Secrets to build brand authority and get published in Business Insider, Entrepreneur & HBR — without a PR Agency

5 Takeaways from Marina Glazman’s talk with Xoogler.co

At the most recent Xoogler.Co solopreneurs & freelancers event I had the pleasure of hosting Marina Glazman, an entrepreneur, content strategist and former Wall Street Journal strategist.

Over 50 Xoogler solopreneurs, entrepreneurs and founders attended her talk on how to get published in top-tier business outlets without PR. Marina was an ideal speaker to cover the topic as her work has been published in outlets such as Business Insider, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur and Crunchbase among many others.

The talk discussed actionable strategy to generate content that builds authority for a brand. Marina shared secrets of the trade on creating commercially viable content, getting noticed by publications, and developing influence in one’s space.

The two most important takeaways for me were that 1) getting published in prestigious business outlets comes down to quality and not company size and 2) the benefits that come with getting publishing extends far beyond simply receiving additional eyeballs on a landing page.

I am sharing below all key highlights and takeaways from the talk in Q & A format so that those who couldn’t attend can also benefit from these insights.

The 5 key takeaways from Marina Glazman’s talk

1. Why should you care about getting published?

There are three main reasons: credibility, reputation and prestige.

These are all key to improving access to funding, partner & suppliers as well as impacting positively the bottom line thanks to the attraction of new users, subscribers, downloads etc.

2. How’s publishing different from press?

The difference is often misunderstood by people, but it’s important to understand what’s the one that best aligns with your goals.

With press you get your business or product mentioned in an article or publication. This means that your angle or feature needs to resonate strongly with a story they are already working on. With publishing instead, you author a piece of content and you pitch it to editors of publications.

The difference is not just in the process, but also in the desired outcome.

Press gives you exposure which leads to more eyeballs. Publishing on the other hand gives you credibility and creates purchase intent.

3. How to set your company up for success in this space?

Marina shared the following advice:

• Build a clearly defined brand — this includes a clear value proposition, messaging, and image across your website, LinkedIn, and relevant social media. To test where you stand with respect to this simply put yourself in editors' shoes: will they understand what you do, see that you are legit and not a liability to their publication after Googling your brand?
• Develop commercially viable content — the content needs to address a clear pain point for the consumer and be able to achieve this in ways that meet consumer information needs. This includes selecting the right topic and presenting it from an interesting angle and in a suitable format.
• Work on a good pitch — research the publication’s target audience and model of working with contributors, make sure editors can see samples of your work even if posted on Medium/Linkedin or other entry-level publications and know how to pitch effectively.

4. How to pitch?

• Get on editors’ radar: Follow them on Twitter/ socials, engage organically but don’t be a stalker.
• Write a pitch letter in addition to the article. You can easily find sample pitch letters on Google.
• Submit an entire draft, not just a “query letter.” As a subject matter expert, not a seasoned journalist, editors will likely want a draft to see writing skills.

5. Myth busting

Marina closed her talk busting some myths that keep getting recycled.

Myth 1: Strong opinions alienate readers Truth: Need strong POV to make content viable

Myth 2: Research trumps experience. Truth: Your personal experience is what differentiates your content

Myth 2: Big words make you sound like an expert. Truth: Big words make word salad. Instead, be concise and keep it simple.

Closing thoughts

Credibility and trust have always been important for business. But living in the current times it’s becoming increasingly challenging to make a distinction between what’s fake and what’s real. Therefore, the quality of being credible gains added value. Getting published is a way to achieve this. It’s not easy, as Marina clearly highlighted. It takes serious time and effort, but it’s feasible. And you don’t have to be a fortune 500 company. What you do need to have in place though is a systematic process that takes into account the interests of both publishers and consumers- and we are grateful to Marina for generously sharing her advice on how to develop such a process and set our startups up for success in this space.

Alex Papageorgiou

About the speaker

Marina Glazman is an entrepreneur, org & content strategist, and mainstream business writer exploring leadership, work culture, and dynamics of people and teams. She has a passion for enabling entrepreneurs and brands to create their own voice, develop unique story angles that pull from their experience and find their own path to publication. She has run two startups and has worked in strategy at The Wall Street Journal and at Bainbridge Consulting. Marina holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA from the University of California San Diego.

More about Marina at www.glazzie.com

About Xoogler.Co

We are a group of Google alumni and current Googlers who have come together to help each other advance our ambitions in the startup ecosystem. The Xoogler.co community consists of startup founders, early team members, angel investors, VCs, and mentors.