There's an interesting article in this week's AdWeek by content marketing evangelist Joe Pulizzi that looks at the changing role of companies toward (or back to as Pulizzi suggests) publishers or media companies. He looks at the skills that have been the domain of the publisher but now serve the CMO well in this age of direct-to-stakeholder communications. While his article examines the impact of this shift on the advertising firm or the CMO, I believe the premise extends to the entire communications enterprise. The article supports the growing understanding of how corporations must commit to being in the media business today. For the corporate communicator, this represents a challenge: he or she must be develop a stream of relevant, interesting, valuable content, then submit it to the market and essentially cede control of the conversation to its stakeholders. As difficult as that step may be, it's at that intersection -- control and conversation -- that the company becomes more credible. Marketers, in turn, need to see that the conversation represents a valuable opportunity to listen and learn about what interests their communities. Asthe larger community begins to see the company as a contributor to the discussion, trust increases, as does good will. In the same way that broadcast news organziations became "trusted sources" for many years, so too can the corporation. Bring information that adds to the discussion -- white papers, research, ideas, concepts, opinion -- and ask for more inquiry and debate. Seek to stimulate conversation, not control it.
