DECEMBER 10, 2021

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Welcome to The Tilt, a twice-weekly newsletter for content entrepreneurs. Each edition is packed with the latest news, strategies, and tactics, plus inspiring creator stories and exclusive education, all to help you create, grow, and monetize better.

Features in this issue (view online):

• Full Tilt: Events in a Web3 World​
• Entrepreneur: Content Sweet Spot Example: Living Cozy​
• Stan: Twitcher Finds Acceptance in Community

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As much as I love what Gary Vaynerchuck did with his VeeFriends NFTs and VeeCon event, those tickets last only three years. They expire. While this model worked for Gary and his community (and made him a lot of money), I think there is a better way.

On this Content Inc. podcast, I raised the idea of using an NFT (non-fungible token) as a Never-Ending Ticket. (I prefer referencing the ticket as a NET over a perpetual ticket because the latter sounds too much like mortuary school or a funeral mass.)

A NET is a ticket that literally never ends. We’re publicly launching our first NET with today’s announcement of Creator Economy Expo 2022. Whether you acquire this NET or not, I want our process to be helpful for you and your content business, so let’s walk through it.

Step 1 – Build an audience: Don’t rush into a NET project (or really any NFT project) like so many do. They announce their NFTs, rush to build a Discord-type server, do spam-like outreach to everyone else to build a buzz, and then mint their tokens and try to sell them.

This short-term thinking works about 1% of the time. The better method – the long-term, more sustainable approach – requires the creator to first build the audience.

Step 2 – Move up the subscriber hierarchy: If your content base is an email newsletter or owned membership site, you can skip this step. If it’s anything else, such as YouTube, podcast, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, etc., you need to move your audience to something you have more control over. Create a newsletter or offering that people find worthy enough to give you their email address.

Step 3 – Get the community talking to each other: Once you can talk with your audience by email, offer up a community channel, like Discord or Telegram. Now, your audience can become a community and talk to each other. Building a successful NFT project boils down to building and cementing trust with the audience. They need to have faith in the creators (same for a community token model).

Step 4 – Create an event: Launching an event is one of the most lucrative ways a content creator can monetize their audience.

Now, here’s where your Never-Ending Tickets make an appearance. Create a small number of tickets as NETs, which give access to whatever VIP or exclusive experiences you deem – the more differentiated, the better. You also should set up ticket options for the wider community. Consider offering a la carte as well as all-access tickets.

Step 5 – Promote down the ladder: Release your promotion machine. Create content on your base platform, promote on your social channels, describe in your email newsletter, and discuss in your community.

Step 6 – Sell the tickets: Your most valuable and loyal audience members should get the first crack to the limited NETs. Then, you should open the remaining NETs to the public, along with one-time traditional tickets.

– Joe Pulizzi

To get more of Joe’s advice on how to price your NETs and learn how The Tilt followed this process leading up to today’s launch of Creator Economy Expo, read the longer story.

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The Tilt Launches CEX – Creator Economy Expo

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Finally...a conference for content creators by content creators

Tired of creator events that focus on the big social platforms? No more. The Tilt's Joe Pulizzi and Brian Clark (founder of Copyblogger) have teamed up to bring you CEX – Creator Economy Expo. The event will be held May 2-4, 2022, at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix, AZ. There are only 500 tickets available.

Our mission is to bring you the brightest minds and most vibrant voices who help creators develop into successful entrepreneurs who build profitable digital businesses.

​Secure Your Spot Today and Save With Early Bird Pricing

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Entrepreneur: Ash Read

Biz: Living Cozy​

Tilt: Furniture, kitchen, decor brands and reviews

Primary Channel: Living Cozy (100K+ page views/month)

Other Channel: Weekly newsletter The Home Catalog (1K subscribers)

Time to First Dollar: Six weeks

Rev Streams: Sponsored content, affiliate links

Our Favorite Actionable Advice:

• Attract brands: Ash focuses on sponsorships and affiliate links, so he searched for a furniture niche that was highly searched and frequently purchased.
• Do “throwaway content” better: He found competitors’ content that ranked well because of the site’s authority, not because of the content’s quality. Then, he did it better.
• Write a brief: A detailed creative brief is developed for each piece of content to ensure Ash and his freelance writers understand the topic, goals, etc.

– Bonnie Azoulay

To learn more about how Ash got his content business started, why he’s focused on search, and more, check out the longer story.

Know a content creator who’s going full tilt? DM us or reply to this email.

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Caught on ... Fortune​

“These independent creators are really starting to build into their owned and operated experiences.” – Gina Bianchini

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In his early years, Twitcher Blizz (@blizzb3ar) saw video gaming as a way to cope with not having his queer identity be embraced by close family members. As he told Lifewire, “Video games really helped me escape, especially games like Stardew Valley. You can get away from living in the city and marry whoever you wanted."

During the pandemic, his Twitch streaming quickly became not only a passion project but a new source of income, creating a safe and accepting community amongst his 19.2K followers, often called Blizzbies.

Why we’re a Stan: Blizz turned his own struggles into an uplifting and judgment-free community where members can be their authentic selves.

– Shameyka McCalman

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• ​NETs - An NFT Roadmap for Content Creators (Content Inc. podcast)
• ​New Strategy – Stop Producing Social Media Content (This Old Marketing podcast)
• ​10 Tips to Help You Start Your Small Business (Even on a Low Budget) (Small Business Trends)
• ​Read the Pitch Deck a Startup Helping Creators Get Paid and Manage Their Businesses Used to Raise $12M (Insider)
• ​10 New Ways a New Business Owner with a Small Crew Can Delegate Effectively (Forbes)

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Your team for this issue: Joe Pulizzi, Ann Gynn, Laura Kozak, Marc Maxhimer, and Dave Anthony, with an assist from Bonnie Azoulay, Shameyka McCalman, and Don Borger.

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