Have a comfortable set-up

The key to great writing often lies in the prosaic details. Writing is often framed as a fight of the mind. Fighting your body alongside it won’t lead to the next great American novel, much less a decent blog post. If your fingers or wrists hurt after a long writing session, consider moving to an ergonomic keyboard. Seating is just as important. If you’re not fancy enough to have a treadmill/desk setup (and really, who is?) get a basic office chair with lumbar support.

Listen to what moves you

Whether it’s a mix of Kanye and Chopin or a single song on repeat for hours, everyone has a different auditory palate. Learn what works for you. Every time you notice a song as more than a background for your writing, skip it. You don’t need something that tempts your mind from the cursor; you need music that will simply live in the background.

Choose a single creative mantra

The dorms of collegiate writers are peppered with writing advice, usually from the likes of Ira Glass or Oscar Wilde. The really esoteric ones go for Anne Lamott. But, having the wisdom of 20 different people staring down at you isn’t inspiring—it’s overwhelming. Pick one mantra to get you through the process, whether it’s from a famous dead guy or something you wrote. Decide what writing roadblock you stumble over most, and write down a sentence or two that encourages you to overcome it.

Minimize distractions

Writing takes an immense reservoir of willpower. When you constantly allow yourself to give in to the distractions of Skype, Facebook, and BuzzFeed, you’re draining your reserves. Remove yourself from temptation by installing productivity software and signing out of desktop apps. StayFocusd is a great Chrome extension that allows you to set how much time you’ll spend on time-wasting websites. The Nuclear Option allows you to block all sites for an hour at a time, which allows you to focus purely on your writing.

Give yourself your best chance of content creation success on every project by ensuring that you’re free of distractions and you’re comfortable. These concerns may feel unimportant, but the only thing standing between you and that next great blog post could be a lousy keyboard or death metal.

Have you created the perfect space, but now need guidance on what to write? Download our Enterprise Blog Optimization Guide today!

The post For Content Creation Success, Make a Space for Writing appeared first on RELEVANCE.

Just because they are investing in content marketing does not mean they understand how to develop a mature content marketing campaign. But this model will help companies better understand where they are with their own content marketing services and will be most important to understand that pushing content is turning off buyers. Buyer persona expert Tony Zambito puts it this way:

“Some have done buyer personas yes – but in review, they are laden with buying criteria-centric and supplier-centric language. Lacking the true buyer insights research to guide content marketing efforts. Instead of serving as a guide for marketing content.”

Content marketing that’s developed for specific customer needs throughout the buying journey will win. For B2C customers, the captured audience must be offered deals that will actually bring them through the sales cycle.

Don’t Get Stuck

The first two stages of the five-stage content marketing maturity model are stasis and production. Stasis produces content that is very brand-centric, while content within the production stage is predominantly seen as more concentrated on creating specific, keyword-focused content. The primary goal of this strategy is to use keywords to determine the topics for the content.

But both of these stages ignore the emphasis on the customer’s sales cycle journey and focus too much on search visibility and organic referrals. Brands that are stuck in the first two stages are still getting attention and are likely succeeding but it will be critical for these brands to use this as a guide if they want to compete in this marketplace.

It might be difficult to cast a brand in one of the first two phases while still keeping it positive.

The Utility Level of Maturity

Content marketing can eventually reach a higher level of maturity in which keywords and brand messages aren’t the focus of content planning. The strategies within the third stage of the model—utility—start to invest in content that contributes to useful experiences for the customer. Content marketing that offers a utility is more focused on customer information needs and exhibits great usefulness. A brand that is a great example of a B2C utility is Just Add Ice Orchids. The company is very active on social media and attracts social communities, authentic engagement, and demands an emotional connection with the brand's identity.

Optimize for Buying Cycle

As a brand’s content marketing matures, its brand narrative will mature into storytelling. But before entering the fourth maturity level—storytelling—a brand needs to be optimized for the buying cycle. Many brands seem to get stuck between the maturity of being a utility and storytelling.

