Why do you believe that we need unique content these days?
Jeff: That’s a great question. Here is an interesting thing that happens to me. From the very first time I spoke at an event, back in December of 2007, through now, every time I go to an event, the promoter will pull me aside and they are talking about content marketing or content creation or building investment with content, or whatever and they will pull me aside and say, “You know, Jeff, my whole business is built around content.” I smile and say, “Yeah, I know.”
The entire web is built around content. It is just that most people won’t tell you that and may hide it. Imagine this interview silent. Imagine a webinar with blank slides, an e-book with blank pages. Content dominates everything. It’s always going to be there.
I remember when social media came along, everybody said, “We don’t need content anymore”. I thought, “Oh, yeah?” Unless people are morbidly interested in what you had for lunch, you still need good content even in a 140-character tweet. It’s all about creating it in a way that gets people to take the next logical step, which is either opting in on your list, coming to an event, or buying your stuff.
I’d been at this a long time now, ten years. When I first started, we had websites and we had e-mail. Then there was this weird thing called blogs. Then there were these pirates. Now we’ve got a new social media site every day. Those are new things that make it easier for everybody. But it’s the same principle you’ve got to have good content. It’s still the guiding principle. If you can create good content, and you can market it, you can pretty much write your own ticket online.
