Appendix A
CMI’s Contributor/Blogging Guidelines
Thanks for your interest in contributing to the Content Marketing Institute. Below you will find details on the types of posts we look for and specifics about our editorial process.
Our editorial mission is to advance the practice of content marketing. While the core of our blog has been how-to posts, we have broadened our editorial focus and will now consider useful posts that truly aim to move this industry forward.
OUR AUDIENCE
While we educate anyone who uses content marketing, our ideal reader is marketers at large- and midsize B2B and B2C organizations.
SUBMISSION CRITERIA
We have a limited number of publishing slots available to guest contributors, and we will only accept posts that satisfy the following criteria:
Posts need to advance the practice of content marketing. We will only accept posts that provide new insights for content marketers (i.e., we are not looking for posts with rehashed ideas).
Posts need to be useful. While posts do not need to be a step-by-step how-to, they need to include a specific takeaway or key thought.
Posts need to be logical and interesting to read.
Posts need to be specific to content marketers.
These are the specific types of post we look for.
How-to Posts
We look for detailed posts that very clearly outline how to do something; templates, checklists, and step-by-step approaches work well. Examples include:
“How to Put Together an Editorial Calendar for Content Marketing” (http://cmi.media/CI-editcal)
“7 NEW Things to Do After You’ve Written a New Blog Post” (http://cmi.media/CI-blogpost)
“An Easy Planning Worksheet That Will Jump-Start Your Content Marketing Productivity” (http://cmi.media/CI-worksheet)
“Thought Leadership” Posts
Content marketing is an industry that has been evolving quickly, and we want to be evaluating trends and figuring out what is coming next. Are there conversations you think we need to have to move the industry forward? Is there something going on that you want to call out that is not true or not working? What are the current trends? Examples include:
“Content Marketing: The Fallacy That More Content Is Better” (http://cmi.media/CI-morecontent)
“Oracle Acquires Eloqua: Will Content Marketing Be Impacted?” (http://cmi.media/CI-eloqua)
“6 Ways the Content Marketing Backlash Is Getting It Wrong” (http://cmi.media/CI-backlash)
Content Marketing Career Posts
While content marketing has been evolving as a discipline, so too have the careers of many of our readers. We are looking for posts that share personal experiences or concrete ideas on what marketers need to be considering as they plan their careers. Examples include:
“Content Marketing Best Practices: 5 Tips for the Modern CMO” (http://cmi.media/CI-modernCMO)
“Content Marketing for Career Development” (http://cmi.media/CI-careerdev)
Content Marketing Tools and Technologies Posts
We will consider posts that profile specific content marketing tools and technologies when:
The tool is free (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook).
The author is not someone directly associated with or compensated by the technology vendor.
The post does not discuss competitive benefits.
CMI occasionally covers paid tools in our Technology Landscape series or in posts that include a roundup of tools.
To increase the likelihood that your post will be accepted, consider these suggestions:
Whenever possible, include real-life examples and/or case studies to demonstrate the concepts described.
Example: “4 Ways to Use PR in Your Content Marketing Efforts [Case Study]” (http://cmi.media/CI-PR)
Use of videos, photos, charts, screenshots, and other visual content is strongly encouraged. Feel free to embed new types of content platforms as well.
Example: “Epic Content Marketers: 20 More Women Who Rock” (http://cmi.media/CI-womenrock)
Articles should include detailed instruction or specific recommendations that will help marketers incorporate your advice into their content marketing processes.
Example: “The Essential Guide to Meta Descriptions That Will Get You Found Online” (http://cmi.media/CI-meta)
In addition, we do not accept submissions that fall into the following categories:
Posts with unclear focal points or those that are not clearly organized or formatted to grab reader attention. We encourage writers to use subheadings, bulleted lists, and bold fonts to highlight key concepts and action items.
Articles created as blatant link-bait, with little original insight or practical discussion provided within the post copy.
Op-ed–style posts that discuss why an issue is important without discussing how, specifically, it can be leveraged by content marketers.
Posts that have already been published elsewhere.
White papers and other promotional content that is meant to tout the benefits of one specific product or service over others.
Posts that focus on content marketing basics (such as writing to a specific audience, finding time or ideas for content, etc.) or those that give only a general overview of complex topics (such as content creation, SEO, or making your content “social”).
Due to the volume of submissions, we do not respond to guest post inquiries that include a request for a link exchange. These posts are not accepted.
WHY WRITE FOR CMI?
As you likely know, sharing your expertise with an engaged audience of content marketing professionals is a great way to improve your industry profile.
Many of our bloggers have told us they can directly trace new business to their posts on CMI (and sometimes posts they have written more than a year ago!).
Additionally, we have people contact us looking for work or asking to get involved in Content Marketing World. The best way to work with us is to become an active blogger who contributes solid, detailed posts. This is the pool of people we look to when we have opportunities.
OUR EDITORIAL PROCESS
Each post we receive is first reviewed for acceptance criteria. It may take a few days before our team can respond to new submissions. We receive many submissions, so we appreciate your patience throughout our review and production process.
If your submission fits our criteria and is likely to be a good fit for the CMI audience, we will contact you within seven business days of receipt to confirm our intent to review your post for publication.
Please note: Because of the volume of submissions, if your post is not a fit, we are unable to provide detailed feedback.
For posts being considered, average turnaround time for review is 10 business days, though the timeline may be shorter or longer, depending on the current volume of submissions under review.
Once a post has been accepted for publication, it is generally scheduled to run within a two-week time span. While we cannot always honor specific publication date requests, our editorial team will do its best to accommodate the needs of our contributors.
PROMOTION AND SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRIBUTION
CMI will promote all posts via Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and other relevant social platforms. All authors are encouraged to promote their posts through their own networks, as well.
REPUBLISHING AND REPURPOSING YOUR CMI POSTS
While we can only consider original, unpublished materials for publication, we are happy to allow our published authors to repurpose their posts elsewhere, with the following stipulations:
There should be a two-week window between the time your article goes live on CMI and the time it is published on another site.
All subsequent publication of your article must cite the Content Marketing Institute as the original source and provide a link to the article on CMI.
All CMI posts that are to be used in content curation efforts must adhere to standards of fair use of online content for content curation (http://cmi.media/CI-fairuse).
WHAT TO SEND WITH YOUR ARTICLE SUBMISSION
Your bio. Bio should be approximately 60 words and should include your Twitter handle, as well as any other relevant links you wish to display (e.g., your blog, Facebook page, website URL, etc.).
Your headshot. We use a site called Gravatar (http://cmi.media/CI-gravatar) to manage our authors’ headshots. New contributors should create an account there and upload a headshot. Once this is done, we’ll need the e-mail address that was used to register the account, so we can associate your headshot with the author profile we will use in your posts.
A thematically related cover image. We also ask authors to include a high-resolution image that we can run as a “cover” image for each post. This can be a photo, a chart, a screenshot, or a piece of theme art that represents the article topic in a compelling visual way. Images can be taken from the web or a stock photo service, as long as they are royalty-free (or in the public domain or available as part of Creative Commons), or you hold the copyright. If the image requires creator credit, please provide the necessary sourcing information, so that we can be sure to attribute it properly.
If you would like to submit a post or article idea, or have any questions, please contact us at [email protected]. New contributors may also wish to submit links to additional writing samples that may aid in our decision-making process.