What if Newspaper Publishers Adopted Content Marketing?

Content marketing and custom content seem to be all the rage. As a marketer, I’ve adopted content marketing and believe in its ability to woo prospects and bring them down a path to better understanding and knowledge of our company. If you’re reading this blog right now you’re being subjected to content marketing. Want to know a secret? The toughest part of content marketing is coming up with all the content.

Not everyone considers themselves a writer and people in general aren’t very good at writing. We don’t like to know or follow the rules and we have a tendency to write how we speak, which is not a good thing. But guess who has a stable of really good writers at their disposal? It shouldn’t be that hard, just guess. You got it: newspapers and newspaper websites. Both of these groups have on staff any number of professionally trained writers whose skills could be used to build their business.

While the preference for these journalists might be to follow a beat, break an amazing story on white collar crime and the latest version of Madoff, or tell a heartwarming story of life off the grid for a woman and her dog, their skills could be put to use to help the company stabilize their finances, and potentially get them pointed back toward the $50 billion mark as an industry.

If you’re wondering how, I’m going to tell you. Story after story on content marketing talks about the value of reaching consumers with content they want and how consumers actually find relevant content valuable. That makes sense, since as a 30-something-father-of-two living an active lifestyle I’m much more likely to purchase a bike trailer for my daughter than an $80,000 sports car. Ads for sports cars – I’m not paying attention to them.

According to this infographic from Wishpond, 90% of consumers find custom content useful and 86% of B2C marketers are using content marketing. Those are good stats for any company trying to get in touch with consumers and drive them to action, even if that action is to not discontinue their subscription.

Want another stat newspaper publishers should be interested in? According to the infographic, 58% of consumers trust editorial content. Guess what newspaper publishers have a lot of? Editorial content. Now, if newspaper publishers can find a way to take their writers, who are masters at creating content, and carve out some time by putting Madoff on the shelf, the publishers could maximize their resources by getting marketing material created, the writers could broaden their portfolio and skill set by getting out of the journalistic funnel for a bit, and the publication could turn some of those resources into new revenue.

That sounds like a win-win-win for the newspaper publisher, the writer and the publication. Content marketing isn’t a quick fix and won’t produce results overnight. However, as mentioned in the beginning the toughest part is often creating the content. Newspaper publishers and staff journalists are experts at that, given it’s their job. The key will be putting it together in a way that makes sense for the consumer, and segmenting their targets to be sure the right content is getting in the hands of the right audience. The batch and blast method is long-gone. That might be the hardest part for newspaper publishers who are used to producing content that’s consumable by everyone. But if newspaper publishers can do it effectively and efficiently, the likelihood of their business stabilizing, and potentially heading back up the scale remains high.

If you want to learn more about reaching the affluent and educated audience, download our white paper on the value of this audience.

Scott Olson is the director of marketing at Mediaspace Solutions. His career has spanned marketing positions in the non-profit, software and utility sectors providing various marketing experiences. You can connect with Scott on Facebook, Google+, Twitter or LinkedIn.