When we propose to our professional services clients that they place a bylined article in an industry or professional publication, they sometimes ask about the circulation of various venues, usually with an interest in selecting the one with the widest distribution. While circulation or website hits are valid measures, they should not be your sole criteria for selecting a publication. Theoretically, a widely read publication may reach more people in your target audience than one with a lower circulation or number of hits. However, counting on circulation alone to get your article in front of the people you want to reach is letting the power of publishing go to waste.
The power of publishing – in print or online – comes from leveraging your visibility. In other words, everything depends on what you do with the article after it’s published. If you do nothing, you lose most of your work’s power and shelf-life.
It’s up to you to let your target market know about your recent media coverage, and put that information in front of the right people. You can do this by posting an alert to your website’s News section, mentioning it in a sidebar to your e-newsletter, posting an announcement on LinkedIn or Facebook, tweeting about it, distributing article reprints at conferences, and similar marketing tactics. A few extra steps like these will take you miles further.
The same is true if you’re quoted or featured in a news story or interviewed by Katie Couric. It doesn’t count for anything unless you tell the right people about it. Remember, leverage it or lose it!