A 213 Year Old Business Reveals Two Content Marketing Secrets of Today's Publishing Empires

Just a week ago, I was in Paris for the first time in my life.

My son and I were walking down Rue de Rivoli and we came across a bookstore that made a surprising claim.

The bookstore was called Galignani and it said that it was "the first English bookstore established on the continent."

I later discovered (from the man behind the counter inside) that this bookstore was opened in 1801 and had been at its current location at 1856 at Rue de Rivoli since 1856.

I also learned that it was still owned and run by descendants of the Galignani family.

As an American, whose country isn't much older than this store, it was amazing to be in a business that has been in existence for so long.

And since I am a book-addict, I had to buy a book from this historical spot. :)

The Amazing Publishing History of the Galignani Family

When I got home on went to the store website and discovered some other very interesting things about the Galignani family.

1. They were some of the first people to use, what was then, the recently invented printing press to distribute their books to a larger audience. Beginning in 1520, Simone Galignani published in Venice a Latin grammar book, which is the oldest known "Galignani".

2. Their greatest success would come 77 years later. It was the Geografia by Ptolemaus, which was published in 1597. It was a study on the making of maps and it focused on what was known of the world to Rome in the 2nd Century. This book was a big bestseller in both the 16th and 17th centuries.

But it was as I was looking into their amazing history that I discovered another surprise about this family: they were using content marketing two hundred years ago!

And the content marketing methods they were using back then are still being used by the top publishing empires today.

The 213 Year Old Content Marketing Examples

It was at the end of the 17th century that Giovanni Antonio Galignani, who born near Brescia, left an economically declining Venice for London.

And not long after, he left London for Paris.

At this point, he seemed to make a key decision: he decided to target the English-speaking population in Paris.

In 1801 he opened not only a bookstore, but also a reading room that specialized in the English language.

But that's not all. He still had his publishing business.

Now watch carefully how he used content marketing to help his publishing business and his store.

He created Galignani's Messenger, which was a daily newspaper and reference point for the English-speaking community on the Continent.

That was very smart, but he did something that took this form of content marketing to a whole other level.

He encouraged some of the greatest English authors of his time to contribute to the newspaper. Not only that, their books were also later published by Galignani. (He asked literary greats like Byron, Wordsworth, etc. to contribute to his paper.)

The Two Galignani Content Marketing Lessons

I think there are two valuable content marketing lessons we can learn from Galignani:

1. Create a content channel for your target market.

Galignani didn't just try advertising his store to the people he was hoping to reach, he had bigger and better ideas. Instead of creating ads, he created a content channel in which he provided his target market with information they needed and wanted. It wasn't all bookstore-related, either. He focused on their interests, not just his business.

He understood that once he created a valuable content channel for his audience, then he could indirectly and directly promote his own ventures. But that's not all. By creating a content channel instead of just an ad, he elevated his store and publishing business in the minds of his audience.

They became a loved and desired source of information to the English speaking community. (What ad could have done that?)

2. Invite leading authorities to create content for you.

Galignani could have just tried to create all of the content himself and maybe he would have if he was trying to promote himself or his own authority. But he wasn't. His goal was to attract his target audience, benefit them, and promote English authors (whose works he published and sold.)

If you use your content to help your target audience, help other authorities in your niche, and advance your industry, then you and your business will be elevated in the process.

Not only does this method help others, but it allows you to break through the barrier that keeps so many business from harnessing the power of content marketing: the problem of having to create all of the content yourself.

This is a method I have used multiple times.

When I put together my ebooks How Your Business Can Survive and Prosper in a Recession, I didn't just create all of the content myself. I instead interviewed 38 top business, sales, and marketing experts and asked them to contribute and allowed each one to promote their website or books.

When I decided to create a website for business owners in the San Francisco Bay Area, I again used this method. I didn't just decide to create all of the content myself. I instead invited other local experts to share their knowledge. And, again, I made sure that the site is a platform that helps to elevate and promote them and their work, not just myself and my work.

The Secret of Today's Publishing Empires

I'd encourage you to try Galignani's two content marketing methods yourself.

They are the "secrets" of many of today's publishing empires such as: HuffingtonPost.com, Mashable.com, ContentMarketingInstitute.com, CopyBlogger.com, SocialMediaExaminer.com, etc.

They focused on a target market.
They created a content channel to help their audience and elevate their industry.
And they invited authorities to create content for them.

These two content marketing methods are deceptively simple in appearance.

But just remember that they have proven themselves to be effective for at least two centuries, they are still being harnessed today, and they will probably continue to work for (at least) another two centuries. :)

*Galignani's Messenger image from http://gallica.bnf.fr

*Galignani's storefront image from http://www.galignani.fr

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Scott Aughtmon is the person behind the popular infographic "21 Types of Content We Crave". He is a regular contributor to ContentMarketingInstitute.com and he has also written for other sites such as 12Most.com and Problogger.net. You can read more of his unique insights at his site RecessionSolution.com.