How to Become the “Go-To” Person in Your Industry with a Magazine Tear Sheet

A magazine tear sheet is exactly what it sounds like — a sheet of paper torn from a magazine. Editors of print publications will send a tear sheet to a freelance writer that has had her work published in that magazine or to the person about whom an article was written. Editors used to literally tear an article out of their magazine and drop it into the mail. With the emergence of online advertising, tear sheets are now often distributed as a PDF file.

So, how does this help you increase your visibility?

A magazine tear sheet makes you an instant celebrity and gives you credibility, authority, and believability if formatted properly.  Similar to writing a book, tear sheets help you elevate your status as the “go-to” person in your industry. Essentially, they help you command respect and make you more interesting to your clients, as well as permit you to charge higher prices.  The permit your prospects and customers to better connect with you and feel they know you a bit better. 

However, they are much easier to create than a book because you can use almost any interview or talk to create one, from a podcast interview to a talk given at a local expo to a Facebook live event.

The truth about many tearsheets is that the article is in a magazine that has never appeared on a newsstand. Don’t let that dissuade you, as many well-known industry publications are given away free of charge or self-published books haven’t appeared on a newsstand, either. That fact doesn’t take away the credibility that both bring you to set you apart from your competition.

Magazine tear sheets are one of the best authority positioning tools to have in your marketing and PR toolbox, much more so than a brochure or a business card.

Tear Sheets are far easier and less expensive to produce than a book because you don’t have to do the writing or pay high prices to have it ghostwritten, and the cost per tearsheet is far cheaper than a book. However, a magazine tear sheet can compliment a book you just published because your cover photo can be an image of you on the front page holding your book.

Want to see an example of a tear sheet?  Click here to see the one I just created for myself. This one is taken from a podcast interview I did with Rick Nuske on his show, My Future Business Show.

Here are 8 ways you can use your magazine tear sheet for more visibility:

1. Mail it out to prospects
2. A framed piece to display on your office wall
3. A handout at tradeshows or networking events
4. A leave behind when you do local speaking gigs
5. Reading material available on a coffee table in your office
6. Ethical bribe or content upgrade on your website
7. As part of your media kit
8. Way to introduce yourself to local media

If you’re not quite ready to do a book, a magazine tear sheet may give you the authority positioning you need to become the “go-to” person in your industry.

Want to get your magazine tear sheet created? Set up a meeting with me to discuss your tear sheet here.