One business marketing strategy that has gained popularity in recent years is the technique of pursuing editorial placements, or “thought leadership,” for a company’s expert. Every company has an expert (otherwise it wouldn’t exist), but many companies still fail to realize the full value of this person’s knowledge by integrating him or her into the company’s business marketing strategy and promoting this expert in the media.

Today, Internet publications have exponentially expanded the number of editorial placements available for savvy business marketing professionals, yet many businesses still don’t seize these opportunities. If your company has publicized its experts, then it should be applauded, and the company is no doubt reaping the benefits of its efforts at this very moment. If not, read on and ask yourself if your company’s business marketing strategy can afford to forego any of the following benefits.

Additional Awareness of Your Company’s Product/Service

The first and most obvious benefit of this business marketing strategy is the awareness it generates. In the articles your expert writes (or has ghostwritten), he or she demonstrates his or her expertise for the reader and, in doing so, also demonstrates the expertise of the company. Should readers want to know more, all they would have to do is view the expert’s biography to see what company the author is representing, and then click over to the company’s home page for more information.

High-Quality Website Visitors

In most cases, readers who click over to the company home page from an expert article will be more qualified prospects than the average website visitor. In fact, these people tend to spend more time on the site and view more pages, and they are more likely to take an action, such as filling out a contact form, subscribing to an email newsletter, or downloading a demo.

An Unbiased Forum to Market Your Company

You may need to sit down for this: visitors consider the information on your corporate website to be somewhat biased. They absorb the content you offer and the marketing strategy behind it, but they often seek objective information elsewhere. This quest will probably prompt visitors to use search engines to find industry websites or to visit various industry portals directly. These industry sites provide an unbiased forum for you to reach potential customers; in many cases, this exposure is free.

When it comes to business marketing, this scenario is rare because companies usually have to pay for such advertising exposure. However, editorial placements are often free because they offer something valuable to the three parties involved: readers receive insight into problems they have; the editor receives relevant, high-quality content without having to pay a writer; and your company receives positive exposure.

Personalized Interaction with the Customer

Most business marketing strategies are very impersonal. The elements of a marketing strategy come from a faceless corporation and can feel rather dry or diluted. While editorial placements are also a business marketing strategy, they approach people from a more personal standpoint than traditional marketing pieces. The article is written by a person and often includes a biography and photo of the author, which brings a human element to the experience—an element that is, unfortunately, usually lacking in your company’s latest commercial or print ad.

Marketplace Credibility

Editorial placements also improve your company’s credibility in the marketplace. When readers see an article by your company on a third-party site, they get the impression that the author and his or her company are industry leaders. Thus, readers are more likely to believe that the information you are sharing is valuable, and, above all, this will differentiate you from the competition.

Mitigate the Complexity of a Product/Service

In today’s world, technology is everywhere, but people generally have only a rudimentary understanding of it. By writing articles about different facets of your product or service as part of your business marketing strategy, you help reduce that product or service’s complexity and make it more familiar to potential customers.

The Internet has made nearly every company rethink its business marketing strategy. One way to adapt your company’s marketing strategy to the Internet is to seize the opportunity to publish articles on the many industry portals that are seeking quality content to keep their sites fresh. There are many benefits to this marketing strategy, but the price of ignoring the opportunity is steep because it gives the competition a significant advantage.

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