The Bacon Podcast: The Power of Authority Marketing

Michael Greenberg talks about the power of authority marketing with Brian Basilico on the Bacon Podcast.

Some people talk about authority as getting published on a big site (Forbes, HuffPo, etc.) and using that single piece of content as “authority” for years to come. Like adding that publication’s logo to anything and everything they produce.

That’s not authority marketing.

Authority marketing is actually having expertise in reality and in the minds of a particular audience. Authority is relative and in the B2B world, you can build a business around a small audience who sees you as a go-expert on a particular topic.

Listen to Michael and Brian’s full conversation:

Brian Basilico  0:00  

Welcome, everybody. I’m your host, Brian Basilico. And this is the podcast where you learn to make your business sizzle online. So are you ready to fry up some new business? Hey, peeps, I am excited. I have a great guest. His name is Michael Greenberg. And today, we’re going to be talking about generating authority through authority marketing. So Michael, how are you doing, man?

Michael Greenberg  0:41  

I’m doing great. How about yourself?

Brian Basilico  0:43  

I’m a good man. And so your company is Call For Content. And so you really help people kind of get their message out in a handful of different ways. And we’ll kind of dive into that. But before we move forward, I want people to get to know you.  Let’s go Talking about your origin story. How did you go from somebody who is importing and selling Chinese goods out of your trunk to helping people get the junk in their trunk, meaning authority online through Google and all that kind of stuff? How did you go through that transition?

Michael Greenberg  1:16  

Yeah, so I come from a family of entrepreneurs. And you know, growing up like a real little kid, I was shoveling driveways and selling lemonade. And when I got to high school, I wanted to make more money than the drug dealers. So counterfeit goods were the best way to do it.

Brian Basilico  1:35  

That’s ambitious. I like it, though.

Michael Greenberg  1:39  

It worked out. Beats by Dre, you could buy them for you know, 30 bucks a pair and sell them for 100.

Brian Basilico  1:46  

That’s a good margin.

Michael Greenberg  1:49  

I learned a lot about the basics of running a business running a budget, and I decided I want to be a chef. I got an apprenticeship and started doing that thing. And then the time came to choose a college, and I found out that chefs don’t make any money. So I got myself an economics degree. While I was in school, I dropped out, went to a coding boot camp, and joined a startup. At that point, I found my real love with digital technology and digital entrepreneurship. And from there, left the startup, started consulting, and then built Call For Content. That’s where I am today.

Brian Basilico  2:36  

So yeah. It sounds like a very typical entrepreneurial journey. And so let’s kind of dig in on authority marketing. I mean, there was a thing, a handful years ago, called Google authority where you were an authority on something I hear you know, influencer marketing, I hear authority