We live in a society that now values — even cherishes — content. Contemporary industry giants build their empires on the backs of content campaigns that consistently stun, titillate, and engage our senses. We know the slogans and we buy into the brands because they speak to something within us.
But massive corporations have an advantage — their large budgets allow interruptive programming and advertising that’s embedded in every digital platform we use. So, what’s the common man or woman — e.g. the budding entrepreneur launching a business or brand from the ground floor — to do to cut through the noise with their original content?
Tilt.
A simple, four-letter word. Yet, inside that word lies a world of possibilities, a realm where your imagination holds the secret to brand-building success.
The content tilt is powerful because Joe Pulizzi, its creator and Content Marketing Institute founder, distilled down the essential ingredients of a great piece of content and found the tilt to be one of the key elements.
In his book, Content Inc., Pulizzi expounds on the value of content in the digital age but dives even deeper with a formula that’s worked for this writer and so many more creators. It’s quite simple, actually:
Talent & skill + passion x tilt = content success.
“This sweet spot,” Pulizzi writes, “is the intersection of a knowledge or skill set (something the entrepreneur or business has a competency in) and a passion area (something the entrepreneur or business feels is of great value to him or her personally or to society at large).”
Having a “sweet spot” in your content creation is not nearly enough to cut through the perpetual social static, though. That’s where the tilt comes in.
“The content tilt is added to the sweet spot to create something truly unique,” says Thomas Kane, a private wealth manager operating in Chicago.
As an advisor to many successful entrepreneurs and an active participant in Chicago’s art scene, Chicago’s Thomas Kane said that it’s often the strange and bizarre concepts that work best.
“Don’t be afraid to test out a few types of content before going all-in with your strategy,” he said.
Anyone in the business world can utilize the strategy. All it involves is adding a unique element.
A great example would be someone who wants to create a cooking show for YouTube. That might be the creator’s sweet spot, the place where passion and skill lie, but how many cooking shows are on YouTube? Thousands? Millions?
Now, how many cooking shows on YouTube are hosted by an affable hand puppet who appeals to adults as much as it does kids? That’s a pretty unique concept and a fine example of a tilt that’s going to capture viewers’ attention.
Whether you’re a freelance worker or running a multi-million dollar agency, we all have some sort of product to put forth, and that product needs content to support its push to market. Lean into the tilt and trust the process.
Pulizzi launched a website devoted to The Tilt in April 2021. The new company, and its all-important news letter, delivers the latest relevant headlines and tools for content creators who want to build real and sustainable businesses through engaging content.
“YouTubers, Twitch streamers, bloggers, online educators, Instagram stars, TikTok creators…they’re everywhere. It’s one of the fastest-growing areas of new business creation in the world. The problem? Most digital content creators don’t understand the business model behind what they are doing. That’s why The Tilt was created,” said Pulizzi in the press release.
