Does your company have a website? If so then you can use this fact on your way up the corporate ladder by taking part in the content creation process. The approach I'm going to show you here is how to get your articles published on the company's website for the whole world (and your boss) to see.

When done correctly, this is a win-win-win situation. Your boss and the company wins because they have a quality and up-to-date website. The customers (visitors) win because they get access to the content they are looking for. And finally, you win because you are the person responsible for all of the above.

That's the short version. Now the detailed one...

What's content marketing?

Content marketing sounds like a fancy thing, but it's only a handy term that someone came up with one day just to have a simple way of naming a whole range of practices that an individual can do online with a website.

Basically, content marketing is about taking care of a website and publishing the kind of content that's well received by the audience, which results in new business coming in through various online channels.

Now, let's tackle your first objection ... I know, you don't have time. But the thing I'm about to describe doesn't take long. Once you get a hang of it, you can get done with your weekly routine in 2-3 hours over the weekend. And even though doing additional stuff might not sound attractive, the fact is that you must do something if you want to stand out and make your boss notice you for the great work you're doing.

The action plan

Since the company already has a website set up then all you have to do is come up with some original content that can be published on that website.

The best thing you can do is prepare some content yourself (just like that), and then show it to your boss asking about the possibility to get it published on the site. The reason why your boss is going to say yes to this is because websites that are kept updated are always better received by visitors and potential customers (you can use this fact when talking to your boss).

Personal note. This is exactly what I did when I wanted to publish some content on my university's website. I came to my professor with a handful of articles and all he had to do is give it a green light. The people in charge don't have time to take part in new projects themselves, but when presented with an already completed solution (like some articles that are already written) then they rarely resist to give the go signal.

How to get started

Now, creating/writing content may be intimidating at first (at least for me it was), but you can get started very quickly if you keep in mind a couple of general guidelines:

1. Everything you write has to be closely related to the niche that the company is in, so no off-topic articles. The main question is simple: "Does this specific article look good published under my company's brand?"
2. Be in tune with the company's goals. The goals or the "mission" is something that's usually published on the website already. Read that section and make your articles in-tune with it as well.
3. Don't worry about the technical stuff related to getting your articles published on the web. We'll handle this later on.

Now, what can you actually write about. Here's my recommended getting-started list. It works in every niche and for every type of business:

1. Definitions. Definition-posts are ones where you take a given term that's used in the industry and explain it to the average user/customer. For example, if the company sells cooking equipment then you can write something like "What Is Dry Brining And How It'll Help You Cook a Perfect Steak." Such an article defines an unknown term and the headline makes it interesting enough to the average visitor.
2. Research based articles. The best thing about research-based articles is that you don't need to have a specific insider knowledge to write them. All you need is some time alone with Google. Just find an interesting topic and gather some research around it. For instance, the "dry brining" example is actually a great research-based example as well.
3. Customer problems explained. If your company has been running for a while then there should be some common customer problems circulating around. Just gather a bunch of them up and present some sensible solutions.
4. Case study. In other words, describe how someone used one of your company's products to fix a specific problem. Write this in detail.
5. Lists. Lists are one of the most popular content types on the internet. The idea is simple, for example: "X Ways to Improve Y by Using Z," "X Best Solutions For Problem Y," and so on.
6. Personal yet related stories. Going personal is the best way to reach out to your company's customers. Let's not forget that people love stories, even when they're talking business. The only thing to remember is to keep the story related to the company. (Again, the question "Does this specific article look good published under my company's brand?").
7. Interviews. Find experts in your company's area of activity and interview them about their work. This sort of content is usually highly sharable and well received by all audiences.
8. Bonuses. Whenever your boss gives you a green light to offer a time-sensitive bonus to the website's audience, make sure to write a cool article about it and invite every visitor to take part in it. The idea behind bonuses is that they go viral quickly.

Be careful about company news. Finally, a thing to be careful with. Even though you might be tempted to share some general piece of news about what's going on inside the company, this kind of post is rarely interesting to the average visitor. So be careful not to publish too many of them.

General writing tips

What follows is my engineer-like approach to content writing. In short, for me, writing is just as much science as it is art. Here are some tips that are worth to keep in mind when writing:

1. Touch upon just one single idea. One article, one idea. Don't try to talk about everything in one article.
2. Write in subheadings. Start by defining the general parts of the article. This will give you a good structure. For example, look at this article and its subheadings: What's content marketing, The action plan, How to get started, General writing tips, Promoting your content, What's next.
3. Stick to conversational, simple language. In other words, write like you talk.
4. Be yourself. If your natural style of communicating is a bit casual then stick to it. Writing in an official tone will make the visitors feel awkward and they'll be able to tell that something's not right.
5. Proofread. Having typos in your articles is not cool.

Now, once you have the content ready and approved, contact the person in charge of the website and either send it to them for publication or request your own author account on the website. Most of the time, they will have no problem giving you one along with a quick tutorial on how to actually publish content.

Promoting your content

Lastly, the final piece of the puzzle. There are probably thousands of possible promotion methods online, but here, I just want to show you one. And I truly believe that it just might be the most effective one when dealing with a company that already has a number of existing customers.

This method is email. Quite simply, reach out to the person in charge of the company's newsletter and ask them to mention your new content in the next issue. If all goes well, the site should start experiencing more visitors each time the newsletter is sent.

With time, the word will spread around attracting new visitors. Either through email directly, social media, or other online channels.

What's next?

These days, content marketing is one of the main promotion mechanisms online. Websites that deliver quality content can witness big growth in a relatively short span of time. This is all due to easy access to information online and the fact that interesting info spreads quickly.

The best thing for you in this whole picture is that your boss will surely notice the increase in publicity and overall brand awareness. And when they do, it's the final win for you.

But that's just my opinion, what do you think about content marketing and using it as your leverage to getting promoted?

Author Bio
Ayodeji is a marketing expert who specializes in inbound marketing. You should check out his recent article about inbound link building in 2013.