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To
"Advertise" Your Ideas,
By Ken Lizotte CMC
Looking
for a novel way to market your professional expertise without spending
huge amounts on advertising or PR services? Try writing about your key
concepts and specialized knowledge in an article for publication in a
business magazine. Publishing your ideas offers a special kind of business
promotional opportunity that contributes specific value to your targeted
market as a whole. In effect, you are hawking and teaching at the same
time, the best of all possible worlds.
Publishing
articles allows you to display your service or product offering as a unique
and proven commodity. You become an “expert” who has thought
a particular issue through. Your resulting wisdom suggests you’ve
more to offer than simply another knee-jerk solution to a business problem.
Instead, you’ve carefully dissected the problem so that your advice
can be customized and your prescriptions long-lasting.
There’s
another reason to publish too, one less obvious but nonetheless powerful
in terms of what it could do for your client relationships and project
outcomes. The very process of writing will force you to organize and clarify
your assumptions and recommendations, challenging you to refine your ideas
and arguments. This means that when you must “sell” your services,
or speak before a group on a related topic, you will find yourself articulating
your concepts more clearly, confidently, persuasively. Writing about something
can make you feel more like an expert than you ever thought you were!
Questions
That Matter
What
questions matter before you start? What should you determine in order
to carve out a sensible and ultimately successful publishing campaign?
There are two principle questions:
Does
my article directly advance my business objectives?
What aspect or value of your business do you want people to know
about? What’s the most profitable product you sell or the service
or product you most enjoy? What segment of your business would you like
most to grow? From your answers to these questions, design article ideas
that display what you most want to promote.
What
publications do the people who actually hire me read? Who typically hires
you: CEOs? HR Directors? Training Directors? VPs of Sales? If CEOs, locate
publications read by chief executives. If HR Directors, HR publications
are those you want to approach. Locate your target publications by cruising
the web or browsing publication directories in your library. When you’ve
found 15-20, you’ve got the beginnings of an effective “target
publications list.” Don’t skip this step: Be sure your writing
projects will be encountered by the category of professional who hires
you.
Securing
Article Assignments
After
answering the questions that matter, you’re next faced with how to
do it. Here’s a tip first on how NOT to do it: Work long and hard
on an article, mail it out to an editor you've never spoken with, do nothing
more, wait forever. This strategy is doomed to fail with so many reasons
out there why an editor might not accept your article this way. Most have
nothing at all to do with either you, your article idea or your writing.
Here are just a few:
-
The publication you submitted to does not take articles written by outsiders like you EVER as it is entirely staff-written.
-
An article similar to yours was just published the month before.
-
An editorial assistant at the publication, just out of college, had been assigned to screen all “unsolicited” manuscripts and has little or no understanding of your field. She wrongly assumes your piece would be too hard for the publication's readers to understand (as it is for her!) and forwards it to a circular file. Her more experienced boss, the editor-in-chief, never gets the chance to review it at all.
Instead,
then, of shooting in the dark, try this four-step process for getting
your article accepted:
-
Study publications carefully on your target publications list so that you understand the kinds of articles they’re looking for and where in the magazine they typically place them.
-
Call each publication directly and ask for the editor in charge of the section you wish to submit to. Example: if a technology-related article, ask for the technology editor. Check the publication's masthead for the current editor's name. Note: If an editor’s email address is publicly available, you can use that first but if you don’t get a response in a week or so, do a follow-up call.
-
Be respectful of an editor’s time. Do not “push” your idea, just pitch it quickly so as to make it available. Treat an editor call as you would a prospecting call—plan it for 30 seconds or less—then say your piece and keep mum and let the editor respond. She will immediately let you know if it’s right for her or not.
-
Be ready then and there with more ideas. It’s not the end of the world if the editor doesn’t snap at your first idea. It may however be the end of a potentially beautiful relationship if you haven’t got a back-up idea waiting in the wings. Editors, after all, are eager for good ideas and often don’t know where to find them. Speaking with someone with your front-line experience is a principle way they manage to do so.
A
Few Follow-up Tips
If
you do not reach an editor directly, always leave a voice message outlining
(briefly again) your idea, and ending with a courteous, “Thanks for
your time.” When you do get a “go-ahead,” ask for such
particulars as editor’s preferred article focus, word length, and
deadline. Scrupulously adhere to all these parameters and try not to bug
your editor as you work on your piece with a lot of annoying questions.
Instead, endeavor to make your editor’s life as trouble-free as you
possible (at least in relation to you!).
Finally,
if you do NOT get a go-ahead on any of your ideas, thank the editor and
say you’ll try him/her again at another time. Then keep studying
the publication and do pitch a new set of ideas when you feel you’ve
better figured out what its readers are looking for. The editor in all
likelihood is indeed interested in hearing form you again.
By following my guidelines, you can break down the mystique and barriers that have up to now prevented your ideas from seeing print. Once you do, you will enjoy a remarkable, little-used visibility channel capable of setting you apart from the pack. You will begin encountering prospects who light up when they meet you, exclaiming, “Yes, I’ve heard of you! I’ve been enjoying your articles and really like what you have to say. Please tell me more about your services.” When this happens, you will have arrived at the Promised Land!