I help business executives produce and publish thought leadership content in the media with my business Thought Leadership PR. I was a journalist for 15 years, so I have unique insight into what makes an article media-ready.

Here, I draw on my experience as both journalist being pitched and PR professional pitching stories on behalf of my clients to highlight some of the common pitfalls in writing thought leadership articles for media visibility.

Avoid being too ‘messagy’

If you want to get your thought leadership content accepted by the media, you have to write about wider issues relevant to that publication’s audience, and not about your business. This is the difference between PR and marketing.

An editor doesn’t care about your messaging...

I hear many corporations talk about getting the ‘messaging’ right. That’s all well and good for marketing material that you can control. But with earned media, I’m afraid you’re not the boss. An editor doesn’t care about your messaging – their job is to uphold the integrity of their publication by producing content that their readers can learn something new from.

Avoid common marketing clichés

Beware of hidden marketing phrases that you may think come across as modest but in fact are bland and self-interested that will turn an editor off your idea. Ones I come across regularly are: ‘We are proud to be the leading business in XXX.’ Or, ‘I am fortunate enough to lead a team of XXX.’

Firstly, these are not phrases we use naturally in everyday language and secondly, thought leaders need to be bold. If you ‘lead a team of XX’, the chances are it’s not down to being ‘fortunate’. It came from your experience and unique approach.

Instead, qualify your achievement and then provide an insight which stems from it. For example: ‘We were voted the leading XXX business in 2019 due to our fresh approach to solving XXX.’ Or: ‘I lead a team of XX and what I’ve learned from that is XXX.’

Avoid long intros

Untrained writers often use the first few paragraphs to explain why people need to read this article. For example, I recently googled ‘ways to promote a YouTube channel’ (to help a client promote his new video series). Scores of articles popped up. The ones on well-known website, such as this one on Mashable got straight into the nitty gritty.

The ones on low-tier blogs or websites had long pre-ambles explaining why you need to promote your channel, which I soon exited because I couldn’t easily locate the info I needed. The fact that I landed on this page in the first place indicates I’m already sold on why I need to read it.

Avoid jokey language and colloquialisms

By all means if you’re writing your own blog or newsletter, bring your personality into it. Be as jazzy as you like with your language. You got me? Cool beans.

If you’re writing for a B2B or consumer publication though, you’ll have to cut the colloquialisms. They have a house style for consistency, and the chances are it will be formal. There are exceptions – the likes of Buzzfeed for example. But generally, keep street talk off the page.

Don’t presume public knowledge of coined phrases

Often a company will have coined phrases for their unique concepts or products and drop it into an article in the hope it will ‘catch on.’ But it’s off-putting for a reader to come across a phrase that the writer doesn’t explain.

For example, say you are a business consultant and you have come up with a brilliant, original sales plan. Maybe you call it ‘The Triangle Sales Technique’ (let’s say!). You are asked to write a thought leadership article for a widely read B2B title like Inc.com. You can’t resist mentioning your own branded sales technique and you write something like, ‘Hitting the phones is still the best way to reach people, providing you use the Triangle Sales Technique.’

A reader won’t know what this is unless they are already a follower of your work. Instead you could write: ‘Once you’re on the phone, I tell my clients that they should apply what I call The Triangle Sales Technique. What that involves in summary is XXX.’

Avoid a play on words for titles and sub-headings

People love to be clever with headings and sub-headings. This used to work for printed media. But now that everything is digital, headings need to be something which indicates what it’s about at a glance, rather than something creative. For example, I could have called this article ‘The Write Way’ or something punny like that. But no one would click on it because it doesn’t offer indicate what you’ll learn from it (nor would an editor open your email with this title).

Sub-headings should be summaries of what the next section is about. They acts as guidance to a reader to keep their attention.

Know whom to pitch

There are two distinct roles in newsrooms: Writers and commissioners. If you are pitching a news story about your business (for example you’ve issued a white paper, or published research) then by all means contact journalists. But if you’re pitching a thought leadership piece, which is something you will write, a journalist can’t do anything with this because they don’t decide content. In that case you need to pitch to an editor or commissioning editor.

As an ex-journalist I still get pitched by other PRs (who clearly haven’t researched me to know that I’m now in PR and not a journalist). Do your homework and use common sense. Even if you don’t know how newsrooms work you can think, ‘what is this person’s role, and what can they actually do with what I am suggesting?’

Check out this bit of successful thought leadership for a business title by one of my clients, showcasing his expertise on building and scaling start-ups. If you’d like help with thought leadership contact me through ThoughtLeadershipPr.com