)
- Epic Content Marketing (2013, McGraw-Hill, Named Best Biz Book, Fortune Magazine)
- Managing Content Marketing (2011, self)
- Get Content Get Customers (2009, McGraw-Hill)
My novel:
- The Will to Die (2020, Z Squared Media) --- ORDER NOW
Visit me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoePulizziAu...
Visit me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joepulizzi/
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joepulizzi/
Get my random thoughts on content, marketing and life 2x per month here: https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/
I've founded four companies including The Tilt (for content entrepreneurs) and Content Marketing Institute (CMI). In 2014, I received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Content Council (although I still feel pretty young).
My podcast series, This Old Marketing with Robert Rose has generated millions of downloads from over 150 countries.
My foundation, The Orange Effect, delivers speech therapy and technology services to children in over 35 states.
Burn the Playbook: Are You Made for More? Build a Life on Your Terms - (2025, Tilt Publishing) - ORDER NOW.
Before that, I wrote Epic Content Marketing, second edition: Break Through the Clutter with a Different Story, Get the Most Out of Your Content, and Build a Community in Web3 - (2023, McGraw-Hill) - ORDER NOW with Brian Piper.
In 2021 I published the #1 Amazon marketing bestseller Content Inc.: Start a Content-First Business, Build a Massive Audience and Become Radically Successful (With Little to No Money) - (2021, McGraw-Hill) - ORDER NOW
My other nonfiction books include:
- Killing Marketing (2017, McGraw-Hill)
- Content Inc. (2015, McGraw-Hill)
- Epic Content Marketing (2013, McGraw-Hill, Named Best Biz Book, Fortune Magazine)
- Managing Content Marketing (2011, self)
- Get Content Get Customers (2009, McGraw-Hill)
My novel:
- The Will to Die (2020, Z Squared Media) --- ORDER NOW
Visit me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoePulizziAu...
Visit me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joepulizzi/
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joepulizzi/
Get my random thoughts on content, marketing and life 2x per month here: https://www.joepulizzi.com/signup/
I've founded four companies including The Tilt (for content entrepreneurs) and Content Marketing Institute (CMI). In 2014, I received the "Lifetime Achievement Award" by the Content Council (although I still feel pretty young).
My podcast series, This Old Marketing with Robert Rose has generated millions of downloads from over 150 countries.
My foundation, The Orange Effect, delivers speech therapy and technology services to children in over 35 states.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 122 reviews
January 13, 2014
Recently, I have read couple of books on Marketing (Social media and Content Marketing), and found most of them superficial; kind of things you would know just by the virtue of having a common sense. So, my expectations were not very high with this book. But, this book is has lot of substance. It has practical tips on how to implement a content management strategy.
The book is divided into 5 parts:
Part I covers the historical aspects, and the business case for CM
Part II is about creating your own CM strategy, which should be aligned with the Sales process
Part III is about creating and managing the Content Process
Part IV about marketing the Contents you create
Part V about measuring the effectiveness
The book is replete with case studies, which are very useful to understand what does a successful CM implementation looks like. Through the pages in this book, I found the the Coke internal video about the importance of a good Content Marketing Strategy (Content 2020). Check it out, you will learn a lot.
To sum up, this is a very good book. It has practical tips, with relevant case studies. Strongly recommended.
The book is divided into 5 parts:
Part I covers the historical aspects, and the business case for CM
Part II is about creating your own CM strategy, which should be aligned with the Sales process
Part III is about creating and managing the Content Process
Part IV about marketing the Contents you create
Part V about measuring the effectiveness
The book is replete with case studies, which are very useful to understand what does a successful CM implementation looks like. Through the pages in this book, I found the the Coke internal video about the importance of a good Content Marketing Strategy (Content 2020). Check it out, you will learn a lot.
To sum up, this is a very good book. It has practical tips, with relevant case studies. Strongly recommended.
July 3, 2015
Skip this and just read Youtility. They're basically the same. Both are shameless promotions of the authors marketing consulting business with a few good, critical ideas thrown in. One of those topics that would be better placed in an article in Harvard Business Review or Inc., not enough content for an entire book.
September 12, 2025
واقعا فوقالعاده بود.
