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Market Your Expertise with Bylined Articles

by Andrea Harris

Are you aware of one of the most effective, yet inexpensive ways to get exposure for your consulting business? To get in front of your most valuable customers and prospects? And gain a lot of respect in the process?

Bylined articles in magazines and newspapers can be a goldmine of free publicity--if you do them right. Whether you're an independent consultant or part of a larger firm, you and your business can benefit from professionally-written articles, placed in industry publications with your own byline.

Enhances Your Credibility

People read publications for the articles, not the ads. Get your exposure where it's going to be seen, not where it might be skipped over.

A well-written article will have much more impact on your audience than an ad, which everyone knows you paid the publication to run. An article presents you as an expert in your field--someone with important ideas worth reading. The magazine's editor wouldn't run an article by someone who wasn't an expert, right? That's the impression the magazine's readers get, not just from what the article says, but also from the fact that the article exists.

There's one big "gotcha" that will blow away all the credibility you've worked so hard to achieve: Self-promotion. Don't try to push your own products and services in an article. It's not the appropriate place. Chances are, self-promotion won't even make it past the publication's editor, anyway.

Sets You Apart from the Competition

Publishing bylined articles sets you apart from the crowd. Lots of companies have glossy literature, but how many companies employ published authors? It's a clear competitive advantage. Let's suppose you're a consultant who has made it to your client's short-list for a high-profile project. It's down to you and two competitors. The decision-maker is waffling, nervous about making the right choice. Knowing that you're a published author is going to make it easier for him to choose you and get buy-in from his colleagues.

Publishing articles sets you apart from your peers, as well. If you've got some higher-ups to impress within your own organization, think of how good a published article is going to look on your next performance review!

Stretches Your Marketing Dollars

It costs nothing to place a bylined article in a respected publication. Buying that much advertising space in the same publication will set you back thousands of dollars (see Afterword for examples). And because an ad must be viewed several times before it "registers" with a customer, multiply that cost times several months.

Lets You Focus on Your Strengths

Perhaps you've had some great ideas for articles over the years, but never thought you were a good enough writer to follow through with them. Or you read an article bylined by someone else in your industry and thought, "I could have said all that; I'm as smart as that person."

Can't write your way out of a paper bag? Don't let that stop you. A lack of writing ability doesn't have to hold you back. You're an expert in your area; you're not expected to be a great writer, too. When you use ghostwriters, you do what you do best and the writers do what they do best. The end result is that your ideas and expertise are presented in a clear, compelling article that makes you look like the expert you are.

Many of the articles you see in professional publications are actually ghostwritten by professional business writers. You might think that magazine editors seek out executives and get them to write articles. In fact, busy executives work with business writers to choose an appropriate topic, target a publication, get the editor's approval, and research and write the article.

Allows Follow-on Marketing

Want to get repeat exposure and impact from your bylined article? Many publications offer official reprints of articles, along with their cover artwork and your photo. Adding reprints to your corporate marketing or press kit will reinforce the effectiveness of your corporate literature and show customers that you're well-respected in your industry.

Makes Things Easy

The writer does all the work. You get all the publicity and exposure. How much better does it get?

Afterword

Not sure what topics to write about, or how much money you could save by writing articles rather than placing paid advertising? Here are some real titles from industry magazines, along with the magazines' costs for full-page, 4-color ads.

"CEOs and the Health Care Challenge," Chief Executive (ad: $21,855)
"A Wake-up Call to Senior Management," Target Marketing (ad, $8,320)
"Time to Talk Business," Corporate Meetings & Incentives (ad: $9,385)
"Your Seven Responsibilities," On Wall Street (ad: $12,700)
"Got Sludge?," Pollution Engineering (ad: $6,820)
"Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: A Rising Statistic Among Laboratory Workers," Bioscience Technology (ad: $10,400)

Titles and prices taken from publications' websites, June 2003.

Andrea Harris, owner of Minerva Solutions, Inc. provides marketing services for authors and businesses looking for increased visibility, lasting client relationships, solid credibility, and higher returns from their Web sites.