We’re now in part 2 of 3 of my Top 10 list.

And I do have a reason to post Obama’s photo other than that he’s finally getting cuter with that grey hair. Really.

Often, we forget that we are selling to humans. People like to hear about other people. When defining your target audience, find out what attracts or disgusts them, what appeals to them and their ego, what is the greatest fear.

Good publishers and writers do it well by hijacking a hot trend or topic that everyone is talking about. An example is Time’s Man of the Year. 2012’s Man of the Year choice of Barack Obama rode on all the buzz around the American Elections. That feature has been so effective in tapping on the current trend that it becomes a hot talking point in itself. That’s nirvana for marketers and publishers alike.

This is when you feel that your content is ready to play with the other kids. Relevant content allows you to align yourself with your target groups through special interest group meetings, being published in the magazines that they’d read or presenting at events where they will turn up.

All this content already exists within your organisation.

In every company, there will be at least one or two experts who understand the subject matter enough to talk about it till the cows come home. Your task is then to weave all that into content that is compelling to your readers.

Google often features its developers in videos talking about new products. Sure, some of your colleagues might need coaching but someone who does not have an obvious motive in talking about the product is very credible to your prospects.

For example, it can be your equities specialist, or an expert in a Latin American market, it can even be a client. In Edelman’s Global Trust Barometer Survey survey on credbility of spokespeople, the product or subject matter experts ranked a lot higher than the CEO. If your CEO is the technical expert, that’s a bonus!

This bring us to point number four – think about how you are going to distribute your content and who it will reach out to in each channel. The same content can be sliced and served in different ways – through a podcast, an article or a video. Think like a movie mogul whose summer hit can spawn spin-offs, videos, action figure toys, soundtracks, roller coaster rides, books and games.

A survey by Econsultancy, a resource for digital marketers found email marketing, social posts and blog posts to be the three most effective content distribution tools. So if you’re thinking of your content strategy, you can’t discount emails.

That’s it for now. Coming up next, a prune in a tutu! I am not kidding…