Zappos is a great example of a brand that remains between these two stages. Zappos definitely demonstrates brand leadership, but it doesn’t optimize its buying cycle, despite effective mobile and multichannel strategies. An eCommerce company that decides to capture email addresses to use for future marketing strategies may have an opportunity to outperform its competitors. Tactics like blog subscriptions and quid-pro-quo transactions like offering TOFU content (whitepapers, guides) can help gather the desired customer information for targeted marketing.

Storytelling and "Monetization 360"

The storytelling stage introduces the importance of the buyer’s intellectual needs as well as his emotional needs. This is where brand stories create shared experiences and communities and encourage influencers to contribute. Woot, acquired by eCommerce giant Amazon, is an excellent example of a brand in the storytelling stage.

Research and analysis company Forrester is another example of a brand that’s managed to enter monetization levels of maturity. Forrester sticks to the channels it knows best, which means it doesn’t enter omnichannel. Other brands that have entered the monetization maturity level are PRDaily, Content Marketing Institute, TopRank, Moz, and HubSpot. Huffington Post is a great example of a B2C brand publisher that’s also approached this content marketing maturity level.

Lee points out that an organization's entire content marketing campaign can't be completed within just one of these stages. Applying this five-step maturity model to a brand’s content marketing strategy can be effective for gaining perspective and turning a brand around, but success requires commitment and determination.

The post Using the Content Marketing Maturity Model to Guide Your Campaign appeared first on RELEVANCE.

1. The Activity Feed, Biggest Fans & Top Post features are super informative.

Tumblr's activity feed shows you, at quick glance, the overall activity on your blog over a set amount of time. You can view activity from the past 24 hours, 3 days, 7 days, or 1 month. The activity feed displays how many notes you've received (notes are likes and reblogs), how many new followers you've gained, and your total number of followers. As you change your time filter, you'll also see the biggest fans and the top post from that selected period of time. In case you wanted to know even more about who's been creeping on your blog, Tumblr also shows you the top 4 users who have liked and reblogged your posts. It doesn't tell you exactly what they've liked or reblogged, or how many notes they've generated though. Tumblr also shows you which post on your blog has received the most notes for the selected period of time.

2. The Dashboard is practically flawless.

The Tumblr Dashboard is so clean and simple. It shows you everything you need and nothing more. No ads, no fluff, no promotions, no worthless updates. The top navigation has a few options: home, messages, help, settings, and logout. There is a search bar where you can search the entire web or just Tumblr. Along the top of the dashboard, you have the option to create a new post with text, a photo, a quote, a link, a conversation, audio, or video. Along the right side of the dashboard, you can toggle between blogs (Tumblr lets you run multiple blogs from one parent account), check followers, check your activity feed, see drafts, see queued posts and customize your blog's layout. The Account tab shows all of the posts you've liked and the blogs you've followed – and gives you the option to find more blogs. There are sometimes 3 recommended blogs and then the Tumblr Radar, which promotes one post based on other blogs you follow. These Tumblr Radar posts are on point. I willingly reblog them a few times per week.

3. You can run multiple blogs.

For someone like me with a nearly schizophrenic push and pull of interests, the option to run multiple blogs from one primary parent account is ideal. I'm not sure if there's a limit on how many blogs you can run. However, once you've started your first blog, that blog will forever be the parent account for any other blogs you start. You can't change it later.

4. You can queue and schedule posts.

Tumblr gives you the option to customize your queue to post as often as you'd like. You can queue up hundreds of posts and tell Tumblr to post a certain number of times per day between specified hours – 8 times per day between the hours of 9 a.m. and 12 a.m., for instance. You can also tell Tumblr to post something at a specific time, like Sunday at 1:12 p.m. Once items are queued, you can go to your queue tab and view your posts or rearrange the order by dragging and dropping. At any time, you can edit a post to publish it immediately, delete it from your queue or schedule it to post at a specific time.

