CCO Replica Sample - 3

IDEA GARAGE
MARKETOONIST
WHAT'S ONLINE
TALKING INNOVATION

EDITORIAL

Technology Won't Save
a Poor Model

O

riginally launched as a sports only cable television station
in 1979, ESPN began with a $9,000 investment by Bill
and Scott Rasmussen. Almost 40 years later, ESPN is the
world's most recognized sports media brand; it was valued at $17
billion in 2016, according to Forbes.
For 13 years, ESPN directed all its attention to just one
platform: cable television. Then in the '90s, the company began
to rapidly diversify. It launched ESPN Radio in 1992, ESPN.com
in 1995, and ESPN the Magazine in 1998.
Today, ESPN has a presence on almost every media platform
and in every format available on the planet-from Twitter and
Snapchat, to podcasts and documentaries. Yet ESPN didn't
diversify until its core platform (cable television) was successful.
The greatest media entities of all time (below) selected one
primary channel in which to build their platform.

The Wall Street Journal
print newspaper

Time
print magazine

Huffington Post
online magazine

TED Talks
in-person events

Only after they built a loyal audience
did they begin to build audiences on
other platforms.
Does that sound innovative?
Actually, it shouldn't.
In March, I presented in Raleigh, North
Carolina, for the High Five Conference,
a meeting for marketers and creatives.
After talking about this one-platform
model during my keynote, a marketing
professional from a large technology
company approached me. She shared her
challenges building an audience at her
company, where the content department is a
glorified order-taking, content-on-demand
group for sales and marketing.
She was amazed at how simple the
one-platform concept was, and stated that
they've been so busy putting out content
fires and buying new technology that they
haven't focused on a real strategy.
Content marketing, as an approach, is
challenging and time consuming ... but
it's not rocket science. Instead of guessing
what might work when trying to build an
audience, or buying the latest in content
marketing technology to solve your woes,
look to the early examples on the left. They
tell us one thing - that every successful
media company on the planet has leveraged
the same simple model.
Even with changes in technology-from
Google to social media platforms-the model
remains the same. And, as in most cases, the
simple answer is usually the right one.

Yours in content,

ESPN
cable-television programming

Rush Limbaugh
radio show

SOCIAL WEB
VERTICAL VIEW
TECH TOOLS

To stay on top of content
marketing trends,
subscribe to Joe Pulizzi
and Robert Rose's
weekly podcast, PNR:
This Old Marketing.
http://cmi.media/pnr

"Every successful media
company on the planet
has leveraged the same,
simple model."

Joe Pulizzi
Founder
Content Marketing Institute
@JoePulizzi

CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER | CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM | 3
http://www.cmi.media/pnr http://www.ESPN.com http://www.CONTENTMARKETINGINSTITUTE.COM
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CCO Replica Sample
