Several writers have told me lately that they often have to explain the concept of content marketing to smaller brands. Since 9 out of 10 large brands are currently using content marketing, you will run into that problem much less often by targeting national brands. But many writers are a bit intimidated by the concept of writing for Ford, State Farm or Petco and aren’t even sure how to market to the brands. But honestly, the big brands and the content marketing agencies representing the large brands are in need of excellent writers and need us as much as we need them. They are tasked with creating more content than ever with less in-house staff.

Here are six steps to find and market to national brands.

1. Find your niches. Spend an hour or two following my step-by-step instructions for determining your niches. Even if you think you know your niches, I bet you will realize new niches that you didn’t realize you had by going through this exercise. I have had several readers tell me that when  they did this exercise she realized several niches that they didn’t realize they had.

2. Go through the Fortune 500 List. One of my readers, Simone, told me that after she had written down her niches, she used the Fortune 500 list to through each company one-by-one. She would then circle each corporation that marketed for the target audience for one of her niches. Be sure think from a marketing perspective when reviewing the brands.  For example, one of Simone’s niches is parenting so she circled companies that sell products or services to parents. If one of your niches is automotive, then you want to target brands that sell products or services to people buying cars, car parts or car accessories. When are you done, you will have a list of a ton of very large companies that most likely are already doing content marketing that can use your expertise.

3. Create a customized letter of introduction for each brand. For each brand on your list, create a customized LOI that includes any experience relative to the industry, your familiarity with the brand and any specific content marketing materials your skills are a fit for (such as if the company creates a lot of white papers and case studies). You need to make it very clear in the LOI why the brand should hire you for their content marketing writing. As Dan Davenport, with Meredith Xcelerated Marketing said at the Content Connections conference, connect the dots for the brands, don’t make them figure out how you can help them.

4. Research to see if a content marketing agency represents the company. Many big brands outsource their content or at least a portion of their content to a content marketing agency. Many of the companies listed on the Custom Content Council website list the clients that they represent. Use the search feature on member page to search for companies representing the industry of the brand you are target. Then go through each of the pages for the companies listed and see if your brand is listed as a client. If anyone has a better way to find out who represents a brand, please let me know! I promise I will give you credit for the tip. If you find the agency representing the brand, use my tips on finding the right contact person and send the LOI.

5. Contact the brand directly. Even if you find a content marketing agency representing the brand, you should also send an LOI directly to the brand. It increases your chances of a positive result because sometimes content is created both in house and in the brand. Use my tips for contacting the right person at the brand and then send the LOI.

6. Follow up. Once you hit the send button, your work is not done. If you don’t hear back from the company or agency, send a follow-up LOI. I recently heard from a reader who followed up with an editor after reading my post on following up and immediately got an assignment.

How do you find and target national brands? Any tips for marketing to brands you want to share with others?