As content has become increasingly reliant on content, the necessity for businesses to become publishers has only increased. Many of the projects I have had the opportunity to work on resulted from this trend. I have developed plans for and have produced many different types of articles and long-form writing, which I will delineate below.
Newspaper Articles:
I have worked with newspapers in three different manners.
First, I wrote for ClutchMOV, a sort of digital paper in the Marietta, Ohio, region. I wrote articles mostly tied to my experience of moving from my Northeast Ohio, where I had lived my entire life, to a river town in Southeast Ohio. I did this work not only because I enjoyed writing but also because it provided a gateway for me to occasionally write objective, long-form articles about what our clients were contributing to the community.
Second, I work with newspapers when I am desirous of getting a press release published. In many cases the publication will pick up the article as provided, but occasionally the editor will play a larger role, in which case making sure all of the information is correct is essential.
Finally, during my time as marketing and communications specialist at Southeastern Ohio Regional Medical Center, I worked with the local newspaper both in terms of a way to publish articles I needed the community to see, but I also worked on building a partnership with the newspaper. Previous to my employment, the relationship between the newspaper and the hospital had not been healthy, so I worked hard to establish reliable contacts, fast turn-around of information, often within 24 hours, and positive feedback when they published an article that was favorable to us. Writing articles for the local paper necessitated gathering quotations often from the C-Suite and then showing them the entire context of the article to ensure they were comfortable with my presentation of the information.
White Papers
I have been a proponent of lead generation using valuable content for many years. Although there are many who insist people simply do not read anymore, if you provide the right kind of long-form content for the right kind of audience, they will sacrifice the inconvenience of being marketed to in order to receive that content.
I have participated in white paper projects in three ways.
First, I have written white papers for client approval. This is often a tricky venture because companies whom I have worked with on the agency side don’t have the time, usually, to offer the kind of technical detail that a white paper truly needs to be successful. I have been able to marry client-provided content with my ability to implement skillful research in order to create these documents.
Second, I have assisted in research efforts for the development of white papers or technical articles. This was particularly the case in regard to a client I worked with who was an orthopedic surgeon. Using the skills I had learned while earning my Masters in Library and Information Science, I assisted the doctor in accessing the types of resources he needed.
Finally, I have created editorial calendars that have incorporated the development of long-form documents for lead generation. The development of these calendars requires a modicum of research simply in order to understand what topics are of interest to the industry at that particular time, and also having an accurate feeling as to what would best serve the company and their customers/clients.