Writing for Outside Placement: An Important Part of Content Marketing
Your company blog is likely the hub of your content marketing efforts — for good reason. You’re crafting SEO-informed posts, often linking to additional case studies and white papers, and creating a deep repository of thought leadership. But as essential as a blog is to your overall content strategy, it’s also important to think about writing for outside placement.
Most company blogs don’t have a huge readership. If you’re doing a good job answering your readers’ questions — and optimizing the content for search — you will likely have a steady flow of traffic. But it’s still nowhere near what your industry’s trade publications get.
As a former B2B trade magazine editor, I am here to tell you that my colleagues and I were desperate for free content. The digital age has made the demand for content nearly unsustainable — but editors must keep feeding the web beast, often on a shrinking budget. Experts with relevant knowledge to share — who are happy to contribute content simply for exposure — are, generally speaking, heroes in the eyes of busy editors. But writing for outside placement is also an important part of your content marketing and thought leadership programs.
Why your content marketing should include writing for outside placement
When the end goal is to drive traffic to your website, spending time and money on outside placement may seem counterintuitive. But that’s just plain wrong! Getting a company byline in relevant publications can be a key component of content marketing success. Here’s why:
Reaching a wider audience — No matter how popular your blog is, it’s almost certain that you will reach a wider audience by crafting thoughtful content for a magazine or website. That publication may even include your article in a newsletter, or promote it on social media, increasing its reach even further.
Link-building — An important part of SEO is link-building. Having inbound links to your site is a great way to build cred with search engines, though it can be hard to get links from reputable sources without putting in some effort. But whether the link is in your author bio or organically worked into the article’s text, writing for publications is great for link-building.
Get outside your comfort zone — As much as we preach the perils of promotional content, it’s inevitable on your own channels. However, when you write for a publication, you are beholden to their guidelines. From word counts to standards around self-promotion, writing for these guidelines often forces you to create better content.
Bonus Tip: Do more with less
If you find your content marketing budget is tight, creating content for placement is a great way to get more bang for your buck. If you typically pay for content creation and distribution, writing a piece for a relevant industry site is a great way to eliminate some of the costs around promoting content. The publisher will help you amplify your message as it seeks to generate its own traffic.
How to pitch articles like a pro
While editors may want free content, they also want good content. Even now, as the keeper of client blogs, I hear from people who have no idea how to pitch successfully. This is often because editors’ emails end up on lists and get automated pitches from completely irrelevant organizations. The topic is all wrong, and it’s clear they don’t understand the audience. If there is even a glimmer of an idea there, I tend to respond and ask if they could re-pitch it for a given audience with specific guidelines in mind. Quite often, that’s the end of the conversation. Sometimes they respond and clearly have their own ends in mind, and I have to pass. But, sometimes, it works out.
Here’s what you need to keep in mind when pitching an article:
The audience — If you don’t understand a publication’s audience, your pitch will likely miss the mark. Busy editors don’t have the time to teach you what appeals to their audience. Read their guidelines and get to know their content before you send your pitch.
The angle — Know that you are likely competing with a wide variety of other pitches, quite often around the same hot topic you want to address. The key to standing out from the crowd is to have a different take, so carefully consider your angle before you send that email.
Timeliness — I once wrote an article about e-commerce for a client that was immediately snapped up for an English-language publication and then translated into other languages for placement in additional publications. Why was this one so popular? Because it was timed well for holiday shopping. If you think ahead, you’ll be able to plan content about big events or seasonal happenings that will increase your chance of getting the article picked up.
Think about your funnel — It’s important not to think of these placements as purely promotional but to also understand how this fits into your funnel. Do you have a piece of research or a report with interesting findings? Figure out how you can work those into a larger piece so that you can (organically!) work in a link to the report.
Bonus Tip: Have a draft ready
This isn’t a must, but it can be helpful. An editor might be more likely to accept a pitch if they are sure what you deliver won’t be a hot pile of garbage. So having a draft for them to review can be a great way to get your pitch accepted.
How to write articles like a pro
I cannot stress enough that writing for an editorial publication is different than writing for your blog. Editorial calendars for blogs are often either very broad and SEO-focused or very niche and hyper-focused on internal data. Editorial publications are typically news-driven and more focused on trends. You can’t try to shoehorn your agenda into their editorial calendar. But here are some other tips to keep in mind to help you write like a pro:
Use proof points — If you were a reporter, you would not just make a statement without backing it up with facts. You may be an expert in your field, but the audience may not know that yet. Whether you find stats to back up your claims or quote experts, it’s imperative to support your article with hard evidence.
Don’t assume too much — Visitors to your site are probably familiar with your company and what you do. By extension, they probably know a lot about your industry. But when you’re writing for a wider audience, the level of industry knowledge may not be as high. So don’t get too high-level without explaining the details, or start throwing around industry jargon as if everyone knows what you’re talking about.
Show your expertise — The goal here is to establish thought leadership, and that means you need to provide actual insights and actionable tips. It’s also helpful if you bring some new information to the table, so when you are drafting your article, ensure you’re not glossing over important points — and give people a reason to Google you or your company.
Bonus Tip: Work with an experienced writer
I’ve been writing this as though busy executives have time to write, and that’s often not the case. But even more importantly, not all subject matter experts are good writers — and frankly, many marketers aren’t either. So even if you don’t typically work with freelancers, now might be the time to start. Make sure you find someone who knows how to write for a publication and not just SEO or sales. (I happen to know a couple of great writers who can help you!)
I hope I’ve convinced you to incorporate more outside pitching into your content strategy, but if you’re still stuck for ideas, get some inspiration from our ghostwriting page.
