I gave a brief interview [click through for the video] last week at Content Marketing World.
When done well, 1.) creating original content in support of audience needs -- to genuinely help people do what they want to do, make it easier to understand their opportunities from using your product and service -- 2.) acting as an intelligent filter for industry news and advances based on your domain expertise, and 3.) providing tools and ways for your customers to identify what is real -- including calling out what is bull, earns reputation in the long run.
Good reputation is an outcome of delivering on promises -- credibility feeds brand equity and builds community, including a community of practice around the product and/or service you offer.
This requires a shift from product- to audience-outcome as the focus. For example, take a look at what Rand Fishkin and team have been able to accomplish in a few years.
- It started with a set of tools# to help businesses/teams identify and diagnose areas of opportunity online
- and a blog to talk through issues# and provide the Moz perspective, which eventually developed into the perspective of other domain experts
- then expanded into a community# where experts and tools come together -- both online and offline -- to support the efforts of online marketers
At Inbound14 this week, Rand Fishkin session was a full house.
Through white-boarding sessions, articles, blog posts, live events, and online tools, Moz is helping its users improve their work. Content marketing as platform for MOZ customers and partners to rock content.
A very different proposition than content as channel, or content to generate traffic to a site -- a good starting point, yet a limiting proposition if the only point.
+++
Valeria is an experienced listener. She designs service and product experiences to help businesses rediscover the value of promises and its effect on relationships and culture. She is also frequent speaker at conferences and companies on a variety of topics. Book her to speak here.