Content Marketing: Comment On News Rather Than Report It

by Randy Murray on January 16, 2014

Unless your corporate mission is to report news, you are far better off commenting on news rather than reporting it to your customers and prospects.

Reporting is a clear function, but it can become confused and suspect when reported by someone trying to sell you something. Commentary, however, can be very valuable. And that also takes a bit of the pressure off. We are interested in your opinion. That’s why you’re working so hard at being a thought leader, right?

For example, lets say that something BIG happens in your industry, in the industry where your customers work. Do you feel compelled to immediately blast it out to your readers? Why? If it’s big news they’re already getting it from many other sources. Independent sources of news is more credible. YOU are not a credible news source. They don’t need the news from you. What they need from you is perspective. They need to know what the news MEANS.

And that takes time. That’s OK. Tell your readers that you’re thinking about the impact of the news and you’ll have something to say about it soon. Don’t ignore it, but think and prepare a thoughtful response. Do the work, send it through your editorial process. Get it right the first time. Don’t do it today unless it’s an absolute emergency.

The news comes and goes quickly. Usually within hours and certainly within days. What your readers need is information that goes beyond the news. And that’s what your content marketing approach should do for you.

Content Marketing: Comment On News Rather Than Report It by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

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