There’s a new trend on the horizon for content marketing. Creating your own “news site” about your industry, or turning a company blog into a destination for industry news.
“Now is the time for businesses to invest in publications they own and control. There’s no one you need to pitch to have your stories placed,” advises Christopher Penn, chief data scientist at Trust Insights, who outlined the decline in mainstream media sites last fall,” explains Ann Gynn on Content Marketing Institute.
What are the benefits of turning your blog into an industry clearinghouse? The top three advantages include naturally cultivating a new audience, building more opportunities for thought leadership, and forging new partnerships.
Case study
Before we dive into the benefits of creating your own news site, let’s explore a case study of a company that created their own industry editorial site, with superior results.
The enterprise software company Nutanix created its own editorial website, The Forecast in 2019, to “(e)xplore ideas and technologies that are changing the way we live and how business gets done,” according to the Content Marketing Institute.
The goals of The Forecast included:
- raise awareness of the Nutanix brand
- Highlight Nutanix experts’ thought leadership
- Target new audiences, without traditional PR or demand generation marketing
The Forecast’s editorial strategy includes a mix of 3-5 news stories per week, articles told from insiders perspectives, original video content, a podcast, and an e-newsletter. The audience includes tech, IT, and company investors and influencers.
Since launching, the Nutanix editorial website has accumulated some incredible stats: 400,000 unique visitors, 600,000 page views, and ovr 1,200+ weekly newsletter subscribers.
The benefits of creating an industry news site
What can the success of The Forecast teach content marketers and companies looking to make an impact with their marketing?
Turning your blog into an industry clearing house or launching your own industry news site has a multitude of benefits including:
- Cultivating a new audience, targeting new leads
- Building opportunities for thought leadership
- Create a bridge to forge new partnerships
Cultivating new audiences
To start, the value of creating an industry new site or blog helps spread a widecast net to capture a bigger audience and new leads.
In the case of The Forecast website, by offering a mix of original content, insider advice, and pro tips in a variety of unique formats (i.e. video, podcast, and e-newsletter) on IT and tech topics, Nutanix naturally cultivated an audience of IT and tech companies, insiders, and professionals. The result of that audience curation? A massive cache of new, potential leads for Nutanix.
For other companies contemplating creating an industry news blog or website, the organic gathering of new audiences through the delivery of timely, informative content is a huge opportunity for growth.
Thought leadership opportunities
Another benefit of turning a company blog into an industry news site? The ability to build thought leadership.
Consistent, well-written (or ghostwritten) content elevates key leaders and their companies, and an industry news site is the perfect platform to consistently showcase leader insights.
Plus, many experts believe thought leadership is more important than ever in 2021. In fact, according to Kailynn Bowling on Forbes.com, thought leadership is critical to effective marketing in 2021 for 3 key reasons:
- “More people are online: With 40% of the U.S. saying they’re spending more time online, you have more opportunities to get in front of your audience.
- “Customers trust brands less (a lot less): Many consumers don’t want outspoken influencers anymore — they want credible, unbiased experts they can trust.
- “It opens doors: Thought leadership opens doors because it showcases your industry expertise.”
An industry “news site” is the perfect platform for industry leaders to showcase their authority and knowledge while simultaneously boosting their company’s brand.
Building new partnerships
Finally, another big benefit of turning a company blog into an industry news site is the ability to quickly form new and effective partnerships.
By hosting an editorial platform, a company-run news site offers the perfect way to meet like-minded movers and shakers.
Opportunities for guests to contribute news posts, articles, podcast episodes, video episodes, and social posts to an industry news site all offer excellent avenues to forging new, mutually beneficial relationships.
SEO benefits
Significantly, a lot of the success of The Forecast and other sites owes to the fact that, if a spinoff news site is executed properly, Google will recognize it as an authentic industry information resource.
Then the marketer behind it can build a backlinking strategy that benefits both the news site and the marketer’s own website and in-house blog.
The future of industry news
The benefits to creating an industry news site, or turning your blog into an industry news destination are trifold: a natural cultivation technique for new audiences, more opportunities for building thought leadership, and a bridge to better partnerships.
Will the future of content marketing become more collaborative as more companies attempt to create their own industry clearinghouses? Only time will tell.
But for now, it looks like the advantages of turning your blog into an industry hub for news and advice are loud and clear for those willing to invest in the strategy.
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