As a former newspaper journalist, I’m delighted whenever I see new media spring up where the now-depleted daily press once held a monopoly.

We assist clients in putting out state newsletters, so we’ve been enjoying the healthy crop of websites devoted to state legislative news. For example, no fewer than three websites put out state legislative news. Each is a little different:

• The National Conference of State Legislatures website is explicitly for insiders—legislators and staffs.
• Stateline.org, published by the Pew Center on the States, is for the rest of us.
• And Statenet serves subscribers who need to know details about any piece of state legislation in the U.S. As opposed to the first two, which are do-it-yourself, this custom news service is kind of like hiring a personal shopper.

At one time, state legislative action filled up at least a quarter of the daily newspaper. The closing of bureaus in state capitals makes many people worry about the future of democracy in an uninformed nation.

The three state websites we now visit regularly reassure us that state legislative news will flourish, perhaps more than ever.

Of course, in truth, the aficionados of state legislative action represent a tiny—though very important—fraction of the population. Most people read newspapers for the ads. Research confirms it.

And here, beyond the decimated landscape of newspapers, we begin to see the blossoming of a venerable but hitherto second-rate craft formerly (and sometimes still) known as custom publishing. Today it’s more often called content marketing, and it isn’t second rate any longer.

Just as state news sites can make us better-informed citizens, good content marketing can make us smarter consumers of goods and services and more intelligent supporters of worthy causes. Not only are Schwinn Bicycles and Whole Foods content marketers, but so too is your college or university, your local hospital, the farmer’s market down the street, and thousands of other organizations. If not now, soon. They all want a select group of readers to know more about them, what they’re selling or promoting of course, but everything else that matters to people who are in their market.

Another post will follow shortly on content marketing and how a motivated and energetic person—yes, one person—can create his or her own brand on the Internet. If you can’t wait, go to Junta42 right now.

Posted in Industry trends, Marketing and promotion