The 3 axioms of content marketing
The 3 axioms of content marketing
Marketing Powerup #35: Tommy Walker, Founder of The Content Studio and former Editor-in-Chief at Shopify Plus, shares his content principles.
Hello, and welcome to Marketing Powerups! ⭐️
Today's powerups include:
Will ChatGPT beat Google for search dominance?
A tool to learn anything seriously fast.
Tommy Walker’s 3 axioms of content marketing.
Ready? Let's go! ⭐️
🎖 Sponsored powerup
Thank you to our sponsor, 42/Agency, who keeps the Marketing Powerups newsletter and show free for all of you!
Founded by my good friend, Kamil Rextin, 42/Agency is my #1 recommended marketing growth agency for SaaS to help you drive demos and signups.
They've worked with fast-growing B2B SaaS companies like ProfitWell, Teamwork, Sprout Social, and Hubdoc.
Read some insightful reads in their newsletter 42 Slash, like “Yes, Facebook ads work for B2B companies.”
Then, schedule a free consultation.
✨ Mini powerups
Fun-sized blurbs and links to help boost your marketing.
✨ 3 elements of timeless storytelling for marketing
The best marketers tell stories. How do you get better at storytelling? Look at how Harry Potter and Star Wars became timeless stories. Nathan Baugh shares the three elements of timeless stories marketers can use to level up their marketing.
When you talk to people about AI, you could get one of two responses: excitement about the future or apprehension about its moral and economic implications. Marc Andreessen, the founder of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, has a more optimistic take on the future of society and AI. He breaks down 5 risks of AI and how we can prepare for it.
✨ What will the future of Google with AI look like?
Google’s Search Generative experience has been live for nearly 3 weeks. It feels like they rushed it out the door. Who could blame them? ChatGPT product with embedded Bing search seriously threatens Google’s dominance. If ChatGPT becomes the default first click where users go to find information, they will eventually stop going to Google.
, Author of Product-Led SEO, shares 8 predictions Google will try to do to beat Bing and ChatGPT.🧰 Tool powerups
Tools to supercharge your marketing.
💬 ChatDox: Upload your documents and ask questions with your personal AI document assistant.
🧠 CramJam: Learning anything ridiculously fast. It’ll generate notes, examples, and important terms for you. It’s useful if you need a quick high-level overview of a topic you’re creating content for.
💌 EzMail: This Chrome plugin power-ups your Gmail with ChatGPT. It generates personalized email drafts for you in your own writing style and tone. It could help speed up your replies to marketing partners, customers, and users.
✨ Tommy’s 3 axioms of content marketing
Writing and creating content is one thing. But editing other content marketers' work takes a special kind of skill.
One of those content editing experts is Tommy Walker. With a career that spans over 18 years, including being the editor-in-chief at Shopify and now founder of Content Studio, he's seen common mistakes that writers make time and time again:
It's why Tommy developed three axioms that guide his editing and content creation process.
A solid premise will get you 80% of the way there.
Decisions are made in Slack.
Content is a form of social currency.
1. A solid premise will get you 80% of the way there. 🗿
A strong premise is the foundation of any successful content piece. It's the hook that grabs the audience's attention and keeps them engaged throughout the piece.
"A solid premise will get people to the door. And if you deliver on that premise and you continuously deliver on multiple premises or the main premise of the overall work that you're trying to do, people will keep coming back."
2. Decisions are made in Slack. 💬
Many decisions are made in real-time, collaborative platforms like Slack. Content can be a powerful tool to spark conversations that are not directly measurable but can lead to conversions.
"If you can understand and communicate somebody's problem, as well as if not better than they can, you're giving a voice to problems that they might have.
That's gonna be the thing that leads to decision-making further down the road, because you're thinking about the conversations that people are gonna be having with each other, which will then lead to decision-making."
3. Content is a form of social currency. 💰
The content we share reflects our identity, tastes, and knowledge. It's not just about the content's inherent value but also about what sharing it says about us.
"We wanna make them look good when they share this stuff. For example, freelancers will share it with other freelancers because they're learning from the type of people that they want to write for.
When they share it with other people within their network, they're going, “oh my God, look at this like cool hidden resource, it's a gem.”
It says something about them when they share it.”
Free powerups cheatsheet
I’ve created a powerups cheatsheet exclusively for Marketing Powerups subscribers to apply Tommy’s three axioms of content marketing right away.
You can download and make a copy of it here (a direct link with no email required).
In the latest Marketing Powerups episode, Tommy further explains his 3 axioms of content marketing.
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcast and Spotify now, or watch it on YouTube.
If you enjoyed this, could you help me share the word about Marketing Powerups? Share or forward Marketing Powerups to a friend or colleague:
That’s all for now, friends!
Have a powered-up day,
Ramli John
Say hello on LinkedIn and Twitter
P.S. If you found this helpful, would you share the love by tapping the heart below? ❤️