5. There's an option to integrate Google Analytics & Disqus.

Tumblr lets you customize their premade blog designs to your heart's content. You can play with the HTML if that's your thing. Or you can embed your Google Analytics account information and have everything tracked. You can also put in the information for your Disqus account to enable comments on your blog. A Disqus name also allows non-Tumblr users to leave comments on a post.

6. There are no ads.

Besides the Tumblr Radar post, Recommended Blogs, and the occasional informational post from the Tumblr staff, there aren't any irritating ads on Tumblr. Anywhere.

There are so many more things to love about Tumblr. From its diverse users to its strange niche fandoms and its everlasting supply of cat .gifs, there's something for just about everyone. Want to see for yourself? Sign up. Or, if you're already Tumbling, tell us what your favorite (or even least favorite) aspects of Tumblr are.

The post Try Tumblr: 6 Super Features for Blog Seekers appeared first on RELEVANCE.

Promoting your content on large media outlets requires a ton of hard work, but Jerry Seinfeld and his cohorts managed to make it look so easy. Part of his genius is that he cultivated his existing audience from the show Seinfeld, which was wildly popular during the 90s (and still is, in syndication). More recently, Jerry Seinfeld developed a concept that was undeniably entertaining and worthy of shares, allowing him to leverage this existing fan base while garnering new devotees with a fresh spin on a show about nothing.

And now, instead of going to producers to reach the larger network television audience, he had producers coming to him.

You might not have a concept as brilliant as "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," but there are lessons to be learned about what you do with your content as a marketer. How do you make audiences flock to you naturally?

Do What You Love!

Great content comes from passion. If you’re not passionate about a project you’re working on, it can show in your work. The more passionate you are about what you're doing, the more you care about it. The more you care, the better your content will ultimately be.

Seinfeld is passionate about comedy, and it shows. Another great example of passion-fueled success is the web comic "Axe Cop," drawn by Ethan Nicolle (age 29 at the time) and written by his younger brother Malachai Nicolle (age 5). Although it looks at first blush like your standard comic book, Malachai’s ridiculous storylines had readers’ sides splitting from laughter. Word traveled fast, and it became extremely popular.

Passion + Guest Blogging = Win-Win

Because he recognized the entertainment quality of the "Axe Cop" comic, FOX’s ADHD producer Nick Weidenfeld went to Ethan Nicolle and asked to create an animated version of the comic. Even more noteworthy is that the ADHD programming slot aligns almost perfectly with the audience that was already reading Axe Cop! Ethan Nicolle cultivated an audience of weirdo nerds, and Weidenfeld knew he had a similar audience that would appreciate it, so the marriage of the two was a win-win.

And it was the same with "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee." A FOX exec saw Seinfeld's great content asked Jerry Seinfeld for a contribution — the TV equivalent of a guest post. Seinfeld provided FOX exactly what they asked for, and FOX shared it with a brand new audience.

This is what guest blogging should be. Guest blogging should be about the audience, about understanding what the audience wants or needs and giving them more of it.

Marketing consultant Jay Baer constantly reminds us that people use the Internet for two things: (1) to find a solution for a problem, or (2) to be entertained. "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" and “Axe Cop” fulfill entertainment desires quite well — and it’s all because the creators were passionate. Even if you're not entertaining your audience, you need to be passionate about your content or, barring that, passionate about your audience. If what you care about is only placement and links, it will show, and it won't do anyone — your brand, the host blog or the host blog's audience — much good.

How does your passion show in your content? Tell us in the comments.

The post Seinfeld and the Super Bowl: The Link between Passion and Quality appeared first on RELEVANCE.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Get to where the journalists are

The secret to attracting media coverage lies in the approach you take when you’re trying to make a media connection. When approaching a media outlet, first contact a single journalist through social media before you make a request or pitch for the first time. Consider sharing some of the journalist's or media outlet's content or following them.

