One of the easiest ways to get content to your target audience, is to place articles in the right email newsletters. This requires a two step process. First, identify potential e-newsletters. Secondly, make a pitch for your article.
To identify email newsletters appropriate to your target audience you can:
- Survey your best customers and ask what they read. Typically 20% of your customers will generate 80% of your business. You want to pay special attention to the email newsletters that your top customers read.
- Subscribe to industry e-newsletters and watch for the types of articles they cover.
- Talk to your strategic allies and see if they: publish email newsletters; read industry email newsletters; or subscribe to any particular issues.
- Contact the industry’s top trade associations or publications. Check their Web site for information on any email newsletters they publish.
- Contact us. We maintain an in-house database of e-mail newsletters and can research our list and/or conduct a target-list search for you.
Once you have a list of potential email newsletters, create a brief summary of 5 to 10 potential articles. In your summary, include an overview and highlights of your articles. By writing summaries first, you can avoid spending time on writing articles that no quality publication will publish.
Write a brief pitch email for each potential article and send it to the contact person. We suggest you pitch to at least 5 quality publications. Some publications may request exclusive rights, which means you cannot publish the same article in a competing publication. If they do request exclusivity, ask if you can publish the article on your own Web site; most will allow private use.
Tips for approaching specific email newsletter editors.
- Subscribe to the ezine. Read a few back issues. Look at the types of articles typically covered and the writing style.
- Send the editor an email with a comment on one of the articles. For example, tell the editor what you enjoyed about the article.
- Offer your article as a good match for the ezines content and audience.
- Request information on their writing guidelines and editorial schedule.
This type of article marketing can be time consuming; but it is well worth it. You will see far better results with this approach than with sending to ezine article directories, which take any article from anyone. Remember your key is to build your reputation with your target audience. Unless the ezine goes to the right audience, you are wasting your time. Worse, you are potentially damaging your reputation.
Targeted Article Marketing Builds your Brand and Web site traffic
By taking a targeted approach to article marketing, you enhance your brand. When you publish in an authoritative publication that authority transmits to you. You build trust. With that trust, you also get more of the right traffic to your Web site.
Your article is more likely to go viral when it appears in respected e-newsletters. This means your article’s title, author and link to it will populate throughout the Web much easier – and to the right audience.