4 Steps to Evolve from Marketer to Publisher

The definition of "marketer" from dictionary.com is as follows:

"someone who promotes or exchanges goods or services for money"

This definition is simple and straightforward. The role of the marketer has always to communicate a sales-oriented message in order to sell a product or service. Today, this couldn't be further from the truth.

The evolution of the marketer has sped faster than Moore's Law over the last decade. Most of this is a direct result of the change in buyer behavior and the role that technology has played into that. Buyers, inundated with thousands of marketing messages per day and equipped with TiVo, are generally unaffected by the vasts amounts of messages sent from marketers. Technology (like TiVo and pop-up blockers, for example) has enabled consumers to block out a marketer's message that surrounds the content that is really wanted by the buyer. Those messages that cannot be blocked by technology are served up to the conscious mind as irrelevant and are ignored.

So, what is a marketer to do?

A marketer's responsibility is no longer to communicate sales features and benefits about the products and services they offer. They must now do the following:

1. Define the critical group of buyers.
2. With a clear understanding of the buyer, find out what that buyer's informational NEEDS are.
3. Create the information that is NEEDED by the buyer, and do so on a consistent basis.
4. Track success through conversion measures and adjust as you go.

Only then can a relationship between a buyer and a seller take place. The buyer must allow us into their personal space first before any secondary product and service messages can get through. Since the content generated by the marketer is NEEDED (not just wanted), the buyer won't mind an occasional sales message. Even more, they will probably welcome one since the marketer's product or service will speak directly to the communication and workplace challenges of the buyer (since the marketer knows the buyer so well).

In order for a marketer to succeed, particularly in the business-to-business marketplace, the marketer must evolve into the publisher. A traditional publisher might be defined as "one that connects buyers and sellers together through a content exchange." The definition of a marketer-publisher is very similar. The difference is that a traditional publisher has a goal of making money on the content itself (through the sale of advertising, sponsorships, or paid content), while a marketer/publisher's goal is to attract and retain customers and make money from their own products and services.

The marketer's role as evolved into the teacher/the thought leader. The marketer's job is to make the buyer more intelligent, and by doing so, will reap the rewards of more goods and services sold. It is now, in the marketing department, that an organization can truly differentiate themselves from the competition and become a valuable customer asset. Now this is something the marketing department can be excited about!

To subscribe to more quality content like this post, receive the email update or get the RSS feed!

Related Articles:

• 42 Content-Building Ways to Attract and Retain Buyers
• 16 Questions to Ask Before Launching a Content Marketing Project
• Content is King, But What Is It Really?
• Stop Shouting Features: 5 Tips To Create a Knowledge Marketing Program
• 4 Content Marketing Essentials for Every Business

>>If you liked this article, try Junta42 for more.