In the world of digital marketing, traffic is the name of the game. And generating a lot of traffic usually means successfully promoting your content get links and shares on social networks.
But even the most popular bloggers sometimes struggle with this. Really. Believe it or not, sometimes even the most established digital content creators with the most engaged audiences struggle to get the engagement they need.
If you have a smaller blog, it’s probably daunting.
After all, if Seth Godin did it publications that aren’t shared, what hope do you have of going viral with your grandma’s cheesecake recipe?
Sure, it’s the best cheesecake in the history of the world, but how do you get people excited and sharing it in their social circle?
Let me introduce you to a little tactic known as a pre-disclosure strategy.
What is this, you ask? Your work before content drops pays dividends after your release. He is building relationships with industry players, journalists, publishers and other bloggers.
It’s usually a two-way street, where you’ll partner with someone to promote their content, and in return, they’ll promote yours.
And the truly remarkable thing is that it is not limited to blogs. You can also use advance communication to link email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), influencer marketing, and social media marketing campaigns
If your pre-release strategy is effective, your traffic increase will be consistent, even when you’re not publishing new content.
Sounds great, right? Next, we look at how to create and implement a pre-release strategy that can drive links and shares for all of your content.
Before you jump in, know one thing: If your business doesn’t have visibility, using a pre-outreach strategy might not be the best use of your time.
Instead, it would be best to focus on improving your profile first. Once you have done this, you should review your pre-disclosure plan.
Start by reviewing your circles
I always start all my pre-outreach campaigns by gathering a list of experts and partners I regularly collaborate with on content promotion.
This is a quick and easy task if you use CRM systems like Nimble or Pitchbox or have a spreadsheet with their names and contact information.
I recommend reviewing your current list of social media subscribers and followers. There is a good chance that among them there are people who are interested in sharing your content.
After creating this spreadsheet, I separate all my contacts into two lists.
The first list is the people I’m going to ask to give my work some love and endorsements on their channels. The second list of people are those I will contact with the possibility to link back.
In both cases, I never forget that I am asking for a favor, so I have to make sure that it will be easy and beneficial for them to help me. No one likes to do a favor for someone who makes it difficult or offers nothing in return. I always ask if they want me to promote something.
Some people think that the best way to get links is to email people you may not know. I would not recommend this.
A recent study showed that cold outreach emails have a response rate of only 1-5%. My personal experience confirms this figure. It took me about 40 cold emails to get a link.
My rule of thumb is to only ask people if they could refer to my piece if I know them and have previously partnered with them in terms of link building.
Thanks to PitchboxI can easily filter contacts I’ve never linked with from my pre-disclosure list.
While I sometimes use automated email communication funnels for upfront communication, I prefer to do it manually. This allows me to check that I’m sending it to the right person and add a bit of personalization to each email.
Another thing that is good to mention is that thanks to the Digital Olympus conference, I have a good number of digital marketing influencers who are always willing to help me spread the word once my post is published.
So, launching your event or even podcast is a great idea as it can help you build relationships with industry leaders.
One more example I will give you is The Jason Barnard Podcast. Covering SEO, copywriting and more, this platform allows you to effectively promote your content by engaging the people you invite as guests on your show.
Finally, if you’re lucky enough to have close ties to companies that send mass emails to their subscribers, this could be a gold mine.
The logic is pretty simple: ask to be featured in your bulk emails, and in return offer to mention your post in your email marketing campaign.
As you can probably see, the more people you have established a good working relationship with, the more likely you are to get links and social shares.
Now we’ll see what to do after we’ve reached out to all your contacts.
Go beyond your circles to secure links
Reaching people beyond your contacts is essential to getting enough links. This is a good time to use pre-communication to “warm up” people and build relationships with them.
The trick here is to provide the contacts you’re going to introduce yourself to first, with value and benefits, so they feel they owe you.
However, it’s worth mentioning that if you’re not familiar with the experts in your industry, this can become a time-consuming exercise.
Here are the steps you should follow:
Find experts who regularly publish guest posts on various blogs
To build a list of contributors, you can start by checking sites that accept guest posting opportunities.
Optionally, you can go to BuzzSumo and report using the “Top Authors” tool, where you can search by any keyword related to your pre-release content.
Then you need to look at the list of authors and find contributors who write on multiple blogs.
Develop a powerful value proposition
Most of us aren’t as popular as Rand Fishkin or Matthew Woodward, so creating a powerful value proposition is essential.
In our case, the simplest ways are to ask potential links to:
Add their quotes (if they are interested and have time to do so). Share your final draft and see if they have any posts they’d like to reference.
Both options add value to them and help you build a beneficial relationship.
Also, I highly recommend checking out this publicationwhich can help you increase your email communication response rates.
Clue: Recently, I was doing a roundup with many experts when I noticed that my new post was going to be published shortly. So I asked contributors to consider linking to my recent article. I immediately received ten links because they wanted to be helpful, which would continue our collaborative relationship.
The secret to working with people you don’t know is to offer them value.
Mass cold emails may seem more accessible, but investing your time and energy in building relationships with experts will pay off. And you can even become link building partners in the future.
Start building rewarding relationships
So, now that you know exactly what a pre-release strategy is, all you have to do is put it into practice.
Unfortunately, as you will soon discover, it is not as easy as it seems. In reality, you will encounter many dead ends, where seemingly perfect link partners do not respond to your emails or you do not receive the actions you expected.
Don’t get discouraged. You are playing the long game. And as long as you approach each person with a proposition that will benefit them, you’ll build the network and generate the exposure you need.
Good luck.
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Featured Image: Kinga/Shutterstock
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