Getting your articles
published in email newsletters is a superb way to generate free exposure for any website.
But it's tricky with all the competition these days. That's where this tip comes in
handy...
Ten Tips for Getting Your Expert Article
Accepted by an Online Newsletter Editor, by Azriela Jaffe
One of the most effective and inexpensive marketing vehicles available to consultants,
speakers, writers, and small business owners is to write a short article on your area of
expertise that would be of interest to subscribers in a particular online newsletter, and
then to give it away in exchange for promoting yourself through a byline.
As the editor of three bimonthly online
newsletters: "The Entrepreneurial Couples Success Letter,", "Best Ideas in
Business," and "Keeping in Touch," I am inundated by pitches from such
professionals hoping for a slot in one of my newsletters for their article. After reading
hundreds of such pitches, I've put together the following tips for anyone who is promoting
their business through online newsletters:
1) Subscribe to my newsletters before pitching me your article idea. It won't cost you
anything. You can always unsubscribe if it turns out to be a newsletter that isn't of
ongoing interest to you. If you don't have a clue about the style and focus of my
newsletter, you won't know whether your topic is a match, and you are wasting your time
and mine. There's an even better reason to subscribe, which leads me to:
2) Tell me why you love my newsletter, before you ask me to use your article. That tells
me that you are a subscriber. As an editor, I want to help subscribers to my newsletter
promote their business - I'm not as concerned with helping to promote a stranger. I'm also
a human being - I like getting a compliment every once in awhile. That makes me want to
help you, too.
3) Take the time to tell me, in one or two sentences, why you believe that your article
would be helpful to my readers. Not a general statement that you could broadcast to any
newsletter (i.e; "my expertise is of interest to all small business owners), but
something more specific (i.e; I notice that your ECS newsletter is devoted to helping
couples manage work and family. The following article pertains to a problem that comes up
often between entrepreneurial couples. . . ). That short introduction will make me want to
read or skim your article.
4) Start your pitch by using my name, preferably my first name. Even if we don't know each
other, it makes me think I should know you, so I'll read further.
5) Keep your articles short - less than 1000 words - and low on self-promotion. Promote
your business by writing a timely, unique, high-content, moving or funny article that will
prompt readers to read your byline, or inspire readers to email me and tell me how much
they enjoyed your piece. Keep the self-promotion in the article subtle.
6) Build a relationship with me. I rarely print articles from writers I don't know or
respect from their reputation in the industry. I receive ten times the content I can
possibly use, and that's with three online newsletters, sending out six issues a month.
When I have to make hard choices about who gets into my newsletters, I try to accomplish
two things at once: Inform my readers, and help a colleague I support receive some free
promotion. I won't promote a friend's work if they don't provide a worthy article, but
given a choice between ten articles on interesting topics, I'll choose to give the free PR
to someone I like.
7) Offer to help me promote my work, or better yet, just do it. I don't respond to
invitations I receive every day from strangers that say: "If you'll put an
advertisement about me in your newsletter, I'll put one about you in mine." But if a
colleague has been helpful to me, I appreciate being able to return the favor by offering
exposure in my newsletter. Think first of how you can be of service, and it will come back
to you ten-fold.
8) Communicate with me when you *don't* want something from me. Instead of only sending me
an email when you have an article you want me to use, email me at other times as well; to
share a comment about the newsletter, to offer a short tip I can use, or to refer a
colleague who would enjoy the newsletter. Don't worry about bothering me. I enjoy
receiving emails that are personal in nature - this business is all about building
relationships.
9) Promote my newsletters in your circle of influence, through your own newsletter, or by
forwarding it to friends and colleagues. If you truly enjoy a newsletter and find it of
value, give it your personal recommendation - that carries weight with the people who know
and respect you. Online newsletters grow primarily by word of mouth referral. Help me with
that.
10) Be gracious and kind. Thank me for running your article. Tell me how it helped you in
your business. That makes me feel good. When you make me feel good, I will remember you
positively, and I will want to help you again.
Byline:
Azriela Jaffe is the founder of "Anchored
Dreams", and author of "Honey, I Want to Start my Own Business, A Planning
Guide for Couples" ( Harper Business 1996), and "Let's Go Into Business
Together, Eight Secrets for Successful Business Partnering" (Avon Books 1998). For
free online newsletter for entrepreneurial couples, or for information about her
syndicated column, "Advice from A-Z", email az@azriela.com.
Questions and reader response can be emailed, or write to PO Box 209, Bausman, PA 17504 |
