Do you have the authority to publish?

Anyone can publish, but should they?

Not so long ago media was created by professionals. Professional publishers. Professional journalists. Professional authors.

Now anyone can publish; and at the heart of content marketing is the idea that content created and published by organisations can add real value.

In a recent conversation however a client asked, “That’s all well and good, but who’s gonna listen to me I’m no expert.”

The publishing police are NOT on their way

It’s a fair point, anyone can publish but what gives you the authority to publish or as PostAdvertising defines it: expertise plus credibility.

In fact, when most small businesses start down the content marketing route there’s a better than average chance that they are not the expert and will have little credibility beyond their existing customer base.

The trick is to ask who do you need the authority from. The answer is simple – your prospective readers and customers.

You need to become their trusted resource. But with that in mind, it’s still worth looking at ways to deliver expertise and be credible – vital if you intend to grow your business through content.

So what can we do to gain the expertise and credibility to publish?

Three ways to be the expert:

1. Borrow expertise – I may not be the expert but I know a man that is. In fact I know lots of them. I can deliver informative content by researching the best of the best and delivering that to my readers in a format that suits them.
2. Case Studies – Apart from learning about what other people think on a topic I can also do some homework of my own. Case studies, examples and research all add useful content into the conversation.
3. Interpretation – My particular audience is largely small businesses, freelancers and startups. I can deliver useful content by interpreting more general information for that particular audience.
   You can interpret information for your city, your country, your industry, your customers, your target age group – any subset you like. What people really want to know is how does it effect them.

In short, providing great content is not about being the expert, it’s about delivering useful informative content to your market in a way that works for them.

You become their expert.

So what about credibility?

Delivering great content builds credibility – the more quality content you deliver the more you become the trusted resource in your marketplace over time.

Becoming a trusted resource is an intrinsic goal in any content marketing effort but the key word here is ‘becoming’. You need to become an expert in what matters to your audience. You need to become a credible source of information by providing it consistently over time.

Content marketing is not so much about being the finished product but rather working towards that ultimate goal – and building a loyal following along the way.

What are your thoughts? How have you become the expert for your audience? What makes someone a trusted resource in your eyes?

Tagged as: Blogging, Content Marketing, credibility, expetise, post advertising, White papers and ebooks