He helped invent the modern content marketing industry

According to some estimates, corporations across the world spend upwards of $42 billion a year on content marketing, and they do so with the philosophy that by acting like media companies, they can engender trust with potential customers and drive sales.

One of the people who helped sell the corporate world on this marketing philosophy is Joe Pulizzi. In 2007, Joe founded the Content Marketing Institute, and through its constellation of articles, videos, courses, and conferences, it convinced thousands of executives that the frictionless distribution of the internet allowed virtually everyone to become a media company.

I recently interviewed Joe about his journey. We discussed whether freelance journalists should take on content marketing gigs, which companies have been particularly good at content marketing, and whether we’re currently in a content bubble.