How to Embrace Your Role as a Publisher

No matter what business you’re in, if you want to capture attention online (the kind of attention that really matters) you need to embrace your role as a publisher. I know you’re busy. I know you have thousands of things on your plate right now – but the future of your company’s growth depends on this shift.

Unfortunately, this means you may need to be the cheerleader and change maker in your department – or entire office. But fortunately, the results are so well worth it they will overshadow the growing pains.

Publishing content regularly on your website and social channels builds a long term relationship with prospects–converting them into paying customers. Every targeted, helpful and interesting resource that you create is like a deposit on your future sales with your target audience. And it pays off in spades.

Did you know that content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing – and generates about three times more leads? Not too shabby stats to build a business case on.

So how do you make the shift? It requires a change in philosophy and practice.

1. Take a crawl, walk, run approach.
   Becoming a publisher and seeing the best results from content marketing doesn’t happen overnight. If you’re just starting a blog for your company, or are exploring the right social media marketing channels, you’re going to be crawling. Success at this stage is going to be seen in terms of basic engagement and audience growth. Then you can ramp up your efforts once you’ve established your content and social media activity. Yes – it is going to take time, so prepare yourself and prepare your team. Commit to a six month editorial calendar and then go back and look at your results.

 

1. Focus on the critical areas first.
   Content marketing and social media can solve a variety of problems – so be sure your keep your focus where you’re going to have the most impact. Do you need more leads? Do you need to create better relationships with the customers that you already have? Are you trying to develop a presence in a new market? As you make the shift from traditional marketing to being a publisher, concentrate on these critical areas first. You’ll see the best results and have a specific area to focus on as you develop better inbound skills.

 

1. Get outside help.
   Embracing your role as a publisher is new, exciting and overwhelming at the same time. But you don’t have to go it alone. Working with a strategic marketing team can help you create your new strategy as a publisher, execute it and even perfect it. Remember, time is money. If you’re ready to take your content marketing and social media to the next level, outsourcing some of the work may be the best way to go (and it will keep you from tossing and turning every night wondering when you’re going to find time to master this new way of marketing!).

The reality is that we are living in a world where content is king–and it’s becoming increasingly more important for brands to recognize that being a publisher is one of the best ways to get the attention of their target audience.

So how are you doing with your content marketing? Have you embraced your new role as publisher? If you need some help getting started, give us a shout. We eat words for breakfast.

(And yes, for some reason I am on a kick with dog pics for my blog articles these days. But hey, they’re cute, right? Feel free to share! 😉 )