Contributed or bylined articles serve as a great complement to editorial placements. Unlike an article written by a reporter about a company or its products, contributed articles are written by the company and are meant to lend a vendor-neutral perspective on topics relevant to a publication’s readers. We often recommend contributed articles as a way to position our clients as thought leaders in their industry or on a specific subject matter.
As newsrooms shrink and the competition for website visitors increases, we’re seeing a demand for contributed content like never before.
So far this year, Communiqué has placed 16 contributed articles and guest posts on behalf of our clients with 15 more in the pipeline. From an article on pets at work to a piece on the impact of metamaterials on the satellite communications industry, the articles have spanned a wide-range of topics. For our team, writing contributed articles allows us to flex our creative writing muscles and, more importantly, enables us to get even more rooted in the issues impacting our clients’ industries. Here’s a sample of some of the articles that have been published so far:
- AAHOA Lodging Business: What the Hospitality Industry Can Learn From Public Safety Communications
- Business2Community: Avoid Shuffling Chairs by Creating a Culture of Collaboration: Microsoft’s Reorg and the Struggle Between Teams and Tools
- Citizen Tekk: Taking the Concert Home: How it Will Benefit Consumers and Artists Alike
- Franchising World Magazine: Expanding a Franchise: Consider the Cloud
- Retail Digital: Preparing for the Explosion in Mobile Data
- O’Dwyer’s: How Collaboration Technologies are Reshaping PR
- VentureBeat: Meet 7 startups that are innovating for the developing world
- Wired Innovation Insights: Blinders at the C-Level Can Cost You Billions
Is a contributed article right for you? Ask yourself these questions:
1) How will a contributed article support my communications objectives? Developing the article and pitching it to relevant publications takes time. Be sure the investment will support your communications goals.
2) What do I want readers to learn from my article? Identifying the main takeaways can also be helpful in targeting the right publications or websites to target for your article.
3) Do I have examples that can further illustrate the points in my article? Incorporating customer stories, metrics or other types of data can go far in supporting the premise of the article.
4) Can the article be written in a vendor-neutral way? Editors rely on contributed articles to educate and inform their readers on relevant topics and issues. Any hint of blatant product or company promotion will result in an immediate rejection.
For more tips on writing a contributed article, check out this post.