John Hall - Top of Mind: Use Content to Unleash Your Influence and Engage Those Who Matter to You

Johns got his finger on something heresomething important. Anyone interested in communicating effectively through content would do well to embrace the audience-centric approach outlined in Top of Mind.

ERIC HELLWEG, managing director at
Harvard Business Review

Top of Mind is a critical and powerful tool to catapult yourself into relevance in a noisy, competitive world. Get it now, and leverage your content like never before.

JEFF HOFFMAN, cofounder of
Priceline and ColorJar

With Top of Mind, John breaks down the last barriers between executives and content marketing. We accept that business is about relationships, and its time we embrace the fact that the right content at the right time can make those relationships (and your company) stronger.

EVAN GREENE, CMO of The Recording Academy
(The GRAMMYs)

John Hall says that success ultimately comes down to creating meaningful relationshipsin business and in life. I couldnt agree more. Buy this book to get his prescription for exactly how to do it.

ANN HANDLEY, chief content officer of
MarketingProfs and author of Everybody Writes

This is the playbook for how to make yourself memorable online. Top of Mind is useful, practical, and vital. Highly recommended!

JAY BAER, president of Convince & Convert
and author of Hug Your Haters

An absolute must-read for any professional or company seeking to build influence and lead their industry.

Forbes.com

Potential customers cant do business with you if they dont even know who you are. John Halls essential new book shows you how to powerfully connect with your audience, even in todays crowded marketplace, so the right business opportunities come to you.

DORIE CLARK, author of
Reinventing You and Stand Out

I am a longtime admirer of Johns knack for connecting people in meaningfulsometimes life- and career-changingways. The idea of shifting from self to the people who matter is something he practices personally and professionally, so all ideas in the book are authentic and tested. Top of Mind contains Johns simple, yet powerful, secret to success. Readers will be grateful he shared it!

GINA McDUFFIE, CMO of VER

Here it is, a business guide to engineering serendipity! Top of Mind is a relationship guide for the digital age. Whether youre building a business or accelerating your career, John Halls clever concept and smart insight will transform the way you communicate. Move over, Mr. Carnegie; John Hall teaches anyone how to win friends and
influence peopleat massive scale.

ANDREW M. DAVIS, founder of Monumental
Shift and author of Brandscaping

Top of Mind is a must-read for any business professional who wants to understand how to break through the noisy and competitive landscape of todays digital, social, and mobile world. As an innovative and successful entrepreneur, John Hall shows us how anyone in any type of business can use their existing knowledge and expertise to become top of mind, reach potential customers, and grow their business.

MICHAEL BRENNER, CEO of Marketing Insider
Group and author of The Content Formula

Copyright 2017 by John Hall. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-26-001193-7
MHID: 1-26-001193-3.

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To all the writers, editors, and other creatives
behind many of the best pieces of content
who dont get the credit they deserve

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

ONE OF MY business heroes is Professor Don Schultz at Northwestern University. I was introduced to Dons work when I first began my career in the publishing industry nearly 20 years ago. When most marketers and thought leaders were talking about the 4Ps as critical to marketing, Don was talking about one thing: communication as differentiation.