Recently I have been sharing information about content marketing and how it can be a powerful way for you to accomplish your goals online.
People’s ultimate goals vary from one person to another, and it’s important to know what YOUR specific goals are.
You see, content marketing can have many faces.
Some people just want to share information that helps others online.
That’s their passion.
Some people want to make a side income online with content marketing. To work a few hours one day a week and then make some extra cash.
Yet others want to get rid of their day job by creating an full time income online with content marketing.
Different people have different motivations.
But no matter what your motivation is, content marketing can be a powerful and effective part of that mix.
If you need to know more about what content marketing is, you can read my article about that right here.
Content marketing really just means sharing helpful information with people who need that information.
Zig Ziglar said it best. “You can have everything you want in life if you just help enough other people get what they want.”
Helping other people with useful content is the foundation of content marketing.
A lot of people are confused about what content marketing looks like in practice. In other words,
What does a site look like when it’s doing content marketing well?
What I’m going to do today is share three case studies with you to illustrate people who are excelling in content marketing.
But first, I want to make a very important point about marketing online: Everyone starts somewhere.
It’s very easy to believe, when you’re starting out on the internet, whether you’re trying to share information or you’re trying to make an income, that you have all these “disadvantages” – that you’re too late, that you’ve started in the game too far behind, and maybe you’re too old or you’re too sick or you’re too some other thing.
I’m here to tell you from personal experience that none of that is true.
When I started out working on the internet, back in roughly the year 2000, I was so sick I couldn’t leave the house – and I certainly couldn’t make a living at a job.
It was not very long before I began making a full time living online and have done so ever since.
With every person you encounter who is succeeding now online, remember this: They started somewhere and probably it’s a very similar place to where you’re starting from, as well.
Success online is available to you as long as you’re willing to do the work.
So don’t let the fame or size of these case studies intimidate you. They all started off just like I did, and just like you did.
With that in mind, let’s look at some people who have made content marketing very successful in their own lives.
Content marketing success story 1: Copyblogger
Copyblogger is owned by Brian Clark, a very wise and smart young man who has understood content marketing probably better than anyone else that I’ve ever known.
Copyblogger provides a huge amount of free content online, and their goal in providing that free content is twofold.
Number one, they want to help people and that’s a wonderful thing. Brian’s a nice man, he wants to help people, and he’s assembled a team of people to do that.
But you know, Brian’s also a business man.
Ultimately what he wants to do is to make money, and they have made a ton of money by providing services to people who first read their information and then want the services they provide.
For example, they created one of the best WordPress themes out there, called Genesis.
They also have a wonderful hosting company.
They have an excellent SEO plugin that you can use on your blog, and so much more.
Brian’s a clever guy who has decided that the best way to get the word out there broadly about what he can offer people is by helping them with informational articles, some webinars, some audios, some books, and other things like that.
As of the writing of this article, he even provides a free membership where you can read literally hundreds of articles on a variety of topics that are useful to people.
It’s hard to imagine Copyblogger being as successful as it is without having first created a broad audience through all its free, informative content.
Copyblogger.com is definitely worth a look and it’s worth your time.
Content marketing success story 2: Chris Brogan.
Chris started out some years ago with a novel idea, which is that he could write 2,000 finished words a day and publish those somewhere.
Whether that was a podcast, or on his blog (which is where he started), or in a different medium, the first thing on his to-do list every day was to write 2,000 words.
It’s a big goal.
I watched him struggle with that, but over the years he has become a powerful content marketer, a powerful information marketer.
Chris, just like other people who do content marketing, has products that he sells.
What he does, which is brilliant, is that he lets people consume the content that he provides at their own pace.
If you want to come to his site and read his information for a year and then buy something, that’s great.
If you read something from him for two weeks and then buy something, that’s great.
Frankly, from what I know of him, if you read all of his information forever and never buy anything, that’s okay too.
Chris understands giving before receiving and how reciprocity works.
He knows that if he helps enough people with his free content – and this really is the essence of content marketing – eventually people are going to need something.
They’re going to like him, they’re going to trust him, and when they need something they’re going to want to buy that something from him.
He listens to his audience and he creates products that are appropriate for the people’s needs.
He’s done very well and, I predict, will continue doing very well.
He can be reached at ChrisBrogan.com.
The third case study is a fellow whose name you might know. He is a bona fide marketing genius.
Content marketing success story 3: Seth Godin.
Seth has one of the highest rated blogs on the internet, and yet, if you take a look at it, it’s not what one would call eye candy.
- It’s not full of pictures.
- There are no puppies, clowns or dancing bears.
- There are few videos, if any.
- There’s nothing to download.
What you find on Seth’s site is just helpful content.
Seth posts to his blog almost every day, and has for many years.
What he’ll do is share little insights.
Sometimes it’s 100 words, sometimes it’s just one little paragraph, sometimes it’s a very long post.
He shares something almost every day and his insights are phenomenal.
Seth is a very well known internet marketing and overall business marketing person who has written many New York Times bestselling books.
One of my favorite books by Seth is called Permission Marketing.
Seth was the first person who really spoke out loud about the fact that we need permission from people to send them email.
We need permission from people to ask them to buy things.
His blog reflects that and all of his work, all of his life actually, reflects that.
Seth started Squidoo and other companies, and he has been involved with many different companies.
Back in the old days he was really involved with a little start-up called Yahoo.
Seth is a brilliant mind, a voice that you should listen to, and a really excellent role model when it comes to information or content marketing.
Providing information to the masses has been a core element of Seth’s method from the start, and it’s undeniable how well it’s worked for him.
You can reach him at SethGodin.typepad.com.
So there you have it, three of the best content marketers on the planet: Copyblogger, Chris Brogan, and Seth Godin.
I’d recommend you visit all of their blogs, sign up to their information, and make them part of your trusted resources because these people really know what they’re doing.
Speaking of trusted resources, these are wonderful places to find content you can curate. Just an insider tip.
Visiting these sites make it easy to see with your own two eyes what successful content marketing looks like.
Content marketing is fun, profitable and can be done by anyone, anywhere.
And that is a beautiful combination indeed!
