Thinking like a publisher

Thanks to the web and free publishing tools anyone can now be a publisher - but what to publish?

In The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott he writes, "Prior to the web, organisations had only two significant choices to attract attention. Buy expensive advertising or get third party ink from the media." There were other options such as a company newsletter mailed to the customer database to keep in touch, particularly useful when product purchasing/replacement cycles are long to help maintain top of the mind awareness and unprompted recall of your brand during the long intervals in between. But the web has indeed opened a new door directly to customers, so what do they need to know? Well they don't necessarily want to go straight to an online catalogue. In the b-2-b marketing space purchases are more likely to be researched rather than made on impulse. And of course web site visitors may not yet be a customer, but they could be prospects waiting to be converted.

It is often noted that customers and prospects want benefits, they want to know what your product and service can do for them. Creating an online resource that is authoritative about your industry or market can be a very effective marketing tool. There is plenty of scope for content here, not just talking about the latest developments but taking a step back to provide people new to the subject a straightforward explanation of what the sector is all about, the main things to be aware of and the benefits to their organisation. You should also discuss the operating environment, issues such as legislation specific to this area of interest, what standards apply, examples of applications, new developments, user experience - in short, content which is relevant and informative to prospective buyers that provides a valuable briefing resource. Traditionally this is the area of White Papers and some of this content can indeed be available packaged in a PDF for download. But a blog actually can do much more. There are several benefits in using a blog. Although company sponsored it can afford to take a more  personal approach, less formal than the White Paper and certainly more flexible. Content can be developed by several authors, each with different expertise and knowledge of the subject. A blog is not restricted to text alone, images and video can be used to great effect and links can take readers to further information such as products that meet their needs. Blogs are also an interactive tool allowing followers to comment on articles and authors and others to respond.

The thing is, running a blog does require effort, not just to set up, but to keep going forward, to maintain quality and build followers and that is what not many companies are good at doing. But those who do will see the rewards. Taking the moral high ground in their market sector will build authority, develop trust and know what, when the time comes to replace or buy a new product guess whose name will be high on the short list of vendors.