Generating Interest – Inspiring Conversation: Effective Article Marketing
Posted by Beth Hrusch on Mon, Dec 07, 2009
Effective article marketing is a two-way street. Long gone are the days in which brilliant writers bless an adoring readership with their words, receiving only fan mail, money and accolades in return. Today, the sign of effective article marketing is when you receive roughly the opposite: critical reader comments.
Don't Play a Harp at the Rock Concert
Your reading public is your customer and they're always right. If your goal is to earn enough readers to drive new business leads, then readers' interests are central-not your own.
Your opinions can diverge from conventional wisdom-and probably should, 
particularly if certain thinking in your industry has gone stale. However, fundamentally, you're writing for your audience's interests. You don't bust out a harp during a rock concert.
Open the Floor to Questions
Provide multiple channels through which readers can interact with you, your ideas and your articles. An example that I particularly like, recently mentioned by author Robert Greene (http://www.copyblogger.com/robert-greene-50-cent/), is that of Eleanor Roosevelt and how she actively made herself accessible to her audience: Americans in need, New Deal beneficiaries, etc.
The First Lady travelled the country and started a column in The Woman's Home Companion, asking readers to write to her. They did and within six months, she'd reportedly received over 300,000 letters. This type of direct commentary from her audience was an invaluable addition to Franklin Roosevelt's "Brain Trust". It's also the path to achieving effective article marketing.
Provoke Discussion - Don't Save the World
Your posts will likely be of the brief conversation-starting variety rather than a comprehensive, multi-faceted solution to a major challenge. Odds are, if you're in an industry worth writing about repeatedly, that industry is complicated enough that you're not going to solve everyone's problems in a post or two.
Finally, remember that provocation is preferable to preachiness. Readers don't want to be told what to think, especially if you're asking for their comments or feedback. After all, you should be asking for feedback because you really want it. You might learn a thing or two.