Joe Pulizzi, founder of the Content Marketing Institute, claims in his Shweiki webinar, that his path from media publisher to association all started at an American Business Media event where he met a man named Peter Hoyt, and discussed at-length the credibility that one can accrue by transitioning one’s media company into an association. A year after that fateful meeting, Joe launched his first company, Junta42, by going live with a single blog post. One blog led to another, and eventually Joe had accumulated enough ammo to gather his blog posts in the form of a book, Get Content, Get Customers.
Leveraging Media
Later, (after Joe had designed the tool Junta42) Joe focused on leveraging his media towards positioning himself as an expert in the industry. He talks about constantly guest-blogging, creating webinars, and spending hours on Twitter answering questions and catering to his followers.
Joe’s team would attract influencers by promoting yearly lists and prediction boards, highlighting the best in the industry and encouraging sharing by all. After some time running Junta42, Joe and his partners realized that they had hit their wall for scaleability. “We felt there just wasn’t enough revenue potential.” It was then that Joe remembered his conversation with Peter Hoyt, and decided to look into assembling his own association along with his media institution.
Association Business Model
Joe’s team went from generating their own content, to generating the same type of content along with about fifty other partners under the same umbrella. “It’s still us at Junta42, but because were coming at it from the idea that we’re a for-profit institute, it makes a big difference at how our research is taken a little more seriously. It’s a little more credible, it’s spun around a little bit different, more people want to work with us, it’s amazing and it’s just the perception that we are an association.”
Revenue Opportunities from Association
- Advertising
- Consulting
- New Tools
- Member Revenues
