Epic Content Marketing, a book released in 2013 by Joe Pulizzi, is considered the gold standard on a topic Pulizzi knows inside and out. Nearly a decade later, Pulizzi, along with Brian Piper, has written a second edition with sections on data, AI, Web3, and community. Piper told us what to expect from the second edition and dished out some free advice on a few topics covered in the book. Co-authors Joe Pulizzi and Brian Piper have released a new edition of the highly acclaimed book Epic Content Marketing. The updated version hit bookshelves on February 27, and it brings readers up to speed on all things new in the world of content marketing. How much has content marketing changed since the original version of the book became a hit a decade ago? Let’s just say that 10 years is an eternity in content marketing. We have social media channels in 2023 that did not even exist in 2013 (TikTok, anyone?), but that’s only the beginning. More (better) data tools offer greater insight into how your marketing is performing, brand communities and super fans hold enormous marketing power, creator networks are now a well-established tool, and your content can be leveraged and repurposed in a multitude of ways. All this and much more fill the pages of Pulizzi and Piper’s new book, officially titled Epic Content Marketing, Second Edition: Breakthrough the Clutter with a Different Story, Get the Most Out of Your Content, and Build a Community in Web3.“The content marketing landscape has matured and grown in big ways in the past decade and has become a common tactic of any successful brand or content entrepreneur, ”Piper tells us. “We have different platforms, new technologies, and evolved consumer expectations and needs. Content marketing is really entering its heyday now. Between the public need for trust and belonging and the advances in technology and access to data, it is delivering what consumers want from brands and creators. ”The second generation of Epic Content Marketing includes updated statistics and new case studies for the fundamental strategy and process chapters, along with completely new sections covering some of the most relevant current changes in content marketing, including data, AI, Web3, and community. In part 2 of the book—“Defining Your Content Niche and Strategy”—Pulizzi explains that while content is traditionally thought of as a brand-awareness and lead-nurturing tool, it can also be incorporated into customer service, customer loyalty and retention, and customer upsell efforts. Once it has taken your customer that far, it can also make them subscribers to whatever content you’re offering. Whether your brand is just you or is a Fortune 500 company, your content needs to be repurposed across a variety of channels. Red Bull, LEGO, and General Electric are prime examples when it comes to repurposing content, but it’s not just the big, established brands that effectively repurpose their content. “You can also see examples among smaller content entrepreneurs, like Ann Handley, Dasha Kennedy, and Wally Koval,” Piper says.“All of these content marketers and entrepreneurs are creating and distributing content on multiple platforms and pushing consumers of that content to some goal that includes supplying an email or other first-party data.”A sample of Piper’s advice: every piece of content needs to be guided by and focused on strategy. Each piece of content also needs the necessary calls to action, should be categorized by its location in the marketing funnel, and needs to have tracking data connected to it in order to monitor performance and measure success.