Twitter and Google+ are both great for connecting with journalists. For example, both allow you to “pull” people to follow you by following them first. If they follow you on either of these platforms, your updates will not only appear in their streams, but you will also begin the process of packaging your message as more genuine and make building the relationship much easier.

2. Consider your pitch audience

Once you’ve connected with a journalist, consider what else would help catch his attention. For example, if he's a millennial technophile, pitching with a video seems like a great way for a PR professional to stand out. Video is also more personal because he will be able to see you, which makes the outreach more authentic. In addition, remember to start the video with a conversation to continue the relationship development and message you’re sending. Vsnap.com works great for this.

3. Do some cyber-sleuthing

After you plan how to catch a journalist's attention, it's also important to determine how to help her operate more efficiently with her limited time. Perhaps spend time on Reddit looking for a popular topic related to that specific media outlet and contact. Back up your pitch by sharing the Reddit link and talking about how popular or successful it was. This will help her operate more quickly because she can plainly see that the topic is trending. In addition, you are sending a message that says you care about her time and understand that she's busy.

4. Give them what they want

Next, consider what could be given to him so that he can produce a compelling story. Quotations are great because journalists are used to writing around them, which makes their process more efficient. Journalists often use quotes from interviews to add expert advice or an influencing opinion, but interviews aren’t easy when time is limited.

As you continue to strive for highly relevant content on highly relevant placements, it is important to package the complete message to journalists. In addition to helping a journalist operate more efficiently and giving her what she needs for a compelling story, a packaged message that connects you and your brand with that journalist will get you noticed. When these secrets are put into practice and insights are gleaned from these practices, journalists will be more open to future media coverage of your content.

And it will become more apparent that the challenge with media coverage isn’t just securing the coverage and influencing the consumer’s perspective of the content and placement. The challenge is packaging the message as being helpful to the journalist.

How do you package your message when approaching media coverage?

The post 4 Secrets to Attracting Media Coverage You Probably Haven't Tried Yet appeared first on RELEVANCE.

If you have a media database, you can start there. But how do you organize your database information efficiently? Do you have all the right information? Is there a better way to filter or sort results? How do you find information outside your database?

Here are some tips on constructing your perfect media list:

Starting your search and organizing your info

You can start with a basic search via Cision or any other database you have access to. It’s important to find a contact email and not just a general outlet email from the website. You’re not as likely to get a response from info@websitename.com as from an actual editor or writer for the site.

Are you looking for coverage in a certain geographic area? If so, enter the designated area. For your niche, you may be able to put in a general search term, or you may need to select from a drop-down or check box — if so, select what makes the most sense for the type of article or media you are trying to get covered.

Filtering and sorting

You’re likely to return thousands of results. Filters and sorting are your best friends. Use any and all available filters to narrow down your search: media type, topics or a text search for very particular keywords. For example, maybe you’re looking for health websites, but you specifically want one that focuses on yoga. Search for yoga instead of health to narrow down your results.

Need an even narrower focus? An important factor of PR is getting coverage on a site that has a good amount of traffic. Either in your database or an exported Excel spreadsheet, sort traffic or ranking data you have from top to bottom. Ignore sites that don't garner the search volumes that you need.

Remove any columns you don’t need and be sure to include this information in your lists:

1. Traffic or ranking data
2. A contact name
3. A contact email (repeat: not just an outlet email)
4. Outlet name
5. Outlet URL

Finding information for people outside your database

If you’re stumped on finding the right email address or contact person, there are ways to find the right information outside of a database. Check the targeted website manually to see if you can find a contact name and accompanying email address. Do they have a Twitter account? It is not uncommon for organizations to give you the email address of the person you're trying to contact if you reach out to them and ask for it. Don't forget to explain why you need to reach this person. If you have a name but no email address, you can also try a basic Google search.

