A Simple 5-Step Content Distribution Framework for Growing Awareness

You just uploaded an awesome piece of content to your website. Maybe you spent long hours doing the research and crafting the sentences by yourself, to ensure that the article was perfect in every way. Or maybe you outsourced to an expert, and now your investment has paid off with an exceptionally written blog post.

Whatever the case may be, your next step in the marketing process is just as crucial as the actual composition of the article: you need to give your content as wide a distribution as possible, which is easier said than done! With a bit of creativity and a lot of perseverance, you can give your content the publicity it deserves, and grow your brand accordingly. There are plenty of proven content distribution strategies to help you in your efforts. 

Here is a 5-step framework to help you optimize your content distribution strategy:

1. Reach Out to Influencers in Your Industry

It's no secret that consumers are much more likely to buy products endorsed by individuals they know and trust (at least on some level), rather than products "pushed" on them by faceless corporations. In this respect, influencers can be a valuable source of content distribution for your company.

And yes, influencers even exist for B2B companies. By partnering with influencers in or adjacent to your industry, you may be able to achieve 3 different marketing objectives simultaneously: 

• Obtain assistance in generating exceptional content
• Gain more credibility from your partnership
• Achieve increased exposure

How can you successfully ally yourself with an important influencer? There are several ways to make it happen, such as:

• Mention the influencer in your content, and then reach out to him or her with an offer of a partnership (formal or informal).
• Hire a key influencer as a company spokesman or advocate.
• Pay an influencer to create content centered around your product, such as a product review.

By gaining an influencer's endorsement of your product, you may be able to tap into a previously inaccessible market segment and gain a number of followers that are predisposed towards loyalty. It's a win-win situation for both your company and the influencer: the influencer gains financially, and you reap the benefits of increased publicity. 

2. Provide Opportunities for (Qualified) Guests to Post on Your Site

Similar to a partnership with an influencer, this step allows you to leverage the expertise of industry professionals and other highly credentialed guests to your advantage. By allowing industry experts to post content on your site, you'll boost your brand's credibility in the eyes of your audience.

At the same time, you'll open up a "backchannel" of advertising that leads to your brand (via users searching for content from the expert in question, likes, shares, backlinks, and so forth).

Of course, you'll have to do your due diligence. For instance, you'll need to ensure that each guest meets the necessary qualifications commensurate with the stature that you want your brand to maintain. If done right, however, this is an extremely cost-effective way to maximize your content distribution's impact. 

3. Implement a Paid Advertising Strategy

Advertising for B2B is crucial to getting more leads. In some respects, paid advertising is the opposite of influencer outreach. It's not "organic" by any stretch of the imagination, and it is much less personalized than the marketing techniques in our previous two steps.

However, marketers keep using paid advertising as a central part of their overall strategy. Why? Because it works! In fact, research conducted by Google has indicated that for every dollar spent on paid advertising, companies could receive $2 in return (if not more)!

What are some specific paid advertising tactics that you should investigate? A few would include:

• PPC advertising. Platforms like Google AdWords can provide highly targeted advertising opportunities based on specific keywords and phrases used in search.
• Banner ads. These (relatively) unobtrusive ads should be used judiciously in carefully curated websites.
• Native advertising. Native ads are customized according to the specific context in which they are placed. They can thus "blend into" their surroundings, and present an attractive front to prospective customers.
• Social media advertising. Executing a Facebook Ads campaign, or marketing via some other social media platform, can result in greatly increased brand exposure and be a significant driver for more business.

4. Explore Co-Branding Opportunities

Co-branding is a way to team up with a company in an adjacent sector to yours. Ultimately, the goal is for both brands to work together in order to achieve increased awareness and feed off of each other's marketing momentum.

A great example of B2B co-branding is the partnerships between Shopify and its Partner Network - app developers, agencies and more. With Shopify allowing for companies to build apps on their platform for use by ecommerce merchants, Shopify gets to expand its platform features, while partners are rewarded with access to Shopify’s 600k+ merchants and usage of Shopify’s branding. 

It’s a great win-win that’s allowed Shopify to grow rapidly while their partners grow too. One example is Klaviyo having recently raised $150 million. They also host co-branded events called Shopify Meetups where guests can learn more about popular ecommerce topics.

While your co-branded partnerships may not reach such levels of spectacle and excitement, in principle you can imitate the example of Red Bull and GoPro. How? By reaching out to suitable companies and floating the idea of a collaboration, either by mutual product endorsement, free advertising space, or other methods. This can be an exciting way to optimize your content distribution while strengthening your brand position.

5. Leverage Word of Mouth Advertising

Finally, leverage word of mouth advertising to help you spread your content. Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) is one of the most effective forms of advertising, and in most cases, it is absolutely free for your company!

How can you make WOMM work for you? At the end of customer interactions, ask satisfied customers to refer their friends and family members to your company. At the end of every article, include a like, share, and/or subscribe button to promote the spread of your content. Encourage employees to share positive work or product-related stories on social media. All of these methods will help optimize your content distribution efforts "from the ground up."

Creating top-tier content is just the first step in an effective B2B content marketing strategy. Distribution is equally important to your initiative's overall success. If you follow the 5-step framework outlined above (customized according to your specific business needs and objectives), then you are sure to enjoy a wide distribution for your content, and continued growth for your brand.

If you need help with creating a B2B content distribution strategy, contact us for a free consultation to learn how OpGen Media helps B2B businesses write and promote their content.