Heidi Cohen Interviews Pamela Wilson
New book: Master Content Marketing: A Simple Plan to Cure the Blank Page Blues and Attract a Profitable Audience
Q: What’s your best piece of advice for readers looking to improve their marketing?
Marketing has undergone a major shift: rather than pushing annoying messages out on an unsuspecting public, we now invite prospects to engage week after week with helpful information.
Creating engaging content on a regular basis is my best marketing advice — it will attract the right audience to your products and services and will help position your offerings so they’re easier to sell.
Plus, it just feels better to share information from a position of service rather than pushy sales.
Q: What was the inspiration for Master Content Marketing?
I have fully enjoyed my thirty years in the marketing field, but I have especially enjoyed what I’ve done since 2010.
That year, I moved my business online. I developed an audience using content marketing — even though I didn’t consider myself a writer (my background is design). I had to learn to write effective online content to attract the people I wanted to reach.
In Master Content Marketing, I share the techniques and systems I developed to make content creation faster, easier, and more fun. Even if you don’t consider yourself a writer!
Q: What is the key concept behind your book?
Master Content Marketing breaks down a piece of content into seven component parts. When you approach the content creation process with an awareness of these parts and some guidance about how to make each one “sing,” your content marketing efforts are much easier.
Each component has an important role to play. Just knowing they exist will put you head and shoulders above the average content marketer.
Q: What do you want readers to take away from your book
I want readers to realize that content marketing can be a fun and creative part of your life.
I am hoping they recognize that they’re creating a body of work — that no single piece of content must carry the burden of their success.
It’s a journey, and each step counts.
Q: How do you describe yourself professionally?
People come to me when they want to finally understand how marketing and design work together to build a brand that reflects how they want to show up in the world.
Q: What are 1-3 books that inspired your work/career?
- The 12-Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington helped me come up with a plan and a method for getting the first draft of my book written in three months.
- Predictable Success by Les McKeown helped me to finally understand (and have a name for) the common stages businesses go through as they grow. Doesn’t sound very exciting but it blew my mind (in a good way).
Q: What is the biggest challenge that you’ve had to overcome?
Twice in my career I have found myself in a situation where a single client was providing the vast majority of my income. And — since I didn’t learn my lesson the first time — two times I have deeply regretted getting myself into this position.
It’s very easy to be lulled into an almost-elusive business relationship with a client you love. But this is business and things change. You’ll be prepared for anything if you have a variety of income sources and don’t depend too heavily on just one.
Q: What’s something unusual or fun that most people don’t know about you?
I speak, read, and write Spanish fluently. I was an exchange student and then lived for many years in South America. It’s a big part of who I am.
I believe fluency in another language helps you become a better writer. Plus, it opens up doors to all sorts of interesting cultural and culinary variety in your life.
Q: Is there a piece of marketing content that you’re particularly proud of?
Thousands of people have found their “brand personalities” using the quick (free) quiz on this page:
It’s a very simple system for uncovering how you want your brand and your business to be perceived. Once you’ve identified this, you can work to incorporate your brand personality into all aspects of your verbal and visual brand.
Contact information
- Name: Pamela Wilson
- Company: Big Brand System and Rainmaker Digital/Copyblogger
- Blog: bigbrandsystem.com
- Book(s): Master Content Marketing
- Facebook: TheBigBrandSystem
- Twitter: @pamelaiwilson
- LinkedIn: pamelaiwilson
Thanks, Pamela.
Happy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen
Heidi Cohen is the President of Riverside Marketing Strategies.You can find Heidi on Google+, Facebook and Twitter.
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