An active contributed articles program is a vital aspect of a company’s marketing and Public Relations effort … and an effective one at that. An article appearing online or in print helps position that company within an industry and market segment. Employees who write contributed pieces that appear in a magazine or online can be thought of as experts and knowledge leaders in their field. The price is right as well.In most cases, placing a contributed piece doesn’t cost the company a cent.
Of course, every marketing department around would prefer to have an editor, analyst, blogger or some other industry influencer interview the company’s senior executives. After all, a published interview written by an industry influencer is a third-party endorsement. But with shrinking budgets and competing priorities, publications and onlines don’t always have the staff to do them. Yet, all of them need a continual source of fresh content to keep the publication interesting and to draw readers back. That’s where contributed articles can help.
Just as you wouldn’t stumble into a department store for a loaf of bread, you need to know which publications accept contributed articles and what types. Neither is difficult, though it requires a bit of research.
Contributed articles can range from viewpoints, guest blog postings or comments to case studies and technical pieces. Now, let’s look at these various article types and explain the terminology.
Technical pieces and cases studies –– a look at how a technology or product is implemented –– are by far the most time consuming and detailed. The “How To” steps to get them placed are below.
Viewpoints are also known as opinion pieces and commentaries, depending on the publication or online. Think of your daily newspaper. The back pages of the first section are devoted to opinion pieces. The left-hand facing page is the editorial page meant to help shape reader opinion. It includes editorial-board written articles known as editorials, an editorial cartoon and letters to the editor from readers. The right-hand page is called the Op Ed page for “opposite editorial.” This is where you’ll find reader-contributed viewpoints, commentaries and opinion pieces. You’ll see pieces from all kinds of people –– senators and congressman, thought leaders and experts, business executives and more.In our industry, these viewpoints appear in all sorts of publications and onlines. They range in length from 500-1,000 words or so.
Blog posts are similar to opinion pieces, but don’t always follow a strict set of guidelines. For example, blog posts tend to be more personal and are more specific in describing a situation, product or issue. Viewpoints try to make a point using the abstract.
The comments section online is today’s version of “letters to the editor.”
Here are my top tips for placing contributed articles:
- Familiarize yourself with the publication or online, and acquaint yourself with the published content to determine if it accepts contributed pieces. In some cases, everything is staff written.
- Get to know which editor, blogger, influencer or analyst covers your company’s area of expertise and start paying attention to what he or she is covering. Check, too, to see what kinds of comments people are posting.
- Review the editorial calendar, if one’s available, for upcoming opportunities for contributed pieces, a quick way find topics of interest to the publication’s editors. Normally, they are labeled as contributed opportunities. If they’re not, do a website search to find out if the author is one of the editors. Or, consult the masthead for the name of the editorial director or managing editor who will be able to answer your questions.
- Develop a spreadsheet of potential opportunities to present to the marketing department. Some may be actual opportunities from the editorial calendar. Others may be ideas you’ve come up with on your own, once you’ve familiarized yourself with each publication or online, or some from a brainstorming session with marketing. Add as much information a possible, such as:deadlines, word count, and number of illustrations. Many publications and onlines have author guidelines on the website.
- Identify authors interested in getting published. Work with them to develop an abstract that can be used to capture the interest of the editor or influencer.*
- Develop a short email to the editor or influencer proposing the topic and include the abstract. Follow up with a phone call a day or so later. If the editor accepts the abstract, ask for specific feedback, along with deadlines. Confirm the word count and number of illustrations. And make sure the editor tells you which format is needed for the illustrations.
- Meet with author to go over feedback, deadlines and word count. Sometimes, this may be the first article the author has attempted to write since college, so be prepared to help craft the outline and edit the piece as it’s being written.*
- Once the article is completed, read it over carefully and offer edits, where necessary. Make sure that the article is formatted and easy to read. Confirm that placeholders point to where illustrations need to go and be prepared to write captions and the author’s bio.
- Finally, you’re ready to send it off for review. When sending the finished article, send it to the editor as a complete package. It should include an email cover note, the article, illustrations in the correct format, well numbered and with captions, and an author’s digital photo.
- Give the editor or influencer a day or so to look over the article, then call to check in. He or she may have some questions or may ask for a revision.
- The accepted article may come back for one final review by the author. The publication’s copywriter did an edit and the author needs to ensure that the publication did not introduce any technical inaccuracies. These reviews are meant to be just that: reviews and not rewrites. No author’s remorse here, unless there’s a technical error the author, editor and copywriter missed the first time.
- Several publications ask that the author sign a copyright agreement, which means that the publication and not the company has the rights to the article. It’s wise to know this beforehand in case your company has an issue with this kind of editorial policy. If it does, consider placing the article elsewhere.
- While you’re at it, check on the repurposing policies of the publication. Typically, they will ask for an exclusive, unless it’s in a different language or via links-with-attribution.
One final note: Some companies have an author incentive program where employees will be given an honorarium for getting an article published. If that’s your company, terrific. If it isn’t, explore the idea with marketing.
And now, you’re armed with the terminology and a step-by-step plan for placing articles.Best of luck on developing a contributed article program.
*Many times, companies have engineers, marketing professionals and executives willing to author articles, but they don’t have the time or think that they’re not good writers. Here’s where ghostwriters can help. A technology ghostwriter should be experienced in the nuances of the various publications, and will work with the author from the start to get a finished article ready for placement on time and within budget. Your PR department or agency can take over from there.
Nanette Collins
Principal
Nanette V. Collins Marketing and PR
Boston and San Francisco
www.nvc.com
nanette@nvc.com