Using Google Alerts, Twialerts & RSS for other opportunites

Just as you can search for contact information outside a database, you can search for new media outreach opportunities as well. You can search in Google with certain keywords or in Google News to see who is writing about what — this will make your pitch a lot more relevant if you make the connection with what you’re trying to get coverage for by reactive pitching in your media Media Outreach email. Or, if you’d like to automate the process and get Google Alerts and Twialerts dumped right into an RSS feed, you can learn how to do that in this post.

To sum up: create a well-refined list that is highly targeted based on outlet topic and any specific keywords. Be sure to include essential information in your list: contact name, contact email, outlet name, URL and any traffic or ranking data you can find. You can also add to your list along the way by conducting searches and creating alerts.

Do you have any media list compilation tips? Share in the comments below.

The post Tips for Constructing the Perfect Media Outreach List appeared first on RELEVANCE.

How can you stand out from the crowd and avoid contributing to this content shock? Here are a few questions you should ask yourself before you create content.

Whom are you writing for?

If you find yourself writing a piece of content solely based on promoting a new product or as a self-serving piece of your brand, scrap it. While it’s important to have the product knowledge and brand awareness readily available to consumers, don’t bulk up your blog with them. Consider keeping those resources as part of on-page content for your site. Instead, write with the end-user in mind. Writing for any other reason than to offer something of value to consumers is not only a waste of time but is a disservice to your brand and your customers.

Are you solving a problem?

Consumers should need your solutions. Are you solving a real user problem or are you inventing one? Content is far from great if there is no use for it. Not all great content will answer a problem directly related to your products, but it will create a utility that your consumers can’t ignore. Instead of writing to sell a product, write to solve a problem.

Are you recycling old ideas?

Solving a problem sounds easy enough, right? Chances are if there’s a problem worth solving, someone’s probably tried to fix it. Do your due diligence when forming a content concept and check to see what other type of similar content already exists. There is no point in recycling ideas that have been covered time and time again. Find a new approach or a new way of solving the problem. Make sure you’re offering something new.

Are you thinking outside of the box?

No two pieces of great content look alike. Don’t expect to follow one simple formulaic process to create outstanding, head-turning content. Consider stepping outside your comfort zone to create something fun and interesting that your consumers will love.

Great content isn’t just words; it can come in the form of a social message, video, graphic, or even an app. When creating utility for your consumers, the sky is the limit. The only limitations you have in creating amazing content are those you place on yourself.

Are you focusing on quality, not quantity?

Part of the reason we’re facing content shock is the sheer deluge of content that is slung up daily onto the Internet. Bloggers feel they have to post constantly, brands need to stay ahead of their competitors and marketers need new, fresh content to keep their clients relevant. But who made the rule that we have to throw up content constantly to stay ahead of the curve? Producing one piece of content that is truly high-quality and serves a purpose will keep you more relevant than if you are producing run-of-the-mill content every day.

With the rise of online consumption, content shock will only get worse as businesses try to stay relevant to their customers. Avoid adding to the oversaturated marketplace by asking yourself the above questions when you're working on a new content concept. Becoming a utility to your consumers will position you as a thought leader in your space and draw new eyes to your content regularly.

The post Avoid a Content Marketing Collapse and Create Truly Useful Content appeared first on RELEVANCE.

Below are the five core benefits of content promotion and distribution that together form the simple-to-remember acronym STACK.

1. More Shares

Broadening the reach of your content by earning coverage or paying for placements on trusted media outlets can drive significantly more social shares. Earned media coverage will take on a life of its own, earning social shares to the media coverage that links back to your content. Paid media, such as native advertising, will send more traffic to your content, which translates into more shares.

2. More Traffic

Traffic to the earned and paid media you’ve promoted your content to, along with increased social shares, will significantly increase the traffic to your branded content. Dedicated media outlets whose only business model is content will often have larger audiences than corporate blogs, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Plug directly into their audiences with content promotion to drive more traffic to your branded content.

