Check you local newspaper and you will no doubt see examples. If you are writing column for newspaper and not paying for it, make sure you retain editorial control and copyright to work. If you are paying for insertion, ask your ad representative or ad agency for samples. As you travel around, pick up local newspapers in area you are visiting and see what others are doing.

If you don’t have time or feel you are not capable of writhing your own column, check with an ad agency. You should be able to find one that provides this service. If you belong to a professional association, check with them and see if they supply "ghost" stories. I have worked with accountants, stockbrokers, lawyers and others using ghost stories.

I will suggest that if you are not writing story yourself, you may want avoid by line that says "by" and use "furnished by" or "supplied by" or something of that nature. The last thing you want to do is get caught taking credit for writing something someone else wrote. If you pay a copywriter for original copy, this is not as likely to happen. But if you use ghost stories from an association, you are more then likely not going to have exclusivity. Someone in another publication may be running same story.

When you start this project, think long term. It takes a commitment. It will take some time to build readership. You are establishing yourself as an expert in your field to people that don’t know you. This will not happen overnight.

I mentioned retaining editorial control and copyright. After you have created a number of columns and/or stories, you may want to consider putting them all together in a book. Keep this in mind in early stages. If you are working with a ghostwriter or ad agency, make sure they understand your intentions so proper preparations can be made and taken into consideration from very beginning. If your traditional non-web based business does have a web site, and it should have, make sure you prepare your writings for distribution on net as well.

Once you start writing you can use materials in any number of different ways.

So…go write something!

To learn more about writing to promote your business visit http://sbmag.org/writing

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