If you have hit that skid in life where a problem is so big, it can’t possibly be solved by yourself–and you’re the only person who can solve it–then you’re a publisher.

Not your particular one. You’re just a guy with a video camera who is trying to make some money. No one reads your magazines, no one reads your books, and no one checks out the blog posts on your website or lists on your social media.

No, even your own family and friends can’t read or value your content. The problem is, that’s exactly what you’re trying to accomplish: We’re so damn smart, we can’t really do it.

Yet, while you think this is the most bizarre and perplexing thing a human has ever done, the number of people just like you has skyrocketed to a new level. They’re basically just you in a bigger package.

It’s an area that we’ve all lived by before. Except now, in this entire new digital generation of ours, there’s no logical reason why publishers can’t excel at this next level of content marketing.

You haven’t helped yourself much when you’ve dismissed this latest level of content marketing as the problems of a small or medium-sized publisher. That’s a completely understandable response. You were the nice guy who had to update your payroll every week, or face the possibility of failure. And all you wanted to do was sell a hand-me-down magazine that already had all your content and had no ideas of what to write about the next issue. But now, in 2019, there’s no reason you can’t be a powerful content marketer in any digital age.

However, making this jump takes a lot of research and careful planning. We’ve got that covered, too.

Your Content Marketing Strategy Needs to Change

If you’re sticking to print and websites, that’s probably the direction you’ve always wanted to go. If not, make a statement and say you’re ready to experiment with new products and strategies. Maybe you have a series of podcasts that work really well for your market. Try out a program, maybe even hire a marketing partner or A/B testing expert.

On the digital side, think about how your website redesign will help. Give your audience more bang for their buck. You want to make more money by getting as many eyeballs to your platform as possible. That means you want to give your visitors more engaging content through your landing pages.

So, give us a better look at what’s on your agenda. Go ahead and run some real studies on what and how your readers use your platform. Look through the analytics. Ask questions. Listen to the feedback you get. Find out exactly what your audience wants. You’ll have better insight into what content to create next.

In the same way, it’s important to collect data on your staff’s work and learn what you need to improve your own performance, too. So, fill out surveys about your book reviews and big, successful blogs. This will help you better manage your staff, understand your bottom line and optimize what and how to market your web presence.

This process of ongoing self-reflection might feel hard. Yet, when it comes to content marketing, you’re part of a rapidly changing digital landscape. The audience is there. They’re expecting a brand or person to show that they’re making content that they can trust. If you’re not doing that, you’re hurting your market.