Yes, you can learn about content marketing from Wiz Khalifa.

Wait, Who the F is Wiz Khalifa?

He’s the Pittsburgh rapper behind that catchy “Black and Yellow” song that caught on like wild fire last year.

His first major album named “Rolling Papers” was certified gold and sold over 500,000 copies.

Now do you know who I’m talking about?  Ok, cool.

The question remains what can you learn about content marketing from a twenty something year old rapper who talks about rolling papers and smoking reefer all day?

Well the short answer is PLENTY.

Here’s what I mean.

Internet marketers simply don’t understand how to promote their content.

Self made rappers like Wiz Khalifa have mastered this very important skill and if you pay attention you might learn something.

Let’s say for example you’re a entrepreneur and you want to release a BIG product in 2014 that you want everyone in the world to buy.

How should you plan your launch for a successful first week of sales?

Follow the Wiz. 

Let’s review what he did with his second major release album O.N.I.F.C. 

Lets start off by looking at what he DIDN’T DO:

1.  He didn’t say a word about it.  If you followed him on twitter you would have noticed he didn’t tweet anything about the new album until the very last minute.  He didn’t tweet about the album in the winter, spring, or summer of 2012 even though the album was planned to be released in the fall.

2.  He never got complacent.  At no point did he stop his routine of promoting himself in person and at live shows. He has performed each week this year somewhere.

3.  He didn’t depend on others to promote him.  The fans that listen to his music found out about it from him directly.  He didn’t depend on some third party promoter or wait on the record label to run advertisements, he stepped up and took the lead directly.

Lets take a look at the actions he took leading up to the launch of O.N.I.F.C.:

#1.  He promoted a FREE MIX-TAPE first.

Instead of telling everyone that he had a new album coming he announced that he was going to release a FREE mix-tape instead.

This news was very popular with his fans as his mix-tapes are what got him a major deal in the first place.

His first major album release received some negative reviews because some people thought he went too commercial.  A popular criticism of any band or group that gets signed.  

However, when people heard that he was promoting Cabin Fever 2, a sequel to the wildly popular Cabin Fever mix-tape the internet buzz went sky high.  No pun intended 🙂

Then he launched his mix-tape Cabin Fever 2 and the critics and fans raved.

It featured big name guest appearances and brand new beats produced by Juicy J from the award winning group three six mafia.

It was basically a studio album that he gave away for free.

Talk about providing VALUE.

#2.  He first promoted his new album O.N.I.F.C. inside of his FREE MIX-TAPE.

He even says on one of the songs on the Cabin Fever 2 mix-tape that the people at his shows are the first to know about the new album and the tour coming soon.

This is a great way to build up excitement and give your fans the feeling that they are in on a secret.  Now, they know something that no one else does about a very popular artist.

What do you think they did with this inside “important” information?  They TWEET it like a MOFO.

#3.  He first introduced his tour on his FREE MIX-TAPE.

He didn’t provide very many details other than saying that his tour will be the biggest thing since Jay-Z was on the hard knock life tour.

Talk about leaving your audience waiting for more and building up anticipation.

Yeah but I don’t know how to Rap, I can barely type for crying out loud.

You should learn how to type by the way, but you will not need to know how to bust a rhyme or write 16 hot bars.

All you need to do is pick up on these professional techniques and reuse them for your online business.

If you are planning on launching a new product for release by the fall of 2014 consider incorporating Wiz Khalifa’s plan into your strategy:

1. Be strategic.  Instead of telling everyone about your new product tell them about your FREE REPORT or CASE STUDY instead.
2. Viva Value.  Make your FREE CONTENT so overflowing with VALUE and QUALITY that people can’t resist the urge to share it with others. Make sure you include new updates on whatever your audience found popular in the past.  Check out your most popular articles.  What attracted the most social media shares and comments?
3. Special guests.  Try to include some other individuals to surprise your audience with an interview or some collaborative content such as a workshop or a video conference.  Use your imagination and creativity.
4. Plan two moves ahead.  In your FREE material don’t just promote the product give your audience even more value by offering them the inside word on other plans you have coming up.
   Will you be speaking at a conference or appearing somewhere?  This is a great time and place to let your followers know. Don’t underestimate the power of a captive audience.

Now that you have their attention tell them to buy your product AND get tickets to see you LIVE and in person.

Follow this process and watch the difference in your product launch.

You’ll crush your competitors and any results that you have earned in the past.

You may not get an official day named after you in your home town like Wiz Khalifa day which was recently designated by Pittsburgh City Councilman William Peduto.

However, if you do it right, maybe one day you will.

Now it’s over to you what do you think you can learn about content marketing from Wiz Khalifa?