Build your credibility and get noticed by contributing articles to publications like Fast Company

By Jim James, Founder EASTWEST PR and Host of?The UnNoticed Entrepreneur. ?

On the?UnNoticed Entrepreneur show , I’ve shared an interesting way wherein you can get yourself into a magazine or a newspaper. It’s called a contributed article.

Most people think that getting into magazines or newspapers is really difficult and that they only run news. But, actually, you’ll see that most publications have long-form articles, which are often written by contributors.

Forbes ,?Ink , and?Fast Company ?take articles written by industry and thought leaders. And it could be you. You can write about your industry and your domain and contribute an article. But there are some guidelines that you need to follow for your article to get even looked at, let alone published.

On Key Message, Article Length, and Editor’s Discretion

First of all, start with a key point. The article that you’ll write needs to be about an industry issue or a topic that will engage the readers. It should be written in a style as if you’re a journalist. In other words, you’re not writing a piece about you and your company. You need to think about it almost as an industry participant.

On their?website , Fast Company says that they don’t want “pitches, abstracts, outlines, press releases, or interview offers.” What they want are stories. They want articles — original thought pieces.

In terms of length, they require only 750 to 900 words. It’s not that long. And if you heard me?talk with Fabian Langer ?of?AI Writer , you’d know that you could even use his tool to start your article if you’re not sure about what you wanted to say or write.?

An article with 900 words is not even a full sheet of A4 paper at 10- or 11-point font size. But what you’d want to do is to have an article with a new point of view, a new piece of information — something that other people haven’t written or thought about before.

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On Fast Company’s website, they also say that what you submit may be edited, so you can’t take it personally. Headlines and subheads are going to be taken and may be changed to fit in with what the editorial team would like to have. They may change the style, tone, substance; they may add or take out links. The artwork that you supply may also be put into the piece or it may get replaced.

You might write something — and it’ll have your name — but it may not look exactly as you originally intended it to be. You have to bear that in mind.

Establishing Credibility

If you want to write something, you can do that. But there are some other guidelines. And I’m going to share with you something that the Fast Company says about?“how to write thought leadership pieces that get published and don’t make editors want to die.”

The idea here is to try and get something that the editor and the journalist think is going to be as good as if they’re going to write it. What you want to do is get your credibility in there. Also, you’d need to send them something that shows that you’re not just writing about yourself or your company.?

You’ve got to establish credibility because they get so many pitches. And they don’t need to waste their time.

I was recently talking to a journalist in Oregon and he said has about 40 pitches per day. That’s right — 40 emails a day from companies asking if they will take their stories. He’s got the pick of the crop. And if yours is too self-serving, they’re not going to be interested. Therefore, you’ve got to show that you have a track record of writing legitimate pieces for good places.?

One of the tricks is to start with a small local newspaper or a local trade press. First off, getting into a tier-one publication like Fast Company is going to be a very difficult start. If you’re playing in a sports tournament, start with smaller ones. If you’re running, start with smaller marathons.?

One thing to think about is to start writing in smaller publications to get training. But like with?podcast , you start first, then you’re going to get better.

Being a Valuable Source of Information

The next thing that you need to do according to Fast Company is to have something to contribute to a larger conversation. A guy named?Michael Lazerow ?of?Buddy Media ?said, “You have to be truly a valuable source of information.” In other words, you have to be giving information that you got and other people perhaps don’t have.

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The question now is: How thoroughly have you researched what you’re writing? If you’re going to be taking other sources, you need to attribute them to the original sources so there’s no plagiarism.?

You need to make sure that the posts are well-researched and they’re aimed at answering the questions that the reader of this publication has in their mind. I repeat that: We’re writing for what the reader of the publication might have in their mind.?

You can use a tool — Ask The People, for example, which is one website on social listening. You can also read the publication and see what sort of topics, trends, and conversations they’re already having. You can also go into Facebook groups, for instance, and find out what people are asking about.?