March 24, 2021
۱۴۰۰/۰۱/۰۴
💢خواندنش از یک نظر مشعوفم کرد و از سوی دیگر غمیگن! #کتاب با این پیشفرض نوشته شده که بوی الرحمن دستگاههای رسمی رسانهای بلند شده و به خط پایان محتوم خود نزدیک شدهاند.در ادامه هم جا برای فعالیت حرفهای آنها و کارگزارانشان که روزنامهنگاران و خبرنگاران باشد، تنگ و تنگتر میشود. چرا؟ چون برندها وارد عرصه تولید محتوا شدهاند. ببیند مثلا شما اگر الان مخاطب #سی_بوک یا #فیدیبو یا دیجیکالایید و صفحاتشان را دنبال میکنید، دیگر صرفا حکم یک مشتری را ندارید که «فقط» از آنها کالا میخرید.
💢حکم علاقهمند به عالمی را دارید که سیبوک، #دیجی_کالا یا فیدیبو برایتان میسازند. ضمن «خرید»، محتواهایی که برایتان تولید کردهاند را میخوانید و با نمودارها و اینفوگرافیها و گزارشهایی که این «برند»های تجاری تولید میکنند همراه میشوید و زندگیتان را با آنها سر میکنید. همه تلاش #کتاب #بازاریابی_پرمحتوا هم همین است. سعی دارد این موقعیت جدید را برایتان تشریح کند. اینکه آینده رسانهای دیگر نه در دست دستگاهها و بنگاههای رسانهای بلکه در دست همان برندهایی است که تا پیش از این صرفا «تجاری» بودند و تبلیغ «مستقیم» میکردند اما حالا برای نگاه داشتن مشتری به تولید محتوا روی آوردهاند.
💢الحق و الانصاف که #جو_پولیزی هم کم نگذاشته. شما با مفهوم بازاریابی محتوایی -به قول راننده تاکسیها- تا ناموس قضیه آشنا میشوید و تکنیکها و روشهای آن را هم فرا میگیرید. پولیزی البته یک نکته دیگر را هم ذکر کرده. اینکه توان و فهم و مهارت لازم برای ورود به این حوزه بیش از همه در اختیار روزنامهنگاران و خبرنگارانی است که پیش از این در رسانههای رسمی کار کرده و با تکنیکهایی مثل سوژهیابی، پرداخت محتوا، نگارش نرم و امثال اینها آشنایند. اینها همه خوب است یا بد؟! کاری به خوب و بدش ندارم اما برای شخص من غمانگیز بود. چرا؟
💢«#رسانه» و «کارگزار» رسانهای قرار بود رکن چهارم #دموکراسی باشد. اصلا یکی از کارکردهای کلاسیکش هم رشد آگاهی عمومی بوده. حالا این رویای لیبرالیستی یک قرن قبل دارد در سرمایه و سرمایهداری هضم میشود و رسانه و کارگزارش تبدیل میشوند به ابزار سرمایه! این یعنی همه آن شعارهای قشنگ دو سه قرن گذشته پشم! این غمگینم میکند. راهکارش؟! خیلی رادیکالیستی است اما از نظر من تا اطلاع ثانوی تنها راه مقاومت در برابر این واقعیت تلخ، «حاکمیتی» نگاه داشتن دستگاه عریض و طویل رسانه ملی است حداقل در #ایران با همه عیب و ایرادهایی که میدانم و میدانید.
پ.ن: بهشدت کاربردی و خواندنی از انتشارات #آریانا_قلم.
💢خواندنش از یک نظر مشعوفم کرد و از سوی دیگر غمیگن! #کتاب با این پیشفرض نوشته شده که بوی الرحمن دستگاههای رسمی رسانهای بلند شده و به خط پایان محتوم خود نزدیک شدهاند.در ادامه هم جا برای فعالیت حرفهای آنها و کارگزارانشان که روزنامهنگاران و خبرنگاران باشد، تنگ و تنگتر میشود. چرا؟ چون برندها وارد عرصه تولید محتوا شدهاند. ببیند مثلا شما اگر الان مخاطب #سی_بوک یا #فیدیبو یا دیجیکالایید و صفحاتشان را دنبال میکنید، دیگر صرفا حکم یک مشتری را ندارید که «فقط» از آنها کالا میخرید.
