The allure of print. Why the glamour around published material; trade magazines and newspapers?

A local business man was recently telling me about his marketing strategy when the talk turned toward that ever-so-sexy word “content marketing.” This guy loved the idea of writing articles that he could share to show expertise, build trust and get in front of people he hasn’t met yet. A seriously active phone dialer and networker, he was looking for some ideas about getting himself “out there” more.

What he really wanted, he confided, was to get some articles published in some established business magazines. Not their websites, but the actual hard copy, printed magazines or newspapers. Ahh, the tantalizing scent of ink!

Being featured in an reputable publication, especially one with prestige and readership, draws attention to your business, promotes the writer as an expert, and throws you into the spotlight, or so it would seem. Don’t those big magazines have thousands of subscribers? what a great way to be seen!

The idea of “being published” is tantalizing to relatively unknown people whose business is their brand. Instant exposure. What could be better? Though that accomplishment used to be something you could flaunt fro years, today content marketing is about pumping out your own content on your own channel as well as publish the occasional feature in a printed journal.

As soon as I brought up the idea of a blog, my new friend winced. “Too much work, I don’t like to write, too time consuming and not prestigious enough.”

Oh. I have to admit, that last one stumped me. He was looking for acclamation and presence in traditional trade magazines. The funny thing is, when I asked him what trade magazines he read, he couldn’t think of any. He said, “All I ever read is the shit on the internet.”

The shit on the internet. Blogs. (Hey! What an idea!) Although that’s all he was used to reading, he wanted to stand out by publishing something in some distant, exclusive land called print media.

Yeah, it is kind of cool to see yourself in print. Something you hold in your hands. If you remember life before Amazon and Kindle, the holy grail for writers was publishing.

I’m not immune. I have sitting on my shelf the 2013 edition of The Writer’s Market, the Bible of sources, guidelines, and addresses of publications in any imaginable field. (Now, of course, it’s an online subscription.)

Bought, but never used, the tome is a reminder of the change in media today. I have no real need to mark it up the way I used to, partly because I’m writing about topic which favors the internet — copywriting and content marketing — and mainly because just about everyone I want to reach is accessible online. Linked in helps you find people who know the person you want to meet. As my friend Amy Cole, a Linkedin expert, says we’re all less than six degrees away from our dream job. Or in this case, the dream agent, dream published article, dream writing gig.

For writers and other experts (and people with ghost writers), you get exposure by writing online.

Yet, still there’s still this old time-y fascination with print. If it’s difficult to get published, it must mean you really deserve to be there if some editor on high deems your writing worthy of ink.

I love paper. Magazines are still best read by physically turning pages, unmatched by reading the same content on a Kindle. I still subscribe to some, and love plopping on the sofa and opening a glossy magazine. But there’s that nagging disconnect between digital and paper. As I flip pages, I note the things I want to check out online, but I never manage to do it, in spite of the “blip this page” icon.

The hold-in-your-hands newsletter, delivered via the mail carrier and landing in your mailbox is one of culture’s uncommon objects. Introducing one to your followers would make you really stand out — but it takes commitment and money for postage and printing.

The best start you can give yourself in content marketing is to simply publish your own articles under your name in your own space, your website. Give your readers access to a blog and your live followers, all your fans in real life, will see you’re committed to getting them the best information you can about what you know to be true.

Content marketing is personal and direct. It’s not about pulling out a copy of a magazine from two seasons ago and pointing to an article with your name in it. It’s about sharing and being the same “you” — but online.

Besides being more accessible by creating your own content in a blog, you actually make it easier for those magazines to eventually publish one of your articles in the form of a guest post or a contributing author. And the beautiful thing about that is the ability to link back to your website.

For many, whose business is wrapped up in their personal efforts, your face and your name is your brand. While you gain clout to be seen in an established source, content marketing is all about become your own media, the source, that place where people go because they trust you to produce and curate content that reflects your sensibilities and distinct point of view.

This change in perspective requires some bravado on your part. That confidence is required to get your own vibe going. When you don’t fit in nicely with some established magazine’s content, you boldly declare your own.

The ironic truth behind all of this is that the more you identify your own content and your own readership and whatever it is that makes your stuff special — and that means not fitting in with the other guys — the more YOU you are, the better chance you have of being noticed by some of the websites and media sources with similar audiences. You become a more attractive possibility for a future guest post or editorial within their pages just by audaciously coming up with your own content in your own space.

So why NOT you?

Three easy steps to owning your media channel.

