Through this series on content sharing and repurposing, some of the channels we’ve covered are often one or the other. Today, a channel that can be either one.
One of the great things about a blog is that you become a publisher. Not one with the stress a traditional publisher has. Instead, a publisher that can share content of any kind, at any time.
But you can take that a step further and publish either a magazine or newsletter.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you already have a digital newsletter. They’re easy to create and allow you to keep in touch with customers and prospects. Often these newsletters are in the form of an e-mail.
Your newsletter allows you to reuse content that you might have on your blog, while mixing in fresh content that is just for newsletter subscribers.
Taking it yet one more step further, you could take your content and create a magazine or magalog. Something like this is ideal for service providers like consultants and coaches who want to stand out from competitors. They often already have loads of great content, but not doing near enough to leverage it properly.
One of my favorite examples of a company magazine is Business Blueprint Magazine.
Dale Beaumont’s team puts together a fantastic magazine that educates people, and markets conferences they hold each year. It also allows them to build even closer connections with the people they profile.
I currently do the layout for a monthly magazine a client started in 2011. Again, it’s a perfect vehicle for great content, but includes a marketing aspect that fits in perfectly with the articles.
I took a slightly different approach when I put together my Successful Magalog Marketing magazine. In my case, I didn’t want to produce a magazine on a regular basis. I just wanted a one-time marketing piece that had useful content, but also allowed me to display my layout skills.
In all three of these examples, the magazines aren’t printed which saves money. They’re digital-only. But if you want to print your magazine or newsletter to mail to customers or high-quality prospects, you can do that.
But what if you have no interest in producing your own magazine or newsletter?
Magazines and newsletters produced by others (whether in print or online) always need content. If you’re writing about topics that fit with an existing publication, why not see if they’ll reprint one of your blog articles or allow you to write a brand new article?
I’ve had the privilege of articles being included in different eNewsletters such as Peter Bowerman’s excellent Well-Fed ePub. There are thousands of great eNewsletters covering just about every niche.
When you get your articles published in channels like this, you’re introduced to a group of people you might not have ever had the chance to be in front of.
You’ve heard of Other People’s Money? Well this is Other People’s People. And it’s a win-win. These magazine or newsletter producers need content… you have content.
The simplest path to take from this discussion is to see who is producing a magazine or newsletter that is a good match for the products or services you sell. Find out if they’re willing to take guest submissions that deal with a topic their readers care about.
Always remember… your goal when writing for another publication is not to do blatant selling. Your first goal is to make the magazine or newsletter owner look brilliant in front of his or her readers for having you share your knowledge with them.
And when you’re sincere about sharing and helping, people will be interested enough to look at your bio and click on the link to your site which is often a courtesy extended to guest writers.
If you’re looking to create something along the lines of a magazine or magalog, contact me and I’ll help you sort through the things you’ll need to consider.
Other articles in this series:
Content Sharing and Repurposing – Your Starting Point
Content Sharing and Repurposing – Twitter
Content Sharing and Repurposing – Facebook
Content Sharing and Repurposing – LinkedIn
Content Sharing and Repurposing – Google Plus
Content Sharing and Repurposing – Guides & Reports
Content Sharing and Repurposing – Books & eBooks
Content Sharing and Repurposing – Guest Blogging
To me, the most exciting development in sharing your blog is in the Amazon Kindle. This is relatively new and, as of this writing, still in beta.
The site I used, and still like, is Ezine Articles. But there are other top-notch article banks. A search will show you plenty of options.
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