Outreach Linkbuilding in Action: A Successful Case Study from Zubr Capital and Smartcontent

Getting a single article published on a big-name platform can be lucky. But if two of your articles land on top-tier sites like globaldata.com, finance.yahoo.com, and msn.com, then you’ve probably discovered valuable content marketing lessons.
Zubr Сapital, a private equity company that targets high-growth private companies in the TMT sector, joined forces with Smartcontent, a PR and content marketing firm, to create a roadmap for numerous tech-focused articles to be published on appropriate platforms. While Zubr Сapital experts provided the content, Smartcontent was tasked with distributing it. As a result, two consecutive articles were published on platforms that attract hundreds of millions of visitors.

So, how did we pull it off?

We focused on three crucial aspects: 1) the way we designed content, 2) how we identified relevant websites, journalists, and influencers, and of course, 3) how we pitched our content.

In this piece, we’ll dive deeper into these three factors.

Creating High-Quality, Attention-Grabbing Content

What constitutes good content?

By 2024, B2B marketers are again focusing on how much attention a piece attracts: a good piece of content is one that captures people’s interest. It’s mainly about catching your target audience’s eye but, if you’re aiming to spread your article far and wide, you also need to think about what catches the attention of editors.

So, what do editors pay attention to the most? Two elements seem to reign supreme: 1) the topic needs to be timely and relevant, and 2) there should be some fresh research data incorporated within your article.

Many content marketers make a blunder by crafting high-quality articles that fail to get distributed widely because their topics aren’t «hot» enough to draw the editors’ attention. Every editor wants their website’s content to be consumed by as many readers as possible. Hence, it’s crucial to choose a trending topic before starting content creation. Look at the buzzing topics of Zubr Сapital’s articles, which managed to capture the interest of major world websites:

But, even if your content is already composed, you can always tweak your writing to make it sound more relevant and timely.

While most content marketers understand the need to focus on trending topics, the second criteria of including fresh research data can seem less straightforward – is it really essential to conduct research for a well-selling article? Such a task seems like a huge investment of time and effort!

The secret is, you don’t have to conduct entirely new research to write an article.

A smart way to save time and effort is to analyze existing data and discover fresh perspectives on that old information. One more strategy can involve juxtaposing several existing studies and generating conclusions from the outcomes of your comparison.

Consider Zubr Сapital’s approach. The company isn’t an expert on immigration. However, they were able to write an insightful article by gathering existing data and making new observations about the advantages of utilizing immigrant talent.

Identifying Relevant Websites

When writing an article, every writer hopes that it will be published on highly respected platforms. However, hope alone isn’t enough. Even the best pieces of writing may not always make it onto the world’s biggest websites. 

Here at Smarcontent, we believe it’s vital to develop distinct DIY media lists for each topic we manage. This doesn’t mean you have to manually look for websites to distribute your article. There are numerous tools available that can greatly simplify and automate the task of building a media list with hundreds of relevant and respected media outlets.

For example, when we worked with Zubr Сapital, we used Ahrefs because it allowed us to select media platforms based on specific keywords provided. This tool also gave us the option to sort through websites, selecting only those with the desired domain rating and visitor count that matched the client’s expectations.

If you need to choose websites from specific countries, Prowly PR Database could be an excellent choice. We have also compiled a review on other tools that can assist you in creating a DIY media list which is covered in another article.

Pitch Your Content in a Personalized Way

Once your content is ready and you’ve built your media list, it’s time to reach out to the editors of the websites you’ve chosen.

Working for Zubк Сapital, our approach to email communication was anything but generic. We didn’t just send basic emails that read, “Hey, I have this wonderful content. Could you please post it?”

Instead, we included three important components in our pitch:

1. Personalized Touch. Rather than sending a generic message, we personalized our communication by referring to the editors directly and appreciating their websites. This demonstrated our careful preparation, ensuring it didn’t feel like a spam message.
2. Clarification. We explicitly illustrated why Zub Сapital’s content brings value and usefulness to them and their audience. By highlighting the main advantages and aspects of our content, we showed how they could leverage it to achieve their goals or tackle their challenges.
3. Kind Request. We asked them in a cordial and respectful way to publish a post, ensuring we didn’t sound overly pushy. By providing an easy-to-follow call to action (CTA) and the document containing our content, we made it simple for them to say yes.

To achieve success, we adhered to the following simple yet crucial rules:

• We remained considerate, understanding that editors are extremely busy individuals who are constantly inundated with loads of content;
• We strived for relevance, ensuring the highlighted advantages of the article were suitable for the website’s particular niche;
• We maintained a high level of professionalism, thoroughly editing our pitch to ensure it was free of grammatical, spelling, and punctuation mistakes.

For more tips on crafting a successful media pitch, check out our other article dedicated to this particular topic.

Lastly, managing media outreach is an ongoing task. It involves showing your content to multiple editors and blog owners, one by one. This requires finding their contact details and getting them interested in your content. Building relationships with editors and journalists who might be willing to accept your future content is key to efficiency.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, getting your content featured on top-tier sites is no mere game of chance. It’s a carefully orchestrated process from creating engaging and timely content to crafting a personalized pitch, every step matters. So take a leaf out of Zubr Сapital and Smartcontent’s book, discover your unique roadmap to success, and make your content shine on a global platform. Remember, in the dynamic world of content marketing, strategy is the winning card.