One of our favorite projects to work on for clients here at Communiqué PR is landing byline articles. Byline articles elevate thought leadership by highlighting content experts, and they also help our clients put themselves in a reporter’s shoes.
Over the past few months, Communiqué PR has helped our clients garner coverage through byline articles. John Scumniotales, CEO and president at Verdiem, had a great guest post in GeekWire last month about workplace culture. In March, Sam Morris, a product marketing manager with Attachmate, was published in the Data Center Journal regarding managed file transfer.
However, landing byline opportunities isn’t as easy as you might think. Below are a few things to keep in mind when considering a guest post or byline article.
- Not all publications are open to bylines. We know that reporters are being stretched thin, but that doesn’t mean they all want guest writers providing content for their publications. It is important to research a publication before pitching a byline idea, which will save you wasted time and rejections from publications that aren’t open to guest posts. Also, just because a publication does accept byline articles doesn’t mean you are entitled to post there. Your pitch will be under an editor’s scrutiny and if you don’t have a strong angle, your article might be rejected.
- Content experts need to be the authors. You shouldn’t rely on ghost writing when it comes to byline articles. While the PR team can help gather content and a framework, in order to be authentic and honest, the content experts need to ultimately feel that the end result is their own work. If you are working on a byline article, make sure the end result reveals your own personal style and voice. The article should contain your own thoughts in your own words, even if you’ve had some help putting the pieces of the story together.
- Articles need to look beyond your own brand. Most publications won’t run articles that have a vendor bias – that’s something more appropriate for an advertorial. A byline should be product neutral and not promote a specific product or service. Rather, byline articles should offer an expert’s perspective on an industry trend or provide a new perspective on an old business problem.
- Consider your audience. Remember that different publications have different audiences, so you will need to tailor your material for each. For example, a business audience that reads the Wall Street Journal likely won’t be interested in the technical details of how a software solution works – they will want to know the overall benefits and how it will impact a company’s bottom line. That said, an InfoWorld reader will likely be interested in the opposite. Make sure you know who your readers will be and what information will be most helpful for them.
For additional tips, read this blog post we published back in 2008: https://www.communiquepr.com/?p=106. It provides some additional ideas and tips on how to make your byline shine.