What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

Content Marketing irrespective of the form it takes, follows the same guidelines and principles

Content marketing isn’t new to me. I am one of those from the era when any gibberish content could easily get ranked on Google.

Funnily enough, I owned a website that was about backyard gardening. Before this website became the kind of valuable one it was when I sold it, it was a crappy site that had about 100 articles.

100 articles!

You might think.

Yes. A 100 articles that I didn’t write. All I did was downloaded a pack of PLR articles and used something we called “article spinner” to spin each of these articles and then post it to the site.

The best part though was that almost 40 of these articles were ranking on the first page of Google. And these articles were absolute crap with not even one sentence making any sense.

That was then.

Things changed quite a lot in the last 12-13 years and content marketing evolved to what it is today – providing value.

But when I look around at the people who are all jumping into the content creation bandwagon (thanks to the evolving creator economy), I still see people who don’t quite have an understanding of how content marketing works.

Irrespective of what form of content creation you are in – audio, video or, textual, the principles remain the same.

And if you are able to understand the core principles, then you wouldn’t end up frustrated, after about an year of content creation.

Every piece of content that is created has a purpose. If you are able to understand this underlying concept, then it will become easy for you to strategize your entire content creation.

Understand that content creation is about providing value but it should not be only about giving value and value and more value.

Instead it is about creating a channel through which you take your viewers/listeners/readers to your eventual objective – that is to earn.

Create content of value and offer value to your listeners but don’t forget to ask for the sale. It could be in the form of supporting your show through small donations, subscribing to a premium version of your show, purchasing a product that you recommend or, join a course that you are offering.

Now imagine for a minute.

Does it make any sense that every creator on the internet was selflessly creating content with no other purpose but to provide value to the consumer?

There is tremendous amount of effort, energy and time involved in creating every single piece of content that you see out there today (exclude the crappy content like the one I spoke about in the beginning of this essay).

And if there are no returns for the creator, then why on earth will somebody do it? The entire so-called creator economy will collapse and cease to exist.

But then it is thriving. Isn’t it?

The only side-note is that every one of those creators who don’t understand the concept that I just spoke about, perishes after some time but the economy thrives and the one who understands it thrives along with it.

The question then is – do you want to be a part of that thriving economy and have a piece of the pie or, perish?

News you should know

1. Spotify is opening video podcast for its creators. Creators in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, and the U.K. will be able to upload video content along with their audio podcast. And this might soon come to India as well. But then something that I am still unable to wrap my head around is the fact the Apple tried this some time back and then stopped it because video podcasts just weren’t popular. Why would Spotify want to reinvent the wheel?

2. Substack had introduced podcasting to their platform some time back. They now drastically improved their podcast player. Looks like Substack is getting into the podcasting game for the long run. And they have an advantage that none of the other platforms have – engagement. This will be the only platform where there will be direct engagement from the listeners of your podcast.

You would like these links

• Grow your Podcast Listeners – This article on 16 strategies to grow your podcast listeners was very informative and interesting. You might like this.

• This article on a brief history of podcasting and how podcasts started is an interesting read (if you are somebody who like knowing more about what you are doing)

Questions from the reader

This week’s question came from one of my email subscribers, Kadiresan –

What according to you is the bare minimum investment required to start a Podcast?

There are 3 aspects to this question.

If you are somebody who isn’t serious about podcasting and want to just test the waters, then there is no investment. Just pick your phone, record an audio and upload it to one of those FREE podcast hosts.

If you are somewhat serious and are looking at the long term benefits of podcasting then, there is some investment involved. This will be –

1. A good microphone – The JBL Commercial CSUM10 is by far the best microphone to get started. It will cost you about Rs. 5500.

2. A website – This is something I recommend every podcaster so that you are able to market to your audience. This will cost you about Rs. 3,000 annually (Rs. 1200 for the domain name and about Rs.1,800 for the Website hosting)

If you are really serious about podcasting and have a strategy to make a full time income out of it, then in addition to the above, I will also recommend –

1. An autoresponder – This is used to send periodic email updates to your subscribers. I recommend Aweber. They have a FREE plan but the best is to join for the lowest plan which is about $19 per month.

A good website design, an optin form builder etc. are additional services you might need depending upon your overall strategy.

It’s not the best content that wins. It’s the best promoted content that wins.” ~ Andy Crestodina

Recommended Reading

Here’s my recommended books for this edition.

1. Start with Why – This book by Simon Sinek is an excellent read if you would like to know how some of the top brands ensure that they stand out from the crowd. There are a lot of golden nuggets that you can use in Content Marketing as well.

2. The 5-second rule – This book by Mel Robbins in one of the best reads of my life. In fact it helped me do things that I never imagined I would be able to do.

Note – Some of these are affiliate links and I might earn a commission if you choose to purchase using these links, but that would be at no extra cost to you.

That’s it for this week,

See ya again,

Dilip K

P.S. If you would like to connect with me or, read more of my writings in the form of blog posts, then you can visit my blog about Podcasting Tips.

P.P.S. If you loved this newsletter, then why not recommend it to somebody you think it will be helpful for.