Choosing the Right Publication for Your Startup Content
Entrepreneurs often default to solely targeting well-known publications when placing guest articles. With entrepreneurial sites like Entrepreneur and Inc. producing more and more content each day, it can be difficult to ignore the large traffic pulls these household-name publications offer.
However, this can be like fighting through the clutter and confusion of a big-box store. It attracts a lot of shoppers with its wide variety, but it makes finding help or even getting what you need that much more difficult.
Contributing to mainstream publications is valuable for entrepreneurs — I’m not denying that. But as any good marketer knows, you need to reach the right audience at the right time with the right message. With a broader focus, these publications cater to more than one target audience, which means readers can easily skip over your valuable article to view another piece comparing Ello to Facebook.
The real entrepreneurial benefit of a bylined article is reaching your exact target audience in a setting where they want to learn more about a specific industry — something that niche publications excel at.
The benefits of targeting a niche publication as an entrepreneur:
1. An engaged readership:
One of the biggest challenges a startup founder can encounter is building a large, engaged following from the start. Niche publications organically create an exclusive community around content because readers are highly invested in the topics covered. This guarantees that the bylined article you’ve worked hard to write will be read and appreciated, not lost in a clutter of unrelated content.
2. A badge of credibility:
The issue of credibility is critical for budding entrepreneurs. If your startup isn’t trusted, it won’t succeed. Successful niche publications approving — aka publishing — your content provides you with that vital stamp of authority. Simply put, if your publication has credibility in your industry, you have credibility in your industry.
3. A loyal following:
Many niche publications’ readers return daily for fresh industry news and trends. Your startup is more likely to pick up early adopters when you guest post on someone’s favorite niche blog because readers know they can trust the content.
Tips for choosing just the right niche publication:
1. Readership comes first.
You want to be sure that the readers of a niche publication will be interested in — and benefit from — your expertise on a topic. Ensure that the publication’s audience falls into your startup’s target market. After all, exposure to potential clients is why you’re creating a guest post in the first place, right?
2. Tone and attitude must fit.
Always read through some of the publication’s articles to ensure that the tone seamlessly fits with the attitude behind your new company. For example, let’s say there’s a startup publication that includes a lot of touchy-feely pieces about startup life; you’re an entrepreneur, but you know your writing is usually full of satire. That’s probably not a good fit.
3. Logistics matter.
You must understand the formatting and style required by the publication. Look to either the contributor guidelines or other articles on the site for this information. For example, StartupNation readers prefer concise, easily digestible articles, and YFS Magazine sees success in publishing listicles.
As an entrepreneur in the Information Age with expertise to offer readers, editors want your high-quality content. The key is not devaluing your ideas by publishing them for an audience too inundated with other content to pay attention.
