Article Marketing Works In All Niches

When I worked for a weekly Travel Agent magazine back in NYC in the 90’s, I worked in two positions. First in sales/marketing, then in editorial. I was able to see first hand both sides of the coin, and why they actually worked hand in hand.

In fact, I was able to help create something in the business called advertorials which is a series of articles that are actually big ole’ ads for a travel destination or cruise ship.

Those advertorials were a big deal to the company because they meant big bucks. What readers would see is this big kind of glossy pull-out of a big long article or series of articles (with pictures) on one destination. What they rarely noticed though is that there was never a negative word said in those pull-outs. It was all good stuff. How great the cruise line was. How hospitable the staff was at a new Caribbean hotel. And how they could go on that vacation for less money then they thought.

Companies paid BIG bucks for these advertorials, so of course the magazine loved to do them. It was also a great way for me to get my writing experience in before I moved to editorial. My point here is that companies have been using article marketing for years because article marketing works in all niches.

Now most print magazines do not get to do these types of advertorials as much as the old days because of marketing dollars available, but they are still done. Sometimes it may be the one-page article with photos you see in the Women’s magazines that say in small print “advertisement” at the top. They look like great articles, and actually are, but in a disguise cloaking what it truly is – an ad.

While I tend to write articles that answer questions, list resources, or solve a problem — I think there is absolutely room for the advertorial. In fact, it is what article marketers are doing all over the web without even knowing it. That’s because we simply just call it article marketing. Why article marketing works, is not really a mystery. It’s because people love information. People love to learn. People love to be in the know. People seek help and advice through articles. It has always worked and will continue to work as long as people are interested in the things that we write.

The rule of thumb is: If it makes money – there is probably an article written on it somewhere.

Let’s test that theory. I had my daughter 10 year old Autumn just throw out some random terms.

Lip Gloss
After a female rapper’s video titled “lipgloss” this article came in second place during a Google search:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lip_gloss

The Clarinet
Wikipedia takes the top spot again, but there were several other links to Clarinet organizations etc. that
featured articles and content on their sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarinet

Tweens
Wikipedia again! So I left them out. Here is the next one on the list. Pure content.
http://www.parenting.org/tween/index.asp

My point here is that there is content written on almost any topic in any niche you can think of. So if you were ever thinking if article marketing could work for your in your niche, there is no doubt in my mind that it can.

Remember that it is your first job is to educate then entertain your prospects with information – then and only then – can you start selling to them. That’s why article marketing works!