By Ken Lizotte CMC
Published on TheSideroad.com
It’s a big job getting published. You’ve got to conceive the idea, locate an appropriate publication, buttonhole editors and make your pitch. And when an editor finally tells you, “Go ahead,” you’ve got to write the damn thing! By the time it’s all over you’ve achieved lots of little victories and a larger sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.
But should publication of an article mark the end of your efforts? Sadly, for many would-be “thought leaders,” it does. They sit back to await reader reactions to flood in while they move on to other things—business projects, other marketing activities, a new article or even a book.
Letting a published article fade into oblivion however misses the opportunity to capitalize on its potential. Though most authors rarely employ them, there are many steps you can take (and should take) following publication to leverage your achievement. Here are six tips for making the most of your published work and generating new business as a result.
Send an e-announcement to all your clients, prospects and friends. Let everyone know you’ve just published an interesting article, tell them what it’s about and include a link to your web site so they can read it, also offering to mail or fax it to them. Remember, not everyone subscribes to (or carefully reads) the publication you were just published in.
Include your article in your marketing folder. This includes making or purchasing slick reprints of your articles and posting them on your web site. In fact, your published by-lines should be the centerpiece of your marketing tools, positioning you as a true “thought leader.” After all, anyone can fabricate a well-designed brochure or letterhead but winning over an objective, critical third party (an editor) and getting them to publish your article requires your ideas be deemed of value to the masses.
Use published articles as handouts. When making a presentation or conducting a seminar, be sure everyone in your audience receives a copy of any article you’ve published relating to your topic. This not only further promotes your business but affords your audience additional “take-home value” on your topic. It also reminds everyone they’re listening to a bona fide expert with published credentials, heightening your reputation as a thought leader.
Add your publishing credit to your CV. This one may sound obvious but believe it or not is commonly forgotten. Update your CV or bio each time you publish anew. Publishing credits enhance a resume by making it stand out from the other 99% that do not (because they cannot) list such achievements.
Republish your article or a variation thereof. Once you’ve corralled one publication to display your bright ideas, you want to immediately start looking for a new one. Often you can simply submit the very same article for publication as long as the second publication does not compete with the first. If you have any sense that pub #2 might not appreciate a “leftover,” however, simply update your article with new facts or ideas, shift the wording, vary the placement of subtopics, or re-write altogether. In a few hours or less you will have created a whole new piece.
Republishing your initial article maximizes the time and effort you originally put into it, saving you from having to re-invent the wheel every time you wish to get published. This technique allows you to get many of your ideas into print again and again, with decreasing amounts of trouble and toil.
Submit new ideas to your “first” editor. You’ll also want to continue publishing your ideas, getting your name out there repeatedly, building further your rep among your target market. That means nurturing your new relationship with an editor who apparently appreciates your ideas (and writing style). So toss another article or book idea onto the fire, get published in the “first” publication again and who knows, you might end up someday writing a column for this publication! As with advertising, repetition is the name of the game. Thus getting your name and ideas in print before the same target readership can only increase the odds that new business will find its way to your door as a result.
These six tips are only a few suggestions for insuring your publishing efforts don’t burn brightly for a brief moment only, then go quiet and dark. By treating your published articles as resources to be mined, revised, resubmitted and re-used, you’ll soon be working with a storehouse of publication assets that can enhance your business development continually. Increases in both visibility and profits are sure to follow.
To thoroughly leverage your published articles, consider a “Leverage Audit” conducted by one of our thoughtleader guides. To learn more about how a Leverage Audit can boost your marketing effectiveness, contact us at inq@thoughtleading.com and we’ll give you the scoop!
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Ken Lizotte CMC is our CIO (Chief Imaginative Officer) and author of “The Expert’s Edge: Become the Go-To Authority that People Turn to Every Time” (McGraw-Hill) and four other books. To contact Ken, click here.