💢حکم علاقهمند به عالمی را دارید که سیبوک، #دیجی_کالا یا فیدیبو برایتان میسازند. ضمن «خرید»، محتواهایی که برایتان تولید کردهاند را میخوانید و با نمودارها و اینفوگرافیها و گزارشهایی که این «برند»های تجاری تولید میکنند همراه میشوید و زندگیتان را با آنها سر میکنید. همه تلاش #کتاب #بازاریابی_پرمحتوا هم همین است. سعی دارد این موقعیت جدید را برایتان تشریح کند. اینکه آینده رسانهای دیگر نه در دست دستگاهها و بنگاههای رسانهای بلکه در دست همان برندهایی است که تا پیش از این صرفا «تجاری» بودند و تبلیغ «مستقیم» میکردند اما حالا برای نگاه داشتن مشتری به تولید محتوا روی آوردهاند.
💢الحق و الانصاف که #جو_پولیزی هم کم نگذاشته. شما با مفهوم بازاریابی محتوایی -به قول راننده تاکسیها- تا ناموس قضیه آشنا میشوید و تکنیکها و روشهای آن را هم فرا میگیرید. پولیزی البته یک نکته دیگر را هم ذکر کرده. اینکه توان و فهم و مهارت لازم برای ورود به این حوزه بیش از همه در اختیار روزنامهنگاران و خبرنگارانی است که پیش از این در رسانههای رسمی کار کرده و با تکنیکهایی مثل سوژهیابی، پرداخت محتوا، نگارش نرم و امثال اینها آشنایند. اینها همه خوب است یا بد؟! کاری به خوب و بدش ندارم اما برای شخص من غمانگیز بود. چرا؟
💢«#رسانه» و «کارگزار» رسانهای قرار بود رکن چهارم #دموکراسی باشد. اصلا یکی از کارکردهای کلاسیکش هم رشد آگاهی عمومی بوده. حالا این رویای لیبرالیستی یک قرن قبل دارد در سرمایه و سرمایهداری هضم میشود و رسانه و کارگزارش تبدیل میشوند به ابزار سرمایه! این یعنی همه آن شعارهای قشنگ دو سه قرن گذشته پشم! این غمگینم میکند. راهکارش؟! خیلی رادیکالیستی است اما از نظر من تا اطلاع ثانوی تنها راه مقاومت در برابر این واقعیت تلخ، «حاکمیتی» نگاه داشتن دستگاه عریض و طویل رسانه ملی است حداقل در #ایران با همه عیب و ایرادهایی که میدانم و میدانید.
پ.ن: بهشدت کاربردی و خواندنی از انتشارات #آریانا_قلم.
February 26, 2014
Absolutely love this book. Read through once (preparing for an interview with the author) but bookmarked extensively for implementation and re-reading.
Really well written, hundred of supporting resources. If you're serious about being an authority in your niche, if you want to understand how to have people love your marketing and want MORE of it, then read this book.
I'm so excited to put into action what I've learned. Joe Pulizzi is a master in this area. Thank you. Thank you, Joe.
Read it. Read it. Read it.
Really well written, hundred of supporting resources. If you're serious about being an authority in your niche, if you want to understand how to have people love your marketing and want MORE of it, then read this book.
I'm so excited to put into action what I've learned. Joe Pulizzi is a master in this area. Thank you. Thank you, Joe.
Read it. Read it. Read it.
May 11, 2021
یه مدتی هست به خاطر کارم دارم مطالعات مرتبط با مارکتینگ انجام میدم و این کتاب هم در همون راستا بود.
مخاطب این کتاب کیه؟
سرپرست تولید محتوا، مدیر بازاریابی، مدیر عامل و یا هر شخص دیگهای که با تولید محتوا درگیره
این کتاب چیز زیادی راجع به نحوهی تولید یک محتوای خوب نمیگه ولی بسیار برای مدیریت فرآیند تولید محتوا کارآمده
یعنی اگر کارشناس تولید محتوا باشی خیلی چیزی دستت رو نمیگیره ولی اگه میخوای استراتژیست بشی یا سرپرست بشی حتما باید بخونیش
کتاب قدیمیه ولی مطالبش خیلی منسجم ارائه شده و هنوز هم میشه ازش بسیار یاد گرفت
قطعا بیشتر و بیشتر در ادامه باید بهش رجوع کنم و خوشحالم از خوندنش خیلی زیاد. ممنون از مترجم آقای بهجتی. به نظرم جای این کتاب حسابی خالی بود.