3. More Awareness

A key benefit of content distribution is that it can significantly increase the exposure of your branded content. Earning a placement (or even better, syndication) in a popular media outlet or community your target audience frequents allows new readers to discover your content’s awesomeness. A blog-and-pray strategy, where content marketers use corporate social media accounts and organic search as the sole strategies to promote content, can greatly limit the awareness of your content.

4. More Conversions

Make no bones about it: The primary reason we create content is to drive more conversions. Barring that your content isn’t set up to convert, increased social shares, traffic, and awareness from earned and paid media will lead to more conversions. In many cases, media outlets will link directly to high-impact content, such as guides and studies, that resides behind a gated lead form.

5. More Klout

This list of content promotion benefits wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the increased Klout that can be achieved through the promotion and distribution of your content. Your company authors' Klout scores are an important metric to boost because it directly correlates with their Google Authorship weighting. The higher an individual’s Google Authorship weighting, the more likely it is that their content will show up prominently within Google’s organic search results. Increased shares and traffic gained through content promotion strategies raise Klout and Google Authorship.

Keep these five S.T.A.C.K. content promotion benefits in mind next time you’re seeking to drive more returns from content marketing. To learn more quick insights on content promotion and distribution that will keep your content ahead of the crowd, check out our Content Promotion and Distribution Cheat Sheet.

The post S.T.A.C.K. the 5 Benefits of Content Distribution & Promotion appeared first on RELEVANCE.

Public relations in and of itself is pretty easy to understand, but putting it into practice while successfully embracing the concepts can be quite challenging. Zitron tackles those challenges head-on. Here are some useful takeaways from his book:

Don’t ignore the truly human element.

How many times have you sent out an e-mail pitch, only to have someone respond with a brief, seemingly rude response? Well, of course you have! Sometimes they’re two-word responses like “Not interested,” and sometimes they’re hefty diatribes against either the subject matter you’re pitching or PR people in general.

Those people must be grade A jerks, right?

Probably not. Reporters are people, too, and Zitron makes that perfectly clear. They experience the same pressures PR people do. Essentially, a reporter's job is to find stories that their target audience will be interested in reading, watching or hearing about. They’re busy, stressed and tired. Very tired.

Zitron is a strong advocate for human connections. “The reader determines the pitch,” he says, and he’s absolutely right. You can’t stop a reporter’s constant stress, but a well-crafted pitch can help alleviate it. The reporter’s job is to cater to an audience, so you should attempt to give them exactly what they need. By determining precisely what the reporter’s audience wants, you’ve already laid the groundwork for a good relationship.

It also helps to take a walk in the reader’s shoes . . . and to think realistically. When you’re writing your pitch, ask yourself, “Would I honestly read this?”

Mistakes will happen. Deal with it!

There is absolutely, positively no specific way to do public relations. Period. All campaigns have a variety of different goals, KPIs, audiences, and so on. That said, some campaigns are more difficult than others. “And you'll make mistakes,” Zitron writes.

In the end, you're going to have to be the dominant one when it comes to strategy and tactics. No "What do you want to do?" or "I don't care, I'll do whatever." None of that. You wear the pants, unequivocally.

That means when mistakes happen, it’s up to the professional (that’s you) to put on your big boy pants and be headstrong about fixing the problem. In PR, there’s simply no time to wait. Bad rumors and worse news travel fast, and your client’s reputation relies on the audience’s perception of them. If there’s even a slight chance that the audience’s support could waiver, you need to act immediately.

Take this example: Phil Robertson, co-star of the hit A&E show Duck Dynasty, recently got himself into hot water with some rather controversial comments. This situation could have easily been avoided had Robertson's publicist implored GQ to omit those comments from the article.

Then again, it's very possible Robertson's publicist let them stand as stated on purpose. It's been said before: There's no such thing as bad press. For every person who complained about his comments, another stood up for his right to make them.

