It’s a good bet you didn’t see yourself as a publisher as you climbed the business ladder. You probably thought the creation of information-rich online content was best left to seasoned media professionals. Surprise! Radical changes in buyer behavior, fueled by the ever-increasing demands on people’s time, are significantly altering how companies engage with customers and prospects. With traditional forms of advertising becoming increasingly ineffective for brand-building, content marketing is today’s competitive advantage for growing businesses.

Consumers are more trusting of brands that can help make them smarter and wiser. Content marketing satiates those needs, be it via a microsite, an e-newsletter, an online video, a webinar, or an audio program — as long as the information is relevant, credible, and compelling. Joe Pulizzi, coauthor of Get Content. Get Customers (getcontentgetcustomers.com), offers these tips for making content marketing part of an effective brand communication strategy:

• Make the commitment. Understand that the initiative takes time, effort, and expertise.
• Think and act like a publisher. Learn how to create the kind of high-quality content that emanates from great publishers and great corporations.
• Deliver information that your target audience really needs to succeed in work or life.
• Link your content strategy to your bottom-line results.

For more Internet brand building tactics, download the September issue of FuelNet Monthly, an 8-page newsletter designed to help owners and managers of companies of every size maximize their marketing opportunities and grow their business. Other issue highlights include:

• How to create a business development plan
• The keys to an effective strategy workshop
• Surefire tips for winning back lost customers
• 4 personal branding myths to overcome
• Tactics for creating a video case study

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