مخاطب این کتاب کیه؟
سرپرست تولید محتوا، مدیر بازاریابی، مدیر عامل و یا هر شخص دیگهای که با تولید محتوا درگیره
این کتاب چیز زیادی راجع به نحوهی تولید یک محتوای خوب نمیگه ولی بسیار برای مدیریت فرآیند تولید محتوا کارآمده
یعنی اگر کارشناس تولید محتوا باشی خیلی چیزی دستت رو نمیگیره ولی اگه میخوای استراتژیست بشی یا سرپرست بشی حتما باید بخونیش
کتاب قدیمیه ولی مطالبش خیلی منسجم ارائه شده و هنوز هم میشه ازش بسیار یاد گرفت
قطعا بیشتر و بیشتر در ادامه باید بهش رجوع کنم و خوشحالم از خوندنش خیلی زیاد. ممنون از مترجم آقای بهجتی. به نظرم جای این کتاب حسابی خالی بود.
November 29, 2017
Don't waste your time. This book is full of stories yet with little actionable advice. For example - content calendar - author's advice on it sounds like this: "There are many technology tools out there, but use what's easiest for you."
If you're interested in content marketing - read "Content Strategy for the Web" instead.
If you're interested in content marketing - read "Content Strategy for the Web" instead.
October 28, 2013
Fantastic book! You will learn how content marketing is the new way to really reach customers. How all companies are becoming media companies to be different, how to connect content marketing with marketing automation tools, how to measure Content ROI and many more tips and ideas to really have a Marketing 3.0 strategy
April 28, 2014
What a great read for marketers and not only! Very well organized, with lots of relevant examples .. If you're still not sure about what content marketing is/can do for you/your business or if you just want to organize yourself better for the sake of your business' results, do yourself a favor and read this book.
February 4, 2014
A lot of good practical advice on setting up a content marketing program. Felt like it got into to much fine detail towards the end maybe thats just because I like over arching concepts more than exact details.
May 23, 2014
Lots of great ideas, but some of it is pretty basic which is why this book doesn't get 5 stars.
April 12, 2023
Takeaways from reading the book:
- Pages 3-4: Content marketing is the process of developing and sharing relevant, valuable, and engaging content to a target audience with the goal of acquiring new customers or increasing business from existing customers. Basically, content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. Content marketing could also be called non-interruption marketing. It's about delivering information that helps users become more competent - thereby generating real value for people.
- Page 6: We need to think less of social media marketing and content marketing as two isolated options and more as interrelated parts of marketing's ongoing evolution.
- Pages 87-88: When you think of what you create and share as being assets, you will to an even larger extent see yourself as a publisher. With the increasing number of social media channels, whose quality continue to increase, the possibilities for you to do that continue to improve. In this regard, consider that with what you create and share on various media, you help people around the world, i.e. you provide a service to people.
- Page 117: Having a purpose is important as you find true motivation through your purpose. Your purpose becomes your inner drive. To find your purpose, ask yourself why you do what you do. Ask yourself why a few times until a light turns on in your head that makes the purpose of what you do clear in your mind and in the minds of others. Continue to refine your purpose, so it becomes even more relevant and helps you create even more value for more people.
- Page 311: There is no one right way to do content marketing. There are many ways. In this regard, be willing to experiment, try new things out as you go along. For example, besides your use of twitter, blogs, slideshare and other valuable tools / media, which the author also describes in the book, you might learn about a new tool / a new social media that you want to try out - a tool which can serve as a useful complimentary tool to the ones you are already using. Other things you can experiment with / try out as you go along on your journey would be changing some things in a presentation / report and which may help to communicate your message better / clearer / more excitingly - and updating it on the Internet. Thereby, you may help users even more.
- Page 210: Freewriting, a creativity method, can help you solve the problem of writer's block which you may sometime run into.
- Pages 3-4: Content marketing is the process of developing and sharing relevant, valuable, and engaging content to a target audience with the goal of acquiring new customers or increasing business from existing customers. Basically, content marketing is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. Content marketing could also be called non-interruption marketing. It's about delivering information that helps users become more competent - thereby generating real value for people.
- Page 6: We need to think less of social media marketing and content marketing as two isolated options and more as interrelated parts of marketing's ongoing evolution.
- Pages 87-88: When you think of what you create and share as being assets, you will to an even larger extent see yourself as a publisher. With the increasing number of social media channels, whose quality continue to increase, the possibilities for you to do that continue to improve. In this regard, consider that with what you create and share on various media, you help people around the world, i.e. you provide a service to people.
