Note: This post was written by Aanchal Parmar, a freelance writer for B2B, fintech and fashion brands.
What if I said that you can get backlinks from some of the highest domain authority websites?
“Tell me more!”
Recently, Amanda Milligan spoke at the Bay Area Content Marketing Meetup to show us how the combination of content marketing and PR can make this happen. At the time of her talk, Amanda was Marketing Director at Fractl, a growth marketing agency.
When it comes to content, Amanda suggests that brands who want authoritative backlinks should have something worth publishing in the first place. This is not your typical pitching style that you just bombard every editor with.
Keep these things in mind:
People don’t like cold emails.
No one likes to receive a cold email that’s irrelevant to them. But when you approach them with something worth publishing, they will at least take a moment to see what you have for them.
Provide them with value.
When someone says content, we hear value. People like it when you add value to their lives. Why should someone care about you and your brand?
Give them something to fill their editorial calendar.
When you provide them with content to publish on their websites, they will consider you, since you are taking something off their plate.
The payoff? Authoritative backlinks.
The time you spend crafting your content and pitch absolutely pays off. You’re not getting backlinks from just any publications, you’re getting backlinks from authoritative sites.
Let’s take a look at Amanda’s approach to creating compelling content.
Use surprise and anticipation
Amanda researched 50 different images to understand the emotions they triggered. What she found is that the two most highly engaging emotions were surprise and anticipation. Not every time will you be able to find that surprising element, and at that time, you need to ensure that there is an emotional component to it.
You need to take a step back and think about what emotion is connected with each piece of content. What are the emotions that this particular piece of content should invoke? Is it fear, happiness, desire, sadness, scarcity, or something else?
The content, along with the surprising element, has to bring the tint of freshness with it. You cannot just recycle an old piece of content.
So if you are claiming something new and fresh, you also need to back that with some kind of hypothesis. Let me tell you this will help you in shortlisting the ideas that have the most potential, and it also helps you narrow down your list of ideas for that particular matter.
Create content that is widely appealing
Fractl came up with their own phrase to explain this part and it is called tangential content.
Tangential content is something that is not directly associated with your brand, but it surrounds your brand. Tangential content is about not keeping your brand in the spotlight ,but working around the same topics the brand is all about.
WHY?
Because you will be approaching reputable publications and they are going to ignore your pitch if it’s self-serving. You need to zoom out a bit and think about the topics your audience would like, without being directly tied to the brand.
Amanda recommended the use of original data to drive your content marketing:
- Surveys: These surveys are popular, and most companies use them for such purposes.
- Internal data: Internal data is something that most companies overlook, and they have the most exciting data. Companies don’t find it interesting because they have to deal with it every day, but it can be surprising for the rest of your audience.
- Social: Social handles are the best sources to analyze public sentiments and how they behave for that particular matter.
- APIs
- Government resources (e.g., freely available data sets from Federal, State and local governments)
- Google Trends
Also, you can find what people are asking and how you can help them get their answers with the help of keyword research.
Pitching the media: general tips
Amanda discussed some considerations for pitching media sources with your content.
First, pitch the right person. Is the writer relevant to your industry? Is the writer a consistent contributor to that publication? Take time to determine the right person to contact. Fractl did a survey and they asked writers for their pet peeves when brands reach out to them. The top two were:
- When brands haven’t researched them and their work thoroughly
- When brands haven’t studied the publication well enough
So to avoid such mishaps, you need to invest time in researching the writer you are pitching and the publication. Then you need to mention these details in your pitch itself so that they know you have done your research.
Next, find sites that align with your business goals:
- If your primary goal is link building, check on the domain authority of the site. Also, see if they provide “do follow” vs. “no follow” links
- If your goal is to generate brand awareness, then check if the site’s articles are getting traction. You can use Buzzsumo to check the site’s top-performing stories
- If your goal is to reach a specific audience, then you can use tools like SparkToro to see if your audience is actually reading this publication or not
Pitching the media: email length + personalization
When Fractl asked writers for the ideal length of outreach emails, more than 50% of them said less than 200 words. This means that the pitch has to be really precise, with a reason you’re contacting them in the first place. Personalize the pitch. Media contacts get hundreds of pitches, so make sure yours is tailored to that one individual. Additional tips:
- Find people you collaborated with in the past. You can mention that past collaboration to increase the chances of getting a positive reply.
- Mention an article they recently wrote. You don’t need to write a complete synopsis of the article — it’s a way to show you’ve done your part in researching them.
- Follow them on Twitter, especially if the writer matches your beat very well. You can mention something they recently tweeted that resonated with you. You don’t need to be all gushy — focus on creating a genuine connection to another human.
On-demand recording
Watch the on-demand recording of Amanda’s talk to the Bay Area Content Marketing Meetup: