Contributed Articles = Great Marketing Tools
Contributed articles reach a wide audience of decision makers and influencers and serve as credible, affordable B2B content marketing tools.
They demonstrate your expertise, establish you as a thought leader in your local market and industry, and build your company’s credibility.
Sometimes called bylined expert articles, contributed articles run in trade magazines, newspaper special sections, association magazines, newsletters, and blogs. Publications don’t pay for contributed articles, they receive them for free. (Or they are sold by the publication as lead generation articles where the company pays for placement.)
Contributed articles are different from articles written by staff reporters at newspapers, magazines or online news sites. One doesn’t just “write or place an article” in The New York Times. Staff writers get paid to write news, features and columns for their publications.
Corporations write contributed articles and then pitch them to certain publications as free contributed features or columns that run in a special section, such as those devoted to architecture, healthcare or eDiscovery. The publication decides whether they are interested in your pitched article topic and if they will run your article.
Contributed Articles Aren’t Ads
Contributed articles are not advertisements for your company, and many publications reserve the right not to run a contributed article that contains puffery about your firm. Instead, editors have guidelines outlining their requirements. Some require that you do not mention your firm in the article at all.
Unlike staff written articles, the end of contributed articles can contain a plug for your company. Typically, you invite prospects to get in touch with you to learn more with one or two sentences that give your title and credentials and a small bit of information about your company.
What to Write About?
What do you write about in a contributed article? A recent project, a trend, new legal requirements, industry challenges or significant changes, are all great topics. So are How-To articles, industry round-ups, new tools or practical advice on how to control costs or run your company better.
Many publications also like personal essays, which give personal advice or an opinion on a trend or change in their industry from a chief executive or notable company executive.
A few Contributed Article examples by M. Sharon Baker
- UW The Trend in Engineering: Second Wind
- UW The Trend in Engineering: Academic RedShirt Program
- Washington Square's Second Phase for Wasatch Development
- Eat Your Spinach and Drink Your Milk for Overlake Hospital
- Be a Contributor in Life for Thach Nguyen
- ACRS Has New Green Building for the DJC
- South Shore Elementary for the DJC
- Social Sustainability column for the PSBJ
- Nathan Hale School for NW Construction
- Mental health clinic breaking ground in Burien for the DJC
- Choose Your Words Wisely for Affirmagy (PDF)
Microsoft's web site:
- Retailers learn solutions to computer security challenges
- 14 ways for retailers to tighten computer security
Experienced B2B Storyteller
As a veteran business journalist and freelance B2B content writer, I have written hundreds of articles and have the experience to write a contributed article that meets your B2B marketing objectives and fulfills the requirements of your targeted publication. In addition, the article will be informative, engaging and well told.
I can manage the entire process from developing article ideas to finding appropriate publications to pitching the idea, interviewing appropriate team members, writing an interesting and informative article, managing the internal review process and working with the publication's editor.
Business Success Stories Start here: Let's talk: 360-354-0000