If there’s something customers don’t need more of today, it’s content. As consumers, we’re all drowning in the stuff. The volume game for publishers is well and truly over (AI has an endless stream of generic ‘good enough’ ready to pump out) and the brands that endure will be the ones who focus on making deliberate choices to build trust, activate audiences and stand out.
Ruthless prioritisation is not optional. We’ve just released our latest Re:member research looking at trends in membership and customer communications and it is stark to me that less than a fifth of those surveyed have a content strategy in place to drive their content decision making and coordinate their output. Publishing isn’t a product like a magazine or a website, it’s a delicate ecosystem that covers everything from print, email and podcasts to socials and events. No strategy means no consistent narrative, no efficient joining of dots between channels and no challenge as to whether something should have been created in the first place. If you’re reading this and you don’t have a content strategy, start writing one, today.
As customer publishers, we should be adding value not noise. Trusted content is key to this. Customers don’t need more information, but they do need more confidence. Confidence to believe that what they’re reading is accurate and created by an actual person who knows what they’re doing. Confidence to apply the thinking that’s making its way into their inboxes or flashing up on their mobiles.
What does trusted content look like? I like to think of it as content customers can’t get anywhere else. Perspectives that are unique to you. Data that you own. Expert insights that go deeper than surface level commentary. Thought leadership not news. We need to be interpreters and guides helping educate rather than simply inform audiences.
Print has an interesting role in the mix. Consider how you search online now. If you’re like me, you’ll be using search like a concierge. You ask questions, looking for specific answers, not a selection of websites that might contain them. The challenge is, you’re searching based on ideas that are already in your head. Print can serve up information in a curated way that wasn’t even on your radar. It can broaden your mind in directions you can’t even imagine. If surprising and delighting is order of the day, print is perfectly placed to deliver.
Trusted content is also unapologetically designed with the audience in mind, tuned to their needs, motivations and life goals. Customers want to be seen and heard and connected to brands that speak to them in a personalised way rather than those that default to ‘one size fits no one’ messaging. If you’re not showing up for customers in the right way, there are plenty of other brands that will.
Fostering communities
Trust, however, isn’t enough to turn your audiences into advocates. That’s where community comes in. Trust gets them through the door; community will ensure they don’t want to leave.
For years, publishers have operated as broadcasters, pushing out knowledge in the hope something will stick. Our job now is more nuanced. We must pull people in, invite participation, listen and convene. How many of you still use social media, for example, to drive traffic to your website rather than in-platform conversation?
Understanding (or not) exactly how we build community is where brands fall down. Technology solutions will have you believe the answer is a platform, a forum or a badge (although done well, with the right strategy, online communities can be effective). Community is about engagement, interaction and belonging and delivering experiences that drive those behaviours. Gamify, don’t just churn out content. Facilitate, don’t always create.
At the heart of your community strategy should be events. A stand-out performer in our research’s channel charts in terms of effectiveness and perceived value, events make human connection the star, transforming AI-focused information gatherers into inspiration hunters. It’s harder to move people with a screen in the way.
Community needs faces. I feel personally responsible for removing ‘parish news’ style items from magazines a decade ago in an attempt to elevate brands. While I’m not suggesting we rush back to low resolution photo montages, I think we need to reimagine community content and be proud about showcasing the people we serve.
Concentrate on content generation alone and you’ll lose ground. Success comes from being clear about what makes a brand different and worth listening to and prioritising the experiences that lean into that. We must think value not volume, backing the choices we make about both what to do and what to stop. And, we must embrace our role as connector, curator, confident guide and community co-ordinator. Less output, more impact, no exceptions.
This article was first published in Issue # 1 of Best Practice in Publishing, a new publication from InPublishing. Click here for links to the other ‘best practice’ articles from the publication.
