How to write for high-visibility publications
Writing for high-visibility publications is one of the most effective ways to build your reputation as an authoritative expert. It allows you to share your perspective with a well-established audience, demonstrates your credibility, and opens the doors to new opportunities and coveted speaking engagements.
Building your authority, differentiating yourself from your peers, and positioning yourself as the obvious choice takes time and a consistent, focused effort. The options and advice can feel overwhelming. Even if you know that you want to write articles for publication, you still have to figure out which publications accept contributed content, how to choose the right publication, and what goes into a pitch. The good news? There’s a recipe for writing for high-visibility publications.
The SILVA Method™
The SILVA Method is a step-by-step approach to help you identify, pitch, and write for the high-visibility publications that will best serve your business goals, getting you the results you want while minimizing the time, money, and energy you invest.
Building your authority requires you to play the long game. There are no shortcuts. But this step-by-step approach will keep you focused and moving forward. It will save you a tremendous amount of time and help you develop a plan that fits into your workflow.
Select Your Publication. Identify and prioritize your business goals, intended audience, and how your expertise can serve that audience. Then determine how writing for publication will fit into your workflow. Evaluate each publication against these criteria and select one that compliments your voice and style.
Illuminate Your Body of Work. Clearly define your area of expertise, the relationship you wish to build, and your point of view. Identify your major themes, the topics that support those themes, the angles from which you can approach those topics, and examples that demonstrate your experience-based expertise.
Level-Up Your Writing. Understand how to structure a business article and the difference between writing for print and online publications. Establish a writing practice to develop your voice and style. Research, write, rewrite, and edit an article for publication, fact-checking it prior to submission.
Validate Your Ideas. Writing for third-party publications validates your ideas and provides social proof. To succeed, you must understand the pitch process and the publication’s readership. Craft a compelling pitch that demonstrates your expertise, point of view, and the value you’ll provide the publication’s readers.
Accelerate Your Authority. Work does not end once an article is published. Learn how to use your articles as appreciating assets that help you achieve clear business goals. Promote, repurpose, and syndicate articles to maximize the benefits.
If you want to position yourself as the obvious choice, increase your income, expand your influence, and magnify your impact, you must differentiate yourself from your peers and be memorable. You must invest in building your reputation as an authoritative expert.
Writing articles for high-visibility publications is one way to accomplish that goal. As a strategy, it is most effective if you already know your audience, have experience working with them and getting them the results they seek, and feel compelled to share your message so you can make an impact as well as a living.