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Higher Purpose Content Marketing in 6 Steps

Below is the presentation I gave at the Web Content 2010 conference, the leading US conference covering the art and discipline of content strategy.

First, how do we develop a higher purpose for our company? Our brand purpose should:

  • be elegantly simple
  • be crystal clear
  • be innately inspirational
  • have a point of view and stand for something

(note: kudos to Eduardo Conrado from Motorola for his thoughts on this)

If you notice, the same four points are critical for your higher purpose content marketing strategy.  Your content marketing should:

  • be elegantly simple
  • be crystal clear
  • be innately inspirational
  • have a point of view and stand for something

Often I get asked the question – how can I be interesting to my customers (content) if we (my competitors) are all talking about the same thing?

The answer to this is in the question…you can’t!

With your content marketing, it’s not what you sell (in the case of Southwest – plane rides), it’s what you stand for (everyone deserves to fly, no matter what).

Once you figure out your higher purpose, try these seven steps:

1. Create / Own Your Category

How can you tell your story differently than everyone else? New terminology may be necessary (i.e., content marketing).

2. Go Out to the People

Just like Jesus created a following by going to where the people were, so you need to as well.  Find out where your customers are hanging out on the web and get involved in the conversation.

3. Then, Invite Them In

Invite your customers and influencers into your website and make them a part of the content (guest blogging, Q&A’s come to mind).

4. Create Employee Rock Stars

Engaging your employees is critical.  Employees are also the best source of marketing content you have. Get them involved.

5. Assign an Internal Evangelist

You need someone to not only be the cheerleader, but to help with the process flow and to keep your employees focused on your higher purpose content marketing strategy.

6. Create Something Remarkable

Your customers have so many choices when it comes to content. If your content isn’t the very best, why should they engage or share your brand story?

Here is the full presentation.  Enjoy…and for more great how-to stories like this, sign up for daily posts from the Content Marketing Institute.

Higher Purpose Content Marketing / Content Strategy

View more presentations from Joe Pulizzi.