Top Content Creators often use articles with a title similar to the following template:
How (Brand) Is Doing (Something) to Achieve (Result) to Draw a Bigger Audience
Why this content model works | (name-jacking)
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Brand name recognition
Nielsen wanted to determine why people purchased specific products. What did it find? Brand! -
Influencer involvement
These articles are, by definition, exploring how awesome these companies are. They’re literally saying, “If (brand) does it, it must be worth trying.” The brand gets external links, a huge trust boost, and an increased brand awareness it probably doesn’t need (but never hurts).
5 steps to use this article model
To create your own content using this article model, follow these five steps.
1. Identify an innovative company or thought leader
The most challenging part is determining what business to target. Once you get that down, the rest of the article follows a path set by them, not you.
Here are a few guidelines:
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Identify a business that doesn’t feel too out of reach. Avoid megabrands such as Apple, Coca-Cola, or Salesforce, as it’ll be tough for your reader to relate to the strategies they’re implementing.
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Identify a business implementing innovative or interesting strategies. It should be doing something worth writing about. Your article will be harder to write (and less interesting) if you pick a big brand name that isn’t doing something exciting.
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Target a business doing something interesting related to your business. There’s no point in getting people excited about a strategy that doesn’t relate to your business.
2. Start your research
Explore the company’s sales funnel. Start with the first possible touch-point. Try a search or display advertisement, a blog article, a press release, etc.
As you proceed through the funnel – from ad or article to lead generation to email marketing to sales prompt, take screenshots. Your article will be framed by that funnel.
3. Reach out to a representative
You want the company on your side before you publish your insight and observations about what it does. And, if possible, you want information from the company. Try something like this:
Hey [first name of contact],
Hope this finds you well. I am (your name) and was talking to your colleague, (name), and she mentioned you were the one behind (specific strategy you’re writing about). I’d like to congratulate you on putting together one of the most innovative marketing campaigns I’ve ever seen.
Your (specific strategy) would be an awesome topic for an article I would like to write. I would appreciate it if you would have the time for an interview to walk through what you’ve done and inspire other marketers to do something similar. Would you have 15 minutes this week to jump on a call so I can ask you a few questions about the thinking behind the strategy and if it’s performing for you guys?
I look forward to hearing from you!
If they don’t have time for a call, send over a few questions and ask if they have time to respond that way. And if they don’t have time for that, write the article without their involvement, but share the link once it’s done. You’ll still get the bump from a recognizable brand name in your title and the brand will have been made aware your article is being published.
4. Go a step above with design
Your article ideally will be at least 2,000 words and broken into several sections. As a result, a table of contents will help readers navigate.
You can format an automated table of contents within your article..
5. Promote to specific influencers
If you need help creating an influencer list, use a tool like BuzzSumo.
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Research the influencers before you reach out to them to better
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Learn if they are interested in content similar to what you’re doing.
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Follow them on social media.
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Then reach out to the influencer and Personalize the outreach.
This is a form of name-jacking!
Mike Stuart, 1stonline.us
