FOREWORD

I'm an entrepreneur. Launched my first business in 2007. Like most entrepreneurs, I thought we had the best product in the industry. All we had to do was build awareness and it would sell like hotcakes.

Until it didn't.

In hindsight, the product was fine . . . but all our conversations revolved around our “amazing” product. We were cold-calling and cold-emailing, hitting the trade shows, aggressively pitching the features and benefits.

It was incredibly challenging . . . and painful.

Two years later, we (finally) realized our problem. We were trying to extract value from a group of buyers (audience) before delivering any value to them. We were trying to start conversations with people who didn't want (at all) to talk with us.

What if we could switch the model? What if we delivered amazing value to our audience without asking them to buy? What if we listened to our audience, found out their deepest and darkest problems, and delivered value outside of our products and services?

What started with instructional articles led to a magazine, an event, a podcast, and a suite of other “information-first” products that focused squarely on providing the best content to that audience that you could find anywhere in the world.

Slowly, over time, the conversations started. The audience began to reach out to us. They actually wanted to talk with us now. We were providing so much value to them. Through calls, emails, tweets . . . every day there were more people reaching out than the previous day.

Then, they started to buy the things we offered, and asked us to launch products we didn't have. And what started as an incredible failure in 2007, became the fastest-growing company in our industry just five years later. I almost gave up, but luckily learned my lesson in time and created an amazingly successful company.

Are you in a similar situation? Is your marketing broken? Are you always pitching products instead of listening and taking orders? Is your marketing just another expense, or is it a game-changer?

Kevin and I had the privilege of meeting and working together in 2009, just as I was changing course. At that time, Kevin was making his own waves helping financial firms dig themselves out of the “Great Recession” by developing content marketing strategies with phenomenal results. After taking a closer look at what he was doing, it didn't take long for me to realize he, too, was onto something unique.

This book will teach you the small tactical and big strategic thinking to change the way you communicate with your customers. Communication professionals who take Kevin's advice to heart will see an amazing transformation in your business . . . that your customers will actually want to talk with you.

My wish for you, before you engage in this book, is to be open to this change. For the next 200+ pages, put aside what you think marketing and sales is, and be open to what marketing and sales should be.

—Joe Pulizzi
Founder, Content Marketing Institute, and author of five best-selling marketing books including Killing Marketing and Content Inc.