Start your blog… or video blog or podcast. Tell your story! No one has the right to tell it but you. Your blog is the easiest, fastest, most economical way to become that media channel you want to appear in, so start today. Buy your domain name, host it somewhere, purchase a snazzy, robust wordpress theme, and Boom! you’re up and running for less than a couple hundred dollars.

Stop thinking small. Stop figuring out a way to land on someone else’s stage. Be audacious and real and raw. Why the hell NOT you? There’s no real trick to it. You’re already swimming in the water of your own ideas, so own them and take some responsibility for getting them out there. Stop waiting and positioning yourself and hoping for someone else to do it for you.

Whatever you are doing in person, do online. There. That’s the big secret.

What a mistake NOT to.

Regarding the “shit” available online — the stuff my friend read, but didn’t think was good enough for the people he hoped to impress — I should have pointed out that a lot of that stuff wasn’t junk, but actually helpful content, written by serious authors with some style. Have you noticed that when the quality of writing on the Internet is very good…you know where to go to find it.

So seize the day. Go all in. Own your content.

I promise, you’ll never regret publishing content for your own media channel. The sooner the better.

Newsboy photo: Flickr CC, Children’s Bureau Centennial

Woman with magazine photo: Flickr CC, Pedro Ribeiro Simões

How The Quest For Authority Undermines Your Message

Mobile + Email + Content + Talent = Small Business Edge

Unusual Free Opt-In Event Hits a Home Run

I hear it so many times from entrepreneurs and small business people:

I would love to have time to blog because I have a lot to say!
Ugh, I have to get a blog post up. What a pain.
I don’t have time to blog! I’m too busy.
I’m serving customers and dealing with clients all day long. I’m too tired to do it.
Marketing, blogging, and working on my website are just not my thing.
I’m not tech-y.

Those are all great excuses. I’ve used them myself. But marketing your business pays off, and keeping up a blog is a wonderful way to “be helpful” to your customers while you’re actually doing other things.

Seize the Day!

Think of blogging as adding a virtual team member to your business and you’ll probably be able to justify the time and cost.

Today I am going on a field trip with my 5th grade son’s class and I want to share with you my thought process about it. Maybe, just maybe, you will find some inspiration for sitting down and putting words to your idea, and getting that blog post up on your blog.

This is the end of an era for me. As my baby goes through his last year of elementary school, part of me is thrilled that I’ll never have to prepare for another child’s Valentines Day party or participate in another school carnival. If I never see another cheap plastic toy, squirt green icing from a tube onto a child’s Christmas tree cookie, or host one more beanbag toss game; I’ll die a happy mom.

Real nurturing and sentimental, I know, but after a combined 12 years of little kid stuff, I won’t miss this. Hasta la Vista to grade school!

So here’s what’s weird. When I saw this last opportunity to go with Henry on his field trip, something kicked in and said, “Well, just one more time, for old time’s sake.” The school bus experience, sitting under an oak tree with a hundred kids eating a bagged lunch, the dutiful march through the Texas History Museum. Being part of my youngest’s school day one last time, marks the end of “the little kid part” of my motherhood.

At least I’m looking at it that way. So I’m heading this morning out on my last field trip as a mom and chaperone.

What does this have to do with blogging and creating web content?

It’s a “just do it” kind of day. The idea occurred to me, so I’m acting on it. I’m tying up my laces and going with the moment.

In that spirit, do you ever have flashes of ideas about things you could write in your blog, that never seem to make it there?

Say you’re having a conversation with a customer and you recognize the subject would make a great blog post. Or you are driving to a meeting and you hear something on the radio and think about how it affects your clients? But you didn’t act on it.

Here’s my little challenge to you. Jot it down, record it somewhere and just do it. A blog post doesn’t have to be 1800 words and supported with multiple examples to be good. It just has to quickly get to a point about something and it should be helpful or entertaining ins some way to your readers. You might even consider videotaping a quick Facebook Live post.

Take 15 – 30 minutes and just get it out there. If you’re crunched, and there’s no time for blogging today, don’t worry to much about pictures and keywords (yes, I really did just say that). Just get it out there. Or hire a VA to help you with that stuff. Just get it down.

Start small and before you know it you’ll have a routine going. You’ll think of all kinds of things to say and your blog will begin to accumulate posts and “presence.”

The sooner you start to act on these impulses, the easier it will become. You might even start to enjoy it, once you make a decision.

That’s it, that’s all I have time for today… I’m off to school!

One more thing, don’t let a lack of inspiration be your excuse, either. Here are 54 content ideas you can run with. My gift to you, absolutely free. Enjoy!

What’s Stopping You From Owning Your Own Media Channel?