The lowdown: The new guidelines to starting a successful business are education based, as this Content Inc. summary explains.
Wouldnāt it be sweet if you didnāt need to have to worry about creating a product or service to start your business with?
It sounds pretty ridiculous and counter-intuitive, but that is exactly what is happening all around the world.
In Content Inc. youāll learn how to start a business around the content you create.
The three key lessons from Content Inc. are:
- Content marketing creates an audience more effectively than traditional advertising
- Use a ācontent tiltā to stand out from the pack
- There are plenty of ways to monetize your content from the beginning
Lesson One: Content marketing creates an audience more effectively than traditional advertising
Donāt get me wrong here. Direct sales and direct response are still the best ways to create a sale.
However, weāre looking at
If you want to build an audience of fans and loyal customers, then you need to create content. As a solopreneur or small business, you have 95% of the tools that the multi-nationals have at their disposal.
In previous years, reaching millions of people in marketing was incredibly expensive. Now, you can start a self-hosted blog for under $20, or you can begin recording YouTube videos for free.
Through content, you also can communicate with your target audience to make sure your content is what theyāre looking for.
It is easier (and cheaper) than ever for even the smallest business to create an audience of millions.
Lesson Two: Use a ācontent tiltā to stand out from the pack
One of the negatives of content being so easy to createā¦. fucking everybody is doing it.
The positive for you is that most of them are doing it poorly.
To stand out from the thousands of other bloggers youāll need to do something different.
Start by finding a āsweet spotā of your skills and what excites you. For example, Andy Schneider had a passion for teaching, and knew a shit-tonne about raising chickens in his backyard.
Andy started a blog and began hosting local meet-ups in Atlanta. Now, he has a radio show, a magazine and a book. Andy now travels around the world helping people with their backyard chickens. Iām not kidding, check it out.
However, sometimes knowing your sweet spot isnāt enough, youāll need to have your own ātiltā or āspinā on the content to make it stand out.
Lesson Three: There are plenty of ways to monetize your content from the beginning
Now, I know what youāre thinking:
āSure, all this sounds great, but if Iām not making money, I have a hobby, not a businessā
Well, for startersā¦
Second of all, there are plenty of ways to monetize early.
You can bring in money from the start though affiliates and ads. However, the real money comes in once you have your audience.
When you have an audience of readers and subscribers, you can listen to them for ways to monetize your content.
For example, letās use the backyard chicken guy from earlier. If his audience is crying out for a book with step-by-step instructions on turning your backyard into a chicken pen, then he knows heāll have a list of buyers ready to go if he writes the book himself.
Some content creators have also listened to their audience and then crowd-funded the desired products.
So, there are plenty of ways to monetize your content from day one, and more opportunities will arise.
My Personal Takeaway
I like the concept of starting with content and building from there. You do have to be aware that it is a long game though. Which, I guess is why it is important to write about something youāre passionate about.
Put it into action
Find out what your target audience want to know about.
This could be through Google trends to find out what people are searching for, or go more direct and ask your customers and audience on what theyād like to see.
You should consider buying this book ifā¦
This book is ideal for someone looking to start a new business and has the time to take it slowly. For example, a side-hustler.
Or, read our other business book summaries.
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a Swedish university student, marketing professional, and life-long learner. Here at BookSummaryClub I summarize my favorite non-fiction books into easily digested posts. Hope you like what youāre reading!
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