Why Every Business Should Think Like a Publisher
This post is written by Tunisha Brown.
Tunisha Brown is an innovative and results-driven media powerhouse, serving as the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of IMPACT Magazine.
As a business owner who is also a publisher, there are many facets of this work that are vital. Most businesses believe visibility comes after growth; publishers know visibility creates growth.
When I launched IMPACT Magazine in my hometown of Trenton, New Jersey, 75 people attended our first event, 50 of them were my family. I never focused on the 50 family members who showed up out of love. I focused on the 25 people who showed up because they saw the marketing, believed the message, and chose to attend. That moment taught me the power of visibility.
People don’t trust what they can’t see. Gone are the days when a single commercial or newspaper ad could sell a product on promise alone. Even when I began almost two decades ago, people wanted a visualized narrative in order to believe.
After 18 years in media, I’ve learned this: the businesses that struggle most with visibility are the ones that treat it as a tactic instead of a system.
Being visible allows your company to build trust with its audience. It shows that you have put people first and products or services second. It shows consistency, not just during campaigns, but over time. This is how long-term narratives are built, rather than chasing short-term wins.
For startups, thinking like a publisher is essential because brand equity doesn’t yet exist. Established businesses often forget this as they scale, and they pay for it later.
To build brand equity, you must think of your audience as an asset. From the onset of IMPACT, we gained visibility by venturing out city to city, highlighting individuals and organizations making an impact in their industries and communities. What I learned was that people pay attention to, and want to be around, those with shared interests and from whom they can learn. Taking this same concept from city to city showed consistency, which built credibility visually.
To start your journey to thinking like a publisher, you must accomplish five tasks:
First, understand your goal and who this is for.
Publishers don’t write for everyone. After assessing how I was able to get 25 people to purchase tickets to the launch of the magazine, without knowing who I was or ever having read or seen it, I paid attention to whose story I was telling in that issue and how the marketing and design visually pulled them in.
Second, commit to a consistent narrative with a core theme your business stands for.
For 18 years, IMPACT Magazine has empowered, encouraged, and educated readers through the power of images and words. Maintaining a consistent narrative across the magazine, our social platforms, and our events has built long-term credibility.
Third, keep your eyes on the prize: your customers.
Highlighting those aligned with your business naturally draws others in. When I launched IMPACT city to city, I made sure to feature stories of people making an impact in the cities we were in. People are drawn to spaces where they can see themselves and learn from others.
Fourth, create visibility where your audience already is.
In every city where the magazine launched, I showed up in the spaces where the audience already gathered. At the same time, social media was beginning to grow, so I invested time in learning Facebook and later Instagram. You can’t wait for your audience to come to you, you must meet them where they are.
Fifth, understand that visibility is a long-term system, not a short-term tactic.
Publishers plan for sustained presence. In a society built on swipes and short attention spans, you must decide how you will show up consistently, even in small ways, rather than only during launches or promotions.
It was imperative for me to define IMPACT’s narrative, because failing to do so would have left room for someone else to define it. Without thinking like a publisher, the consequences: reactive public relations, brand confusion, and missed trust during moments of change or crisis, are high.
What I’ve found is that the most resilient businesses don’t chase attention. They earn trust, the same way publications have.