Old Taskmaster remembers back to the good ‘ole days, sonny Jim Crockett, when classified rivers of gold used to flow to our big city newspapers.
Back in the days before ham-fisted proprietors cut the newsroom funds that made a good old-fashioned broadsheet worth reading. Back then, a strong opinion in a one or two newspaper town was a great way to earn a living.
These days, media organisation budgets get tighter, while the insatiable desire for content grows larger. Unfortunately, there’s just no budget anymore to pay for content. This is where you come in, my dear entrepreneur.
You know that weekly blog that you’ve set up over the past week? Why not double or triple the publicity you gain from it by syndicating your posts?
Well, Old Taskmaster says this: Find three or four small, independent news websites – preferably Australian ones – that cover your industry.
Then make contact with them, preferably by phone (but email will do). Ask them if, once a week, fortnight or month, they’d be interested in republishing your blogs on their website.
Emphasise your posts will be genuine discussions of issues in your industry, rather than just long-form ad copy. Don’t ask for money for your blogs because you won’t get any – if they have a budget, they’ll spend it on professional writers.
Instead, ask them if they’re interested in syndicating your blogs, and in return, ask them to include a few lines about your business.
Here’s a hypothetical example:
“Old Taskmaster is the founder of Taskmaster Enterprises, Australia’s leading widget design and supply company. You can view more great content from the Taskmaster by clicking here.”
They get extra content for free while you get free publicity. Meanwhile, the amount of publicity you get for your one-hour-a-week working on your blog doubles in value.
Get it done – today!
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