By understanding exactly what the audience expects from the client, your chances of quickly fixing the problem are great. Zitron says that you need to be "embedded in the audience. Play their games, listen to their music, use the apps they designed. Audiences need to feel like the person you are asking them to invest in is on the same page as them."

In a nutshell, fixing (and perhaps avoiding) mistakes goes back to the “human element.” Your client's audience consists of real people with real wants and desires.

This is How You Pitch isn’t going to rock a seasoned publicist’s entire universe, but it definitely provides a fresh and rather entertaining perspective of one man’s ups and downs in the industry. If you’re just getting into PR or if you’re thinking of getting into PR, you’ll definitely benefit from reading this book. Zitron reveals a lot of harsh realities, but those very things can push your PR career forward.

After all, as Zitron writes, “In a twisted way, you should rejoice when you make an error, because you'll learn a lot more from your screw-ups than your successes.” And learn you will.

The post Ed Zitron and the Human Element of PR [BOOK REVIEW] appeared first on RELEVANCE.

The first and most important rule of all, though, is this: If it agitates you, wait before you respond. Have a pitch buddy read through your drafts before sending them out, especially when valuable professional relationships are at stake.

Types of rejection

There’s more to rejection than a flat-out no. In fact, the first rejection email can be the beginning of a productive and beneficial relationship with a reporter or blogger. The common types of rejection are the compensation seeker, the “not-now,” the classic “no” and the offended. Here’s how to handle them:

Compensation seeker

This type of rejection comes from bloggers who work a lot with sponsored content, so consider these soft rejections. These writers are used to companies pitching them products for review and inclusion in blog posts. Are you promoting a product solely for the sake of gaining customers? Pay the blogger.

There’s a difference if you’re promoting a piece of free, valuable content (for example, a non-branded free guide or instructional video) that serves primarily to inform and answer readers’ questions. This is more like sharing than advertising. In this case, explain (kindly and sincerely) your intentions to serve their readers. Let the blogger know why you chose them — because you read their blog and understand their niche - and ask politely for reconsideration. If this leads to another no, thank them kindly for their time and move to another opportunity.

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“Not Now”

For some writers, your content simply won’t work with their editorial calendar this month. Respect that. Ask them for a copy of the content calendar, or what they’re planning on featuring for the next few months so you can better serve them in the future. Following and respecting their publication schedule lets them know you want the best for their readers - and for your content.

The classic no

These folks simply aren’t interested. However, they did take the time to respond to you, so you can do one of two things, depending on your best judgment of their reply.

• If their response was simply n” send them a polite thank you note and leave it at that. Put this person on a list to reach out to in the future, but use caution - the second pitch should be for something even more relevant and appropriate for their audience. Make it count.
• If their response is more thorough, offer them something more, such as interviews with experts, guest posts, infographics or exclusive content. Thrill them by going above and beyond for their readers.

The offended

While it’s always a good idea to go through all rejected pitches to seek out ways to improve, analyzing rejections from people who were offended is the most essential. If the recipient seems angry or frustrated with you, you’ve most likely misdirected your pitch or said something out of line with their goals.

Did you aim to create a relationship with the writer, or did you simply spray and pray with little regard to their niche? If the latter, apologize, admit your mistakes and move on. These situations cannot always be fixed, so don’t push it.

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Plan B

If you’re getting no response from anyone, consider your content. It may need to be refreshed or repurposed, and it can always be used to create better, more solid content for future use. Use it for your blog or target another niche (just don’t get sloppy about targeting everyone).

Kindness is key

The last (and second-most-important) rule here is to always remain polite, sincere and even-keeled. Don’t let misunderstandings turn into discernible frustrations.

And always remember to thank your contacts.

Staying positive in the face of rejection will help you navigate the rocky road to better outreach and higher rates of success.

Image Credit: David Castillo Dominici via FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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