Think like a publisher

The new publishing model on the web is not about hype and spin and messages. It is about delivering content when and where it is needed and branding you or your organization as a leader in the process.

When you understand your audience, and you totally "get" those people who will become your buyers (or those who will join, donate, subscribe, volunteer, or vote), you craft an editorial and content strategy just for them. Contrast an editorial strategy for a web site that delivers content directly to buyers in the form that they prefer and helps them to understand a market problem that your company solves to the typical product centric approach of most sites.

What works is a focus on your buyers and their problems. What fails is an egocentric display of your widgets.

In order to implement a successful strategy, think like a publisher. Marketers at the organizations successfully using the new rules recognize the fact that they are now purveyors of information and they manage content as a valuable asset with the same care that a publishing company does.

One of the most important things that publishers do is start with a content strategy and then focus on the mechanics and design of delivering that content. Publishers carefully identify and define target audiences and consider what content is required in order to meet their needs. Publishers consider questions like: Who are my readers? How do I reach them? What are their motivations? What are the problems I can help them solve? How can I entertain them and inform them at the same time? What content will compel them to purchase what I have to offer?

Comments

[Tina Lang-Stuart]

Thanks David for this must-needed post. You'd think that things like: "who are you readers?" and "how do I reach them?" would be questions every blogger/web publisher can answer automatically but....some can't 'cause they confuse the web and its vast opportunity for publishing content with self-promotion (as an individual or as a company). That's where the old and the new world merges - when it comes to asking the right questions and then developing a content strategy. Just because the web is fast and easy and displays a "just do it" attitude doesn't mean that you need no preparation. Planning also gets rewarded in the web 2.0 world.