There is suddenly an interesting new focus on content creators.
A month ago, two veterans of the Hustle newsletter formed a new B2B media company called Workweek, where creators are the focal point. Now, two media entrepreneurs are launching a conference for content creators called the Creator Economy Expo.
One of the expo’s founders is Joe Pulizzi,
founder of the Content Marketing Institute and the Content Marketing World event. He is well-known in B2B media circles and widely regarded as one of the foremost experts on using content to build
businesses. Pulizzi recently founded The Tilt, an education-and-training
endeavor for content entrepreneurs.
His partner in the venture is Brian Clark, a content-economy entrepreneur who founded Copyblogger, an educational resource that helped writers become
content entrepreneurs, in 2006. From that audience platform, he built a software, hosting and training business that reached eight figures in highly profitable revenue. More recently, Clark
created Unemployable, a community for
freelancers and solo entrepreneurs.
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CEX: The Creator Economy Expo, is scheduled
for May 2-4, 2022 at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix. The new event seeks to empower creators with opportunities, strategies, tactics and tools for achieving substantial success as content
entrepreneurs.
It stems from the emergence of the creator economy movement, which dates back 15 years to the early days of blogging, but is much more mainstream today.
The event will cover vital content-related topics, including:
A press statement from the CEX team said there is a lot of hype around the creator economy, “and for good reason. Those who get in early on the emerging Web 3.0 by attracting audiences, cultivating community and implementing solid revenue models will reap amazing rewards.”
Yet most of the media attention about the creator economy focuses on large platforms like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. The real story, the CEX producers contend, is about the creators themselves and the audiences they influence. “Our mission is to highlight the brightest minds and most vibrant voices that help creators develop into successful entrepreneurs who build profitable digital businesses,” Pulizzi added.
Creators now realize they can and should take control of their destinies by becoming more entrepreneurial and maximizing the value of their audience assets, according to the CEX press statement. "The power has shifted away from the platforms to the creators," said Josh Constine, of the venture capital firm SignalFire.
“Unlike other events that cater to the big Silicon Valley platforms and ‘unicorn’ startups, CEX is for the creators themselves,” added CEX co-founder Brian Clark. “Those creators will come away understanding that they matter most.”
Clark and Pulizzi both built businesses that reached eight figures in revenue, without a dime from investors, before selling to larger companies. Now, they say, they are joining forces to help a new generation of content creators build sustainable digital businesses as content entrepreneurs.