- Page 117: Having a purpose is important as you find true motivation through your purpose. Your purpose becomes your inner drive. To find your purpose, ask yourself why you do what you do. Ask yourself why a few times until a light turns on in your head that makes the purpose of what you do clear in your mind and in the minds of others. Continue to refine your purpose, so it becomes even more relevant and helps you create even more value for more people.
- Page 311: There is no one right way to do content marketing. There are many ways. In this regard, be willing to experiment, try new things out as you go along. For example, besides your use of twitter, blogs, slideshare and other valuable tools / media, which the author also describes in the book, you might learn about a new tool / a new social media that you want to try out - a tool which can serve as a useful complimentary tool to the ones you are already using. Other things you can experiment with / try out as you go along on your journey would be changing some things in a presentation / report and which may help to communicate your message better / clearer / more excitingly - and updating it on the Internet. Thereby, you may help users even more.
- Page 210: Freewriting, a creativity method, can help you solve the problem of writer's block which you may sometime run into.
September 18, 2022
Your customers don't care about you, your products, or your services. They care about themselves.The stage is now set for the value of content marketing, which is the art of communicating with your customers and prospects without selling. The essence of this strategy is the belief that if we, as businesses, deliver consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, they ultimately reward us with their business and loyalty.
Content marketing is a long-term strategy to attract, convert and retain customers. The six principles of epic content marketing are as follows:
~ Fill a need
~ Be consistent
~ Be human
~ Have a point of view
~ Avoid "sales speak"
The best example of epic content marketing offered was Charmin's SitOrSquat crowd-sourced mobile application that tells where the cleanest bathrooms are closest to your location.
A few of the book's more thoughtful takeaways:
~ On what topic can you be the leading informational expert in the world?
~ Don't bury testimonials on a separate "Testimonials" web page; spread them throughout the website.
~ Don't wait for big news; find reasons to send releases all the time.
A few opportunities for improvement:
~ This book started off as a series of blog posts and it read like it.
~ A company would need a small army of content creators to accomplish the large scale scope suggested.
~ The four-page Chief Content Officer job description is hilariously "epic."
Epic Content Marketing offers much useful content and many practical suggestions. A few additional recommended books in this same general content marketing theme include Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs and Contagious: Why Things Catch On.
Access Gene Babon's reviews of books on Business Leadership and Business Strategy at Pinterest.
March 15, 2018
The book is an essential read for anyone who works in content marketing or wants to have a good overview of content marketing. Here are a few important points to consider about the book:
1. It will provide a very good, high level overview of the pillars of content marketing. It will not go into great detail, however; so those looking for more of a “blueprint” will not find it here
2. While it does not go into a lot of the specific of how you can successfully apply content marketing, the content is pretty dense, sometimes slightly tedious. The author goes into a lot of effort to provide examples to illustrate the point, which is a plus.
3. This book is the ultimate content marketing strategy to drive traffic to the Content Marketing Institute website, the author’s business venture. For some this may be a bit of a turn off. But that website is an excellent place to get good, actionable content for businesses interested in this area. The shameless plug works out in the end, though!
The reason I gave it 3 stars is mainly because I found myself slightly bored at times. I can imagine it’s because I already have a good understanding and experience in content marketing, so most of the book was not a massively new. The author tries to cover content marketing for business at various stages, but it does lean more towards the more established organizations with higher marketing budgets.
Overall, it’s a good book with lots of merit, and of you are in the digital marketing field, it’s probably one you have to read anyway.
1. It will provide a very good, high level overview of the pillars of content marketing. It will not go into great detail, however; so those looking for more of a “blueprint” will not find it here
2. While it does not go into a lot of the specific of how you can successfully apply content marketing, the content is pretty dense, sometimes slightly tedious. The author goes into a lot of effort to provide examples to illustrate the point, which is a plus.
3. This book is the ultimate content marketing strategy to drive traffic to the Content Marketing Institute website, the author’s business venture. For some this may be a bit of a turn off. But that website is an excellent place to get good, actionable content for businesses interested in this area. The shameless plug works out in the end, though!
The reason I gave it 3 stars is mainly because I found myself slightly bored at times. I can imagine it’s because I already have a good understanding and experience in content marketing, so most of the book was not a massively new. The author tries to cover content marketing for business at various stages, but it does lean more towards the more established organizations with higher marketing budgets.
Overall, it’s a good book with lots of merit, and of you are in the digital marketing field, it’s probably one you have to read anyway.
