Online platforms need well-crafted stories to connect their ideas with people who are listening, reading, or watching. And crafting a story is just that—a craft. As with any craft, it takes time to develop and practice to perfect. Master storyteller Beth Kapes is an award-winning content creator. Her business, Moving Words Into Action, has helped clients tell stories that make a difference for over 20 years. She has developed content for national corporate and not-for-profit institutions, publishing groups, and websites. Her clients have included WebMD, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She has authored two historical perspectives for the Fortune 200 company, Parker Hannifin Corporation. And that’s not all! Most recently, she served as the managing editor for the 2016 Republican National Convention. Follow along as Beth reveals her secret to generating ideas, getting organized, and making a piece of content that’s fresh, valuable, and engaging.

• How to prepare to create different types of content
• Steps to making complex, bland topics more sexy
• Where to go to generate your best ideas
• Tools for making stories feel fresh and unique
• How to fit content creation into your day, every day

Beth Kapes on LinkedIn and Twitter

Moving Words Into Action

The Synonym Finder

The Cooper Hill Stylebook

Seth Godin’s blog

Backwards in High Heels: The Impossible Art of Being Female by Tania Kindersley and Sarah Vine

The majority of businesses start the same way: an entrepreneur creates a product or service that is unique and differentiated and then finds ways to market and distribute it. Unfortunately, this model doesn’t really work.

Joe Pulizzi is a speaker, author, podcaster, and founder of multiple startups, including The Content Marketing Institute. Joe chose a different path to build CMI, starting first by building an audience through content and then adding products and services later to monetize. We promise that whether you have built a business already or you’re considering it for the first time, after today you’ll view the process with fresh eyes.

Tune in as Joe explains how to follow your passion, find your people, and launch a content empire that pays.

Joe Pulizzi

@joepulizzi on Twitter

Content Marketing Institute

Content, Inc.

PNR: This Old Marketing The Podcast

Small Business Barometer

How to Cook That with Ann Reardon

Tools of the Titans

The key to becoming a successful online platform builder is to create, publish, and promote knock-it-out-of-the-park content that consistently hits home with your intended audience. And perhaps no one understands this better than television news producers.

Meet Amanda Subler, former TV news producer, Content Marketing Institute's PR and Video Consultant, and creator of The Career Zoo, an online platform dedicated to helping young people discover their dream job. Her varied career has taught her the power of knowing how to find and share a really, really good story. 

Listen in as Amanda explains how to craft a must-read story, keep up with content marketing demands of a publisher, and how her life as a producer deeply influenced her life as an online platform builder.

Resources

• @AmandaSubler on Twitter Amanda Subler on LinkedIn
• Email Amanda at [email protected]
• The Career Zoo
• The UnPodcast Content Inc. by Joe Pulizzi

While the number of female small business owners keeps growing at double digit speed, the number of women founders of hi-tech startups seems stuck in the low single digits. What makes the technology industry different? 

Meet JJ DiGeronimo, speaker, entrepreneur, President of Tech Savvy Women, and author of the new book Accelerate Your Impact: Action-Based Strategies to Pave Your Professional Path. She is a strategic advisor to venture capitalists (VC), investment teams, and executives as it relates to routes-to-market and repeatable revenue streams—and she’s considered one of the most highly regarded executive strategists to attract, retain, and advance professional women.

Tune in to this episode as JJ shares insider tips and resources to help you scale your startup idea from side hustle to full-time gig.

Resources

• JJ DiGeronimo
• Tech Savvy Women
• JJ on LinkedIn
• Youtube
• The Working Woman's GPS: When the Plan to Have It All Leads You Astray
• Accelerate Your Impact: Action-Based Strategies to Pave Your Professional Path
• Your Network Is Your Net Worth by Porter Gale
• Headspace
• Oprah’s SuperSoul Sunday
• 21-Day Meditation Experience
• Riches in Niches by Susan Friedmann

If you’ve ever considered launching an online platform but found yourself stuck, turning your wheels in the mud, you are not alone! There is so much to consider, starting a new platform would be overwhelming and intimidating for just about anyone. That’s why you need an accountability partner.

Pam Kozelka has done it all: she has an extensive background working with nonprofit organizations to build employee morale and community awareness; she’s the COO of the Content Marketing Institute; behind-the-scenes rock star of Content Marketing World; and co-founder of The Orange Effect Foundation.

To top it all off, Pam is also Jacquie’s accountability partner for the Platform FM podcast. Hear what makes their professional relationship tick and figure out how you, too, can find a partner-in-crime who will help you set goals and bring your dreams to fruition.

Resources

• Contact Pam Kozelka
• Pam Kozelka on LinkedIn
• Content Marketing Institute
• Content Marketing World
• The Orange Effect Foundation
• Scary Mommy
• Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

When you’re already working around the clock at your job while trying to maintain a robust and fulfilling personal life, how do you find the time to turn your side hustle into a full-time gig? How do you make a name for yourself as an entrepreneur? 

Platform FM’s first-ever guest Amy Martin is Partner and Head of Marketing for venture development firm JumpStart, Inc., founder of female blogger collective She in the Cle, and in her downtime, runs her own female-focused consulting agency Hyperthink to boot. And, of course, this is to say nothing of her personal life as a mother, board volunteer, and more. 

If it hasn’t registered already, Amy is a champion of female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses, partly because she’s been there herself. Tune in to hear her story and find out how she has created an online platform that has helped women across Ohio find their voice. 

Resources 

• @amymartin216 on Twitter 
• Amy Allen Martin on LinkedIn 
• JumpStart and the Jumpstart Focus Fund 
• She in the Cle 
• Hyperthink 
• Grit by Angela Duckworth 
• Warren Buffett on Investing in Women 
• Research on VC funding for Women Entrepreneurs 
• OneNote

Welcome to the Platform FM podcast with Jacquie Chakirelis

In the premiere of the Platform FM podcast, you’ll meet host Jacquie Chakirelis, co-founder of Family Matters Radio, a program that aired across the country for 12 years, winning several awards in the process. In 2004, Jacquie’s team started to explore online platform distribution themselves, which led to syndicating the talk radio show as a podcast and garnering an audience 1 million listeners strong. This week and going forward, she’ll be sharing her experiences with you so you can build, launch, and grow your business in an authentic way.

Tune in for season one as she taps her network of media and digital experts for their expertise and tried-and-true marketing techniques—plus all the inspiring and remarkable stories about how they found success. On Platform FM you’ll learn hundreds of ways you can monetize your platform, hear from other successful online platform builders, and much, much more.

In This Episode

• Jacquie’s business origin story
• The definition of an online platform
• Who can benefit from an online platform (hint: it’s not just big businesses!)
• What to expect from season one of Platform FM

Quotes From This Episode

“Online platforms have disrupted the institutions and industries at every corner of the market.” —@JacquieChak

“A platform is a stage that gives you and your message leverage and visibility. It’s really a shining light on your work—it helps you scale your reach and connect your work to the right people.” —@JacquieChak 

Resources

• Online Platform Institute
• Platform FM on Twitter
• The Art of Work by Jeff Goins
• Family Matters Radio