Top executives at successful manufacturing companies will tell you that even if you have the world’s greatest product, your business will struggle if you don’t have a great distribution strategy. The same is true for online content. Often, content providers and marketers focus too much on the message and not enough on the delivery of the message. It’s like coming up with a great idea, but not sharing that idea with anyone.
Jayson DeMers discusses this common shortcoming in an article for Harvard Business Review called “Why No One’s Reading Your Marketing Content.” As DeMers says, “Having a smart distribution model is just as important as developing good content in the first place – it’s how you bring in more business.”
I encourage readers to take a look at his article in more depth, but I’ve summarized his recommendations for beefing up a content delivery strategy:
- Optimize for Search and for Mobile – Online search is a huge driver of website traffic. Finding ways to move up in search results is key.
- Design a Modular but Cohesive Content Plan – Focus distinct portions of your marketing content to targeted audiences, but make sure this is part of an overall strategy.
- Segment Your Audience – Use analytics and other data to break your audience into distinct groups and focus your marketing to those identified segments.
- Create Relationships with Branded Publications and Sites – Getting your content shared on established content provider outlets is a great way to start to build exposure for your material.
- Pay for Distribution – There are a variety of organizations that will help your distribute your content for a price. You’ll need to weigh the value of increased distribution against the fees they charge.
- Share with Relevant Communities – Find some online communities that would be interested in the type of content you generate and start sharing your relevant work.
- Reach Out to Influencers in your Market – Search out the big names and influencers in your field and gear your content to what would be of interest to them and their audiences. Hopefully, they’ll share that content, increasing your reach.
It’s important to think of your content marketing strategy as a complete business process. Think about all the authors, celebrities and politicians who make the talk show circuit to pump their books. They know that even if they write the world’s greatest book, they won’t have much of an audience if they don’t get out and stump for it. A mediocre publication with a great distribution strategy is going to sell better than a great publication with a poor distribution strategy. The same holds true for your business’s content.
What’s your content distribution strategy?
Recommended Reading:
The Everything Guide to Customer Engagement
Tags: branded publications, content management, content marketing, Harvard Business Review, Strategy