October 19, 2013
Epic! Would you expect less? I didn't which is why I didn't blink at forking over the $10 for my Kindle edition. I've been reading the daily posts from Joe's CMI (Content Marketing Institute) for over a year. I was already a fangirl. I already was familiar with some of the points of the book as well as Joe's General marketing philosophy. What is missing from the scattershot if blog posts is the overarching frame that is readily apparent in the longer book format. If you are one of the umpteen folks who've approached me over the last few years asking "for an hour's worth of my time" so I can sketch out a quick plan if action for them, this fact is for you. Joe doesn't even begin to talk of social media channels until he hits the 60% mark of the book. Brilliant. And there's much to love in this book. Joe's target audience is the folks who answer to the C-suite of corporate America, but content creators and content consumers of more modest enterprise will find much value in the read. The real cost for an epic 500 word blog post? $500 in house. $150 freelanced. That's quality you won't find at 5 rupees a word. Thanks, Joe!
January 15, 2020
There's a lot of solid information here with marketing strategies that seem solid. I struggle with marketing. As an author, I try poorly to market my books. At this point, I know a ton of information about marketing, but when it comes to pulling it off myself, I still struggle.
That being said, the info in this book is in line with many of the marketing books I've read. Build a mailing list, own your content, release content regularly, and only write high-quality stuff. Unfortunately, there's no magic bullet to marketing.
If you've read a bunch of marketing books, I'm sure you know most of the information here. But if you haven't, this seems to be a solid place to start.
That being said, the info in this book is in line with many of the marketing books I've read. Build a mailing list, own your content, release content regularly, and only write high-quality stuff. Unfortunately, there's no magic bullet to marketing.
If you've read a bunch of marketing books, I'm sure you know most of the information here. But if you haven't, this seems to be a solid place to start.
July 1, 2017
just theories.
October 11, 2020
The needs of the customer is the key of marketing and not its products. Give the information needed, and listen to your customers
May 23, 2025
mindless rehashing from a nobody who needs books to get booked as speaker at junior highs.
July 14, 2014
Excellent book on how to do content marketing. Seems more oriented to larger companies but also useful for small business.
“Your content marketing strategy must come before your social media strategy.”
The author offers principles and rules, examples, and specific actions.
Some examples of his advice follows.
The six principles of epic content marketing
1. Fill a need
2. Be consistent (deliver content on time as expected)
3. Be human
4. Have a point of view (take sides, take a stand)
5. Avoid “sales speak”
6. Be best of breed
Spend 20 -30 minutes talking in-depth, unscripted, with customers about why they bought or did not buy or bought from a competitor.
Priority initiatives - What 3 -5 problems do they dedicate time and budget to solve.
Success factors – What metrics or rewards does the buyer associate with success
Perceived barriers – What factors cause the buyer to hesitate to buy from you
Buying process – What process does the buyer use to explore and select a solution
Decision criteria – What aspects of the product will the buyer assess in evaluating alternatives (should include insights from buyers who chose a competitor and buyers who decided not to buy at all)
Define your engagement cycle which is your sales process aligned with the customer's buying cycle.
The sales process might be a sales funnel e.g. lead, prospect, qualified, customer, repeat customer or in a retail store it might be visitor, browser, shopper, buyer.
Develop a content segmentation grid with Persona as rows and stage of the process as columns. Put your content titles in each cell and look for gaps. You want to have the right content for each stage of the process.
Define your content niche. Be as narrow or focused as possible. “On what topic can you be the leading informational expert in the world that truly matters to your customers and your business?”
Advice about Blogging
Encourage conversations
Participate in other blogs
Do you understand the key informational needs of your audience, their pain points?
Are you hanging out online where your customers are?
Can you commit to blogging at least two times per week?
How will you integrate the blog with the rest or your marketing?
Use killer headlines (title should include keywords, numbers, problems, be very specific e.g. “10 Ways to Make More Money with Small-Cap Stocks”)
Focus on the problem
Less is more, keep it short
Keep sentences short
Use bullets
Short paragraphs
Get rid of unnecessary words
Edit, edit, edit
Think first about the call to action
Think “content packages” e.g. plan ahead how you will package blog posts into an e-book
Pursue guest blogging
Promote key influences with lists
Measure, measure, measure e.g. visits and unique visitors, pageviews, time on site. Signups for your newsletter., search rankings, inbound links to your blog
Do an influencer question and answer session
Outsource
“Your content marketing strategy must come before your social media strategy.”
