Making the most out of your content is about more than just designing or writing something brilliant unfortunately. It’s about finding an audience that wants to share your work. The way to build this is through effective outreach.
Outreach involves building quality links and placing your content on high profile sites. So how can you build an effective outreach strategy?
Understand the people you are reaching out to.
When reaching out, remember that you are a person contacting another person, even if you both represent companies. Build a connection, offer something useful, and show friendliness while also asking for something in return to improve your chances. Showcase your expertise by mentioning people you’ve collaborated with or referencing valuable content you’ve created, but keep it casual to avoid turning people away.
Don’t waste your own time.
This doesn’t mean ‘go in hard and hit them with a call to action in the opening paragraph’. It means don’t go around trying to land outreach contacts that aren’t worth the time it takes to cultivate them.
One rule to follow is this – if the link was going to be a no-follow link, would you still go to all this effort? If the answer is no, you should probably write off the outreach. You need to focus on the sites that add real value to yours.
Rejection shouldn’t be an issue for you, in fact, you should be getting rejected. If you are facing this, try to find something that is mutually beneficial and try asking someone else about your newer, better proposition.
Be straight with people.
Keep in mind that people are aware of your intentions when you contact them. Building rapport is key, but the main focus of your interactions should be business. Don’t be shy or act like you just want to be friends. Be clear about what you want from the relationship right from the start.
Start an email with a line that at least alludes to the business implications of your message. Don’t be too forceful either, as this can scare people off. Finding the balance is tricky, but worth it.
Choices are important.
When emailing a potential outreach partner, offer them more than one option. Give the person an easy option. Add a larger, more preferable task such as adding a link to a blog post which you can create for them if they want to add more content to their site and you should have just handed them a reason to accept your offer.
Make your emails ‘must-open’.
Give your recipients a reason to open your email. Address it to them personally in the subject line and try and give it some context to help them make the decision to click on it.
If you can follow these five principles, you are more likely to build successful outreach relationships.