Top tips for penning a winning business technology byline (Part 1)

It’s not all about press releases and news in technology PR; there’s a number of other tactics for securing the all-important coverage that keeps our clients in the public spotlight. One of the best ways of positioning a company as being packed full of the brightest and most pioneering minds in the industry is to get their spokespeople out there voicing their opinions in a bylined article. These articles tend to be of varying lengths and styles depending on the publication, but there are some golden rules that always apply (in addition to first thinking about whether the author is qualified to have an opinion), so in this two-part mini-series, I’ll outline my top tips on how to write a top-notch opinion article.

Have an opinion!

The first thing to consider before putting pen to paper is what your opinion is and whether it’s likely to be of interest to others. For example; if you’re a cloud vendor, you probably think the cloud is great, but an article about that probably won’t generate much buzz. Instead, it’s better to focus on real-world scenarios where it’s delivering benefits, or how migration challenges can be overcome. The best opinion pieces say something truly revolutionary; i.e. ‘in the future, the police force will be replaced with trained velociraptors wearing lasers on their heads’, or controversial ‘velociraptors probably had feathers, but nobody wants to see a fluffy dinosaur in a summer blockbuster.’

Pitch first, write later

It’s generally best practice to approach the editor of your target publication with an idea for an article before you start drafting it, or the whole affair can turn into a long and drawn-out series of disappointments and unnecessary delays. This can also help you to draft the article in a way that is more suitable for the target publication’s editorial style, and discussing thoughts with the editor beforehand can provide some useful steers on what their readers are likely to be most interested in reading about. Not only does this make it more likely that your article will get published where you want to see it, but it also makes it more likely that it will be read by those that you really want to see it! This also brings me neatly onto my next point.

Know your audience

Every publication has a different audience, so it’s vital that you have a clear picture in mind of who you’re writing for before setting out. Having already secured placement of your article before you start drafting is a logical place to start, as that gives you a very clearly defined readership to aim for. You then need to consider that audience’s level of knowledge and the editorial style of the title you’d like to see your article published in when writing it. For example, if you’re writing about reducing MIPS usage for Mainframe Weekly (if only that existed) you won’t need to spell out what MIPS stands for, as it’s a fairly safe bet the readers know. However, if you’re writing this article for a general IT title, the audience is a lot less niche, and some extra context will be needed.

In my next blog post, I’ll outline three more top tips on how to craft an attention-grabbing opinion piece that will help catapult your spokespeople to the top of their media game – so make sure to check back next week.