The author offers principles and rules, examples, and specific actions.
Some examples of his advice follows.
The six principles of epic content marketing
1. Fill a need
2. Be consistent (deliver content on time as expected)
3. Be human
4. Have a point of view (take sides, take a stand)
5. Avoid “sales speak”
6. Be best of breed
Spend 20 -30 minutes talking in-depth, unscripted, with customers about why they bought or did not buy or bought from a competitor.
Priority initiatives - What 3 -5 problems do they dedicate time and budget to solve.
Success factors – What metrics or rewards does the buyer associate with success
Perceived barriers – What factors cause the buyer to hesitate to buy from you
Buying process – What process does the buyer use to explore and select a solution
Decision criteria – What aspects of the product will the buyer assess in evaluating alternatives (should include insights from buyers who chose a competitor and buyers who decided not to buy at all)
Define your engagement cycle which is your sales process aligned with the customer's buying cycle.
The sales process might be a sales funnel e.g. lead, prospect, qualified, customer, repeat customer or in a retail store it might be visitor, browser, shopper, buyer.
Develop a content segmentation grid with Persona as rows and stage of the process as columns. Put your content titles in each cell and look for gaps. You want to have the right content for each stage of the process.
Define your content niche. Be as narrow or focused as possible. “On what topic can you be the leading informational expert in the world that truly matters to your customers and your business?”
Advice about Blogging
Encourage conversations
Participate in other blogs
Do you understand the key informational needs of your audience, their pain points?
Are you hanging out online where your customers are?
Can you commit to blogging at least two times per week?
How will you integrate the blog with the rest or your marketing?
Use killer headlines (title should include keywords, numbers, problems, be very specific e.g. “10 Ways to Make More Money with Small-Cap Stocks”)
Focus on the problem
Less is more, keep it short
Keep sentences short
Use bullets
Short paragraphs
Get rid of unnecessary words
Edit, edit, edit
Think first about the call to action
Think “content packages” e.g. plan ahead how you will package blog posts into an e-book
Pursue guest blogging
Promote key influences with lists
Measure, measure, measure e.g. visits and unique visitors, pageviews, time on site. Signups for your newsletter., search rankings, inbound links to your blog
Do an influencer question and answer session
Outsource
November 6, 2022
This book casts a compelling vision for the future of how to grow your business. Providing content that actually helps your target audience is both noble and profitable. This is the story of those who are already doing it (which includes both a fiberglass pool company and Coca-Cola International). And it's how to do it. Best book on the topic I've read.
So, so worth reading for any leader of any kind of organization. I am going to use this for sure.
[Note: for the first time in my life I'm re-reading my favorite books, to reinforce their messages and to see if I would still consider them one of the greats. The review above is my original reaction. The comments below are my current thoughts.]
How does it compare to my memory of the book? Would I still recommend it to others?
Some of this book is dated, especially when he gets into software to use. But I was delighted to see that the great majority of it is as useful as ever.
When this book came out it was revolutionary and only tue cutting edge companies were doing this. Even though it’s become standard marketing practice there are still some deep insights and practical methods in this book.
I still highly recommend this for all organization leaders.
So, so worth reading for any leader of any kind of organization. I am going to use this for sure.
[Note: for the first time in my life I'm re-reading my favorite books, to reinforce their messages and to see if I would still consider them one of the greats. The review above is my original reaction. The comments below are my current thoughts.]
How does it compare to my memory of the book? Would I still recommend it to others?
Some of this book is dated, especially when he gets into software to use. But I was delighted to see that the great majority of it is as useful as ever.
When this book came out it was revolutionary and only tue cutting edge companies were doing this. Even though it’s become standard marketing practice there are still some deep insights and practical methods in this book.
I still highly recommend this for all organization leaders.
July 26, 2021
Does perfectly the job it says it does. Many advices. At the end of the book, you will know how to go forward, even if at the beginning like me, you had no idea what was "content marketing". The only major bad point I can find of this book: It never justifies why content marketing should be the way you use. Clearly it's more complicated to manage. It says it has higher returns for lower costs, but no number is shown for this. It just presents anecdotal success stories.
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Second read: Wow my take away is so different than in the first read. My understanding totally changed now that I have tried to market. I could get much more value from the book. I listen this book in audio, and with this kind of very "listy" content with many actions to come back to, it's not so appropriate. So this book gets in the long list that re-read in physical.
