By Daniel Schiller
I’ll bet you’re a big believer in the importance of the custom editorial role in your strategic communications framework.
As awesome as your custom editorial may be, it’s likely you’ve only scratched the surface of this strategy implementation.
You’re going to have to work it. You need to market your marketing.
Reason 1: Meeting Needs Much?
No one cares about your company.
Which is why you’re investing in custom editorial—to get your story out there.
But, there’s another way to think about this.
We are consumed by our own needs and wants.
Because of that, your job is to determine what makes your audience tick, and develop custom editorial around those needs.
Thinking about other people’s needs first establishes credibility, and provides an opening for your solution.
Custom Editorial Grows Market Consciousness
At a recent Startup Socials event, one of the key takeaways was that marketing and PR are essential—at a certain point.
Get an awesome product, one that addresses needs first, and then spend time and resources on growing market consciousness.
Here are some thoughts on creating and distributing custom editorial that makes a difference:
- Define your audience. Think about who they’re not. Our needs are as unique as we are, and not everyone can meet them.
- Build relationships. Join real or virtual groups and participate, but don’t expect anything initially.
- Work it! Building rewarding, lasting relationships takes elbow grease. There’s no substitute.
- Guide others to success. Rising tides lift all boats. Inform your editorial and pitches with this adage.
“Dynamics come when you work with human beings,” said Sean Sheppard of GrowthX.
I think that’s right on.
Reason 2: Posting isn’t Marketing
Because no one cares about your company, they don’t want to see your product updates in the News Feed.
Savvy engineers have ensured that the algorithms aren’t that into you.
So it’s more #lolcatpics and less tweeting ‘Bae,’ whatever that means.
Full disclosure: After strongly counseling otherwise, I have enabled this behavior.
While I had many collaborators and enablers, so far I’m the only one putting this in writing.
Here’s the recipe for going rogue: You’ve invested in awesome custom editorial, but are reliant on a single channel (oh, let’s say it’s Facebook) and don’t invest in promoting these assets. Coupled with a small footprint in other channels, there’s little complementary reach or exposure.
So what does this do to the owned and earned media dynamic?
The four people who’ve liked your posts see them—a lot. Rest assured they will continue to do so.
If I charted reach versus engagement rate for this scenario, it might look something like this:
That’s not marketing, it’s posting. There’s a HUGE difference.
Pay to promote these posts, and you’ll reach more of the existing fan base. But it won’t significantly increase reach nor will it grow market consciousness.
The solution is to set your story free and draw high-quality views with an inviting custom editorial experience.
Not just the hospitable thing to do, it’s the smart thing.
Delivering a rewarding experience builds a baseline of trust and primes market consciousness for your best results yet.