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Yes, I attended Content Marketing World last week in Ohio (on Twitter at #cmworld), a great event featuring an insanely strong roster of the top authorities in marketing today.

No, I didn’t attend my friend C.C. Chapman’s session. He said it was for those just getting started in content marketing. If that’s you, stick around. Of course, big thanks to content marketing expert, C.C .Chapman, (co-author of the best-selling book “Content Rules”) for the big ideas and slides (embedded above). Thanks also to Lee Odden, author of “Optimize” and CEO of Top Rank Marketing, for assembling the central ideas of the presentation into an article that informed this one. I did see Lee speak. I bought his book too. Great stuff.

C.C. said he’d present the basics.In his blog, Lee said this will be great because “most companies suck at the basics.”

Your content marketing lesson shall now commence.

People go online in search of content. It’s essential to offer it. To not offer content is to not exist. If you want to grow, your marketing plan should be based on content where you deliver useful content by answering the  questions your prospects and customers ask.

    1. #1: There’s no silver bullet. The demand for content marketing expertise has wanna-be’s attempting to sell silver bullet solutions to small businesses. Don’t buy ’em.
    1. #2: You’re a publisher. CC says, “embrace it.” I love that because it really boils content marketing down, or at least it defines what you do as a content marketer. As a marketer, you probably used to buy media from publishers to run ads. Today, you are the media.
    1. #3: Tidy up the home. Your website is home to your content marketing efforts. Make it nice. Make it welcoming.
    1. #4: What’s your story? Everyone has one. What’s your company stand for? You’re going to weave the answers into each piece of content you publish.
    1. #5: Timeless and broke. Yup. Creating content takes time and money. Don’t say you don’t have it. You might just as well say, “We don’t care about marketing.”
    1. #6. Play to your strengths. You’ll do well with content creation by focusing on your strong suits. It might be video, blogging, apps, games, graphics, case studies and so forth. ID media plays you excel at and you’re far more likely to produce content regularly.
    1. #7. Show and tell. Images will help attract eyeballs, tell your story, and encourage sharing. Think visually. Use images.
    1. #8. Producing with Triple-P. When you’re after content ideas, think “people, places, and passions.” Tell stories about employees and customers. What’s going on here and there and around you and your customers? What’s exciting in your world right now?
    1. #9. Have a plan. To create content regularly, develop and abide by an editorial calendar. Plan your content based on who is in your audience and what they need. Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. This might help inform smart decisions regarding your content production plan.
    1. #10. Give it time. Content marketing ain’t no sprint. In fact, someone at the Content Marketing World presented in character as marathon runner. It is indeed a long-run strategy. Start now. Focus on getting better as you train. The rewards will come.
    1. #11. Look around, listen, and learn. The best content creators consume content every day. Look for ideas. Look for idea generating people and interact with them. And listen, listen, listen. Tune into what’s being said with search and social tools including Twitter, LinkedIn Answers, and Google Alerts. When someone’s got a question and you have the answer, step-up.
Keep in mind, these ideas come from a 45-minute presentation. Plus, the idea was to keep it simple. But that doesn’t mean we’re done here. We have the time and space for more simple, serious and powerful ideas to power content marketing. If you have some, please share ’em here and now.