Ecommerce Interview with Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute

This week, we’re featuring Joe Pulizzi from Content Marketing Institute (CMI), one of the biggest names in content marketing!

Joe Pulizzi is the founder of Content Marketing Institute and Content Marketing World, as well as the author of books such as ‘Epic Content Marketing’ and ‘Managing Content Marketing’.

Without further ado, here are his answers to our ecommerce and marketing interview questions:

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There have been many changes lately in the marketing world: Search engine algorithm changes, big changes at Google (not provided, publisher/author markup, TOS changes, G+ comments for Youtube), Facebook custom audiences, Twitter ads etc. What are your thoughts on these changes? How has the role of online/ecommerce marketing evolved in light of them?

Amid all the technology changes - every one of them moves closer to this idea - brands that develop and distribute amazingly helpful and entertaining content on a regular basis win every time. Gaming the system in any way doesn't work in the long term.

If I'm a brand marketer looking to attract and retain customers, I'd be seriously developing a content marketing strategy and transform the organization into more of a publishing entity than a marketing department.

What challenges do you think SMBs might face with online/ecommerce marketing in 2014? What can they do to overcome them?

Advertising, comparatively speaking, is easy. Developing relevant content to our different groups of audiences is incredibly difficult. Here's my advice.

• Fill a need for your customer base and serve that need with content.
• Do it consistently - be the must-see TV for your customers.
• Create content like you are a human being.
• Don't be vanilla. Take a stance with your content.
• Remove the sale from your content. The more you remove the sales pitch, the more your content will be shared.

84% of consumers say they trust word-of-mouth the most. What are interesting/ innovative uses of word-of-mouth marketing you’ve seen? Any thoughts on how marketers could take advantage of word-of-mouth?

I haven't found a marketer that wasn't talking about Chipotle's new video. I share content all the time coming from brands and not media companies. I subscribe to their newsletters.

First point is the content itself. But the goal of content creation is to build an audience. To do that, we need to create an influencer hit list (where our customers are hanging out) and then share their content. That's how we build relationships online.

To succeed in social, we have to give in order to get.

Finally, who do you think will win: Google or Facebook? Why?

That's easy. Google. They are thinking so big it's not even funny.

In the future, our internet will be provided by Google, which we access on our Google device, and we ride around in our Google car or transportation device. The big technology bets they are making is ridiculous.

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Points to ponder over:

• Brands that develop and distribute amazingly helpful and entertaining content on a regular basis win every time, so focus on developing a content marketing strategy and transform the organization into more of a publishing entity!
• Developing relevant content to our different groups of audiences is incredibly difficult.
• How to build relationships online: Create an influencer hit list > Share their content > Build an audience > Create content!

For epic content marketing stuff, make sure you check out the Content Marketing Institute blog, Joe's personal blog, and follow him on Twitter & Google+!

Finally, stay tuned for the next post, as we'll be featuring Graham Charlton from Econsultancy!