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Second read: Wow my take away is so different than in the first read. My understanding totally changed now that I have tried to market. I could get much more value from the book. I listen this book in audio, and with this kind of very "listy" content with many actions to come back to, it's not so appropriate. So this book gets in the long list that re-read in physical.
April 19, 2018
Author has clearly shown an efficient way for an organization to be more successful i.e. Using CONTENT. This book is the bible for Marketers who want to leverage the Content.
June 17, 2021
This book addressing a very narrow topic though very important one. Let me start with the statement from the book that channels are come and go, stories stay. Each piece of content must address a concrete need of customer and must have a call to action". On top of that if we're in B2B business, every content has to be designed for the customer's decision-making process (which is a 5-step process). Very useful and practical book. The most remembered sentence from the author: “You are not the target of your content”. Print out this sentence and hang it in a place visible to you 💪 My question to you - what in your case is a biggest challenge in content creation? 🙈 My PERSONAL recommendation for this book: if you read about 20 books a year, this book should be 1 of them 👍
November 6, 2017
If you’re working with social media from the content perspective, this is the book to go. Pulizzi really knows what he’s talking about, presenting us with plenty of detail and helpful guidelines to develop actual and complete strategies.
The book is not written specifically for social media, its goal is wider, grounded in the content marketing, this new approach that says: brands and companies must give something, create experiences instead of just selling products, to gain followers.
If you're afraid because of the book being already from 2013, I must say it’s still completely up to date in terms of concepts and possible implementations.
The book is not written specifically for social media, its goal is wider, grounded in the content marketing, this new approach that says: brands and companies must give something, create experiences instead of just selling products, to gain followers.
If you're afraid because of the book being already from 2013, I must say it’s still completely up to date in terms of concepts and possible implementations.
September 4, 2014
I got a ton of marketing books out of the library; this is the only one I read cover to cover. It had a ton of ideas and tips about how to better market myself and my books, as well as information on how people were going to use my site and content, and what they looked for. Unlike the other books I tried, ECM had useful info and ideas I, as a single small business, could try, not a bunch of huge marketing comparisons and technical analytics that were of no use to me.
I'm buying my own copy now.
I'm buying my own copy now.
September 24, 2014
Very interesting book full of practical advice and inspiring stories.
Very interesting point about SEO: it is not as effective (in the traditional form) post Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird, so many SEO agencies are making transition to content marketing. Top Rank is considered one of these organizations with a successful transition.
Writing a book for marketing purpose – spend 40% on writing the book and 100% on the promotion of the book.
Hilarious: Analytics could become WMD (Weapons of Mass Delusion)
Book has excellent section of examples for inspiration (starting page 299).
Very interesting point about SEO: it is not as effective (in the traditional form) post Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird, so many SEO agencies are making transition to content marketing. Top Rank is considered one of these organizations with a successful transition.
Writing a book for marketing purpose – spend 40% on writing the book and 100% on the promotion of the book.
Hilarious: Analytics could become WMD (Weapons of Mass Delusion)
Book has excellent section of examples for inspiration (starting page 299).
November 5, 2016
This is one of the best, if not the best, business book I've ever read. It lays out the history and theory behind content marketing, and offers practical steps for you to start a content marketing program in your organization. It also provides a ton of case studies to back up its principles. The book includes discussion of audience, channels, formats, strategy, etc. It gave me many, many ideas that I can implement right now, and more ideas that I can create longer-term plans for. Highly recommended.
November 8, 2015
This is a very practical guide to content marketing - what it is, how to do it right, and great examples. I found myself bookmarking a ton during this. I definitely recommend it for anyone looking in to content marketing and wanting to learn how it differs from traditional marketing.
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One chapter in and I'm hitting the bookmark button on my Audible app a ton - I think I'm going to learn a lot from this one.
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One chapter in and I'm hitting the bookmark button on my Audible app a ton - I think I'm going to learn a lot from this one.
July 6, 2014
The shift to genuine problem solving by brands of real consumer issues is on. This book leads the way and is the bible to help any marketer, owner, entrepreneur or anyone with a passion in the space, start, lead and be successful. Combine this book with Simon Sineks Start With Why and The Fortune Cookie Principal by Bernadette Jiwa and you have an instant knowledge pack around building a brand that connects with consumers over a shared belief.
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