Publishing puts you ahead of the pack.
Automatically, you are seen as an authority, a leader, a trusted advisor. You are connecting with your audience regularly and staying up-to-date with their needs.
Within a few months, you will have completely catapulted yourself far beyond your competition. Depending on your industry, it is highly unlikely that you are going up against anyone else who is doing smart content marketing. Immediately, you will be seen as the leader in your field.
However, although you just won one competition, you just started another. The competition for attention.
If you are trying to get people to click over to your article, open your email newsletter, or download your podcast, you need to realize that you aren’t competing with your competitors anymore.
If you want me to click on the article you posted on Facebook, you need to be as interesting as the funny link my best friend just posted.
If you want me to open your email, you need to be as engaging as the email from my college friends about an upcoming trip.
If you want me to listen to your podcast, you need to be as insightful as Radiolab. I need to be more compelled to listen to your show when I work out than to my Michael Jackson playlist.
Do you see the challenge?
Intimidated? You should be. Competing for attention is the big leagues and no one has time for you if your content is mediocre.
How to be more interesting than my mother’s Facebook pictures:
A good strategy for gaining attention is to decide which of the 4 E’s of Audience Engagement is your focus (entertaining, educating, exciting, or exclusivizing), and then turn it up to 11. Be more entertaining than everyone else. Give a better packaged educational experience than anyone else. Say something no one was expecting. Give it to an even more exclusive group.
Here are some specific examples.
Broaden your topic. If you sell life-insurance, then only talking about the latest term-life rates is not going to win any attention. However, if you have an Ideal Audience of young professionals, you can offer insights on a variety of topics about getting their financial situation in order (wills & trusts, retirement, smart investing, college for kids).
Narrow your audience. If you can find a small ideal audience that doesn’t have a leader yet, you will not lack in gaining attention. If you are the only one out there creating content for Indians resettling in Bangalore with a background in mechanical engineering after living in Europe, you will likely have a captive audience (if you understand them well!).
Be shocking. If your content is related to helping people be more productive, don’t say what everyone else is saying. Don’t highlight the top ten mobile apps to increase your productivity. Tell people to throw away their phone and they’ll be much more productive. Start a whole series on non-digital productivity. People will tune in for that.
Competing for attention is a challenge. If you thought distinguishing yourself against the other slate manufacturers in your industry was tough, now you are up against cat videos. Don’t go into battle unprepared!