Joe Zappa

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Founder & CEO at Sharp Pen Media

Joe is a content marketer, journalist, and academic who has spearheaded content programs for dozens of businesses. He founded Sharp Pen Media, a marketing agency that approaches content and PR through a three-step process of narrative building, editorial planning, and content creation.

Joe was the editor of the martech trade publication Street Fight from 2018 to 2023. He earned his BA from Brown and his PhD in comparative literature from Cornell.

BOOK NOW FOR your podcast

Joe Zappa

Founder & CEO at Sharp Pen Media

Joe was the editor of the martech trade publication Street Fight from 2018 to 2023. He earned his BA from Brown and his PhD in comparative literature from Cornell.

As seen on

Data Privacy Discussions Need A Reality Check

“To evade the worst possible outcomes, ad tech companies, advertisers and publishers will need to make a better case to consumers to exchange their information for valuable and free services. They’ll also need to hold regulators and platforms accountable for their impact on the ad industry that keeps the free and open web afloat. Otherwise, the cookiepocolypse will have earned its name.”

3 Strategic Questions Any Marketing Executive Should Answer

“Marketing teams often get stuck in reaction mode. But even if a marketing leader were to focus on strategy, where would she begin? At a high level, marketing strategy boils down to three questions: Are we telling a unique story that accentuates our competitive advantage? Are we connecting with our target audience? And do we have the measurement frameworks and technologies required to assess and optimize our efforts.”

Why most PR agencies see client churn — and how to foster effective relationships

“The PR agency world is infamously full of churn. Behind the scenes, agency professionals commonly regard relationships as successful if they last two years. Like CMOs, many agencies don’t even make it that long. What does the high level of agency churn say about how companies hire PR agencies and how agencies approach their work? And how can both parties foster longer-term relationships with a bigger impact?”

The Obsession with Generative AI is Part of a Broader PR Problem

“By the look of our social feeds, marketers have fallen prey to an alluring new intoxicant: generative AI. Rarely has a new technology so quickly upended marketing teams, some of which are replacing their content writers with bots, while others declare, ‘If you’re not using AI, you’re falling behind!'”

Finding Marketing Support as a Leader Who Distrusts Marketing

“In tech, especially B2B tech, businesses often grow to eight or even nine figures in revenue with a small and possibly even non-existent marketing team. This phenomenon, coupled with a bias toward product-led growth and easily measurable sales victories, often fosters distrust in marketing among members of the C-suite. Ask any tech marketing leader, and they’ll tell you that it’s not uncommon to find CEOs who flat-out claim, ‘I don’t believe in marketing.'”

How Promotional Should Marketing Content Be?

“It’s common wisdom among marketers that most long-form content should be, at most, mildly promotional. The goal is to help the reader or prospect. Then, prospects will gradually come to see the company as expert at solving their problems, and they’ll sign up for a demo or reach out for a discovery call. That is how long-form content grows businesses.”

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