Lessons to Grow Your Publication From the Ground Up

This week’s research comes courtesy of Trendster Steph Smith, whose new e-book “Doing Content Right” is a comprehensive guide to building and scaling your own publication. She’ll teach you how to define your niche, decide what to write for whom, test and scale distribution platforms, and grow a loyal audience — through 200+ pages of insights and dozens of exercises to help you learn.

The following report, adapted from her book, represents just a tiny sliver of her expertise. To learn more, buy “Doing Content Right” here. Trends members get 50% off with the code “TRENDSONLY”.

Key takeaways

• It’s not too late to get started. Why start another publication in 2020, when there’s more information out there than ever? Simple: If you can identify a clear advantage, you can win.
• Understand your monopoly. You must solve a new problem or be better (even just a little bit better) at solving an existing one. 
• Paid or free? Before deciding, understand your value proposition. If you plan to charge, you need to be a painkiller — not a vitamin.
• Either way, you’re probably not thinking enough about distribution. People think, “If I build it, they will come.” Quite the opposite. The CODES framework will teach you how to think through the pros and cons of different channels, and incorporate them into your strategy over time.
• SEO can be the most valuable tool in your toolbox. It takes some upfront investment of time or money, but it is often the most overlooked channel that leads to sustainable growth over the long run.