Book Summary: Content Inc. by Joe Pulizzi

Hi, I am Wilson Shrestha. I have read this book “Content Inc.” many times and created a short summary for you awesome readers. This book is a guide for content marketing that helps you create valuable content to build a loyal audience. It is a foundational marketing tool and provides practical insights on how to develop a successful content marketing strategy. Its focus is to build trust and authority within your specific niche and it also offers a roadmap for effectively engaging and monetizing your audience through the power of content.

Attribute	Description
Title	“Content Inc.”
Author	Joe Pulizzi
Genre	Marketing and Content Strategy
Main Focus	Content Marketing, Building a Loyal Audience, Monetization
Key Concepts	– Creating Valuable Content
	– Establishing Trust and Authority
	– Developing a Content Marketing Strategy
Target Audience	Businesses and Individuals interested in Content Marketing
Purpose	Providing a Framework for Successful Content Marketing Strategies
Notable Takeaways	– The importance of valuable content
	– Building trust and authority within a niche
	– Effectively engaging and monetizing an audience through content

content inc book summary and book review

Content Inc. Framework Outline Summary

The Sweet Spot: Create content with a sweet spot of Knowledge or skill with your passion.
The Tilt: Develop a unique approach to present the sweet spot that makes you stand out in your field.
Building the base: Concentrating on one platform to build a strong following base before diversifying to other platforms.
Harvesting Audience: Leading your audience toward subscription to your email newsletter.
Diversification: Spreading and getting more audience from various platforms.
Monetization: Creating products for your gathered audience and exploring additional income sources, such as affiliate products, book royalties, subscription fees, or private consulting.

List of 3 Applications from the book.

Identifying Your Sweet Spot: Know your area of knowledge and skill with a combination of passion and interest.
Developing a Content Tilt: Make your content unique and it should represent your style so that your targeted audience will be more engaged. So brainstorm ideas to find your own content tilt to set you apart from others.
Prioritizing Consistency: Consistency is the key for content creators, so commit yourself to a regular publishing schedule, whether it is for a blog, YouTube Channel, or any other platform. Consistency will keep your audience coming back and engaging but also help you refine your content tilt over time.

Welcome to the summary of “Content.Inc”

Application 1 is “The Sweet Spot”

When reading the first part of Content Inc. – Joe tasks the reader to list his knowledge and skill areas. Knowledge is defined as an area you know more about than the average person. For example, one of Joe’s knowledge areas is 80’s baseball cards. As for me, one is nutrition for vegans.

Skill areas, on the other hand, are defined as the ability to do something well, or in other words, knowledge used properly. One of Joe’s skills is public speaking, while one of mine is speaking German and Spanish. For more examples, you may check out the blog post review in the description.

Now it’s your turn. What are your skill and knowledge areas? Pause the video for a moment and just brainstorm for 5 minutes. If you’re not sure about something, write it down. You could always remove it later. So, are you ready? You may pause it now. Hope you’ve written a few of your knowledge and skill areas.

Now that you have them, you may pick one and add one of your passions on top of it. This combination is your sweet spot. For example, mine is an intersection of video editing skills and a passion for marketing & business. What is your intersection? You may pause the video now, and write it down.

Application 2 is “The Tilt”

No matter how skillful knowledgeable and passionate you are, this might not be enough to make you stand out. That’s where “The Tilt” comes in, which has two meanings: One is just to lean, incline, slope, or slant. Just as the Tower of Pisa in Italy has a tilt. The other is to aim or thrust. Just as one tilts a lance in a joust.

This is to say, that when your content has a tilt, it should represent both of those meanings. You need to be different, and a leader in your category at the same time, who is quote “Marking the unmapped land” for those behind him. For example, the channel How to Cook That by Ann Reardon sits on her sweet spot of the skill of cooking, and passion for teaching.

But, there are a lot of cooking channel owners that love to teach. What makes Ann different is that she focuses on the quote “Impossible food creations”, like a cake, that when cut open, appears as an Instagram logo. For myself, it is animation videos for YouTube and a 100-scale rating for the blog. Note: My focus should be on one platform according to Joe.

But, as of now, I choose to go on with both, because of a previous commitment, which is probably less effective, but a commitment is a commitment. That said, if you haven’t yet started or committed to anything, it would probably make sense for you to concentrate all your power on one platform. Now, it’s your turn.

What makes your sweet spot different? Where could you be the clear leader? You may pause the video and brainstorm the ideas in your mind. Then, you could let it sit a bit before you decide. Ready? Brainstorm. Go!

Application 3 is “Be Consistent”

The biggest reason why Content Marketing fails is because it either stops or isn’t consistent.

Joe Pulizzi, Content Inc. You might have heard it a million times, I know I have. Consistency is essential. If you lack consistency, it’s a bit like not keeping a promise. In addition, a side benefit of consistency is that it may also help you find your content tilt in case you haven’t found it yet. Just start, and you may learn your tilt along the way.

For example, Jay Baer – A six-time New York Times best-selling author, and a marketing keynote speaker, started his business surrounding email marketing. But, his analytics showed that there was more demand for social media. So, he tilted there. I, on the other hand, started my YouTube channel as general self-improvement book reviews and then tilted to marketing animation videos.

Here’s a quote from the popular host and producer of the show This American Life – Ira Glass on the subject. “Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met.

It’s gonna take a while. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just got to fight your way through.” I’m super guilty here. So, let’s cut this one short so that I could actually publish faster.