What you’re trying to do is to write something that would already be in the common thread of conversation, and where you’ve also already got an expertise that you can add something to.?

The media are going to be looking for something where your expertise is, something that they don’t have — and your ability to tell a compelling story and to give some case studies (because some instances and facts can make stories more compelling).

Having a Journalistic Rigour

What Fast Company also talks about is having journalistic rigour. What it means is that journalists check the facts. They don’t just write what they want to write. They put together a narrative based on what already exists with their own ethical approach and sense of transparency.?

This is also included in the Fast Company guidelines, but I also say this to my clients: You should take a stance. It’s okay to have an opinion. It’s not that you’re writing something that’s vanilla-flavoured and full of facts. They’re also looking for opinions and viewpoints that they may or may not be able to articulate themselves as the editorial board, but add value to the conversation in and around their publication.

Focusing on what you can add to the conversation rather than what you’re going to get out of the conversation is a really important piece of the narrative for submitting content.?

What you want to do is to look at a publication (for example, Fast Company) and see the editorial content that they have. You’re going to pitch stories that are resonating with what their audience is currently reading or asking about.?

Each piece is going to be unique. It’s another key point that’s not in the Fast Company guidelines, but I’m telling you that when I write an article for publication, it’s only relevant for that publication. It’s impossible to write an article that’s relevant to every audience, for every journalist. Because, by definition, they are all different publications. They all need a slightly different bend.?

If you have a synopsis — 100 to 150 words of an idea — you can send that to a couple of different publications in the same industry and say, “If I were to write about this, would you be interested in the story? But if you want the story, you can have it as an exclusive.”

To avoid finding yourself having several people all coming back saying that they want an exclusive, do a first-come-first-served basis: The first to come across the post gets the story. And I can tell you, you can find yourself in quite a pickle.

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Wrapping Up

Fast Company and, in fact, all media are happy to have contributed articles because it helps them both gain more content and get their readers or their viewers participating in the publication. But the article cannot be a puff piece for you and your business.?

Look at opportunities, look at the media that you want to be in. Do they have an editorial opportunity? Often, you’ll find on their website a “Contact us” or “Submit a story” section.?

This is different from a press release. It’s not an interview about you and your company — it’s how you contribute to the overall scheme of the industry that you’re interested in or working in. It appeals to the consumer market; it also appeals in the business-to-business space or some of the verticals like science.

Look at the different sections that each publication has because some might have, for example, a leadership section, a technology insight section, or a new education section. Each publication tries to serve its readers. The same with websites and TV programmes — they’re all trying to serve their audience. They’re looking for content from people who are experts and have expert domain knowledge.

You can share yours by creating a 750- to 1,000-word article and you can use a platform like AI Writer or Scriptwriter to get you the first 800 words, then you can edit that back if you don’t feel like writing it from scratch.?

It’s a small tip but it’s a key part of building your own personal brand. Because once you’ve been featured and had your story or article in a publication, you can add that to your bio, your LinkedIn, or Twitter. All of these add to your credibility. Get enough of them together and you’ve got the beginnings of a book. But that’s?a whole another podcast .?

In the latest episode of my podcast, I’ve shared information that I know is valuable — information that I’m also using for my clients on a day-to-day basis. The essence of this is that you’ve got value, but how do you share it and take part in the conversation that the media are having with you and your fellow audience in the same community?

If you’ve got any specific questions or problems that you’re facing, you can write to me at?[email protected] ?or reach me on?Twitter . My team and I are currently working on Volume 2 of?The UnNoticed Entrepreneur book , which is another compendium of over 50 articles. My goal is to help entrepreneurs and business owners get noticed with all the tools and tips that I know are out there to help you and me.?

This article is based on a transcript from my podcast The UnNoticed Entrepreneur,?you can listen here.

Cover image by?JeShoots.com ?on?Unsplash