There is no better way to stand out from the competition and build credibility than via thoughtful contributed content—by-lined by an internal subject matter expert and placed in a key trade or media publication. All too often this type of content can take a backseat to other PR priorities. In our experience, we’ve found that this can limit the success of a well-rounded b2b tech PR programme.
Today’s reporters and even your target audiences are looking for credible content that informs and who better than a leading expert in your specific field to share valuable insights?
Your PR team can help guide the process and secure placement in key media targets for your topic. We can also help with editing content. For this approach to be successful, we offer the following tips to keep in mind when creating contributed content.
- Follow the publication’s guidelines. These editorial instructions are provided to help your authors’ frame the content and keep to an accepted word count limit. They also cover editing processes and topic ideas they’re seeking. Straying from these guidelines reduces the likelihood a publication will accept it.
- Avoid selling or company-specific references. This medium is not for self-promotion or product mentions. It’s for informing a key target audience about the value of a particular approach or technology to solve a business problem or discuss a trending topic in an industry. For example, if you’re in expert in location-based technology that helps retailers find the best location for stores, write about how retailers can strategically set up store locations for success using this type of technology without being specific to what your company does or the products it offers.
- Give subject matter experts time to author content. This is more important than you may realise. Building this into the role description or job expectations for industry experts is a great way to get over the hurdle of ‘I don’t have time for this.’ Companies that make this a priority and encourage employees to represent the brand by writing content stand to benefit from this strategy because the information is more credible, authentic, and written in their own voice—not corporate-speak.
- Make it relevant, specific and to the point. The goal is to inform and provide valuable information that no one else has so the more specific, the better. Craft an opening paragraph that grabs the reader’s attention and stick to the point it’s making in the rest of the text. Avoid tangents and superfluous words or information outside of the key message you’re trying to deliver.
As part of our b2b content creation, if you are interested in making contributed content part of your PR strategy, please contact TechComms, a b2b tech marketing and communications agency on + 44 (0